Abecedarium: the Ocean in Sign Language
"Abecedarium: the Ocean in Sign Language” is a participatory and inclusive project by TBA21–Academy - Ocean Space born in collaboration with ENS-Ente Nazionale Sordi ONLUS (The Italian National Agency for the Deaf), and with the support of the Institute of Marine Sciences (CRN-ISMAR), which aims to map out and create a new vocabulary for the Ocean and its environment in Italian Sign Language (LIS), starting with a hands-on event that actively involves the deaf community.
Ocean Space is collaborating with the The Italian National Agency for the Deaf to actively involve the Italian deaf community in mapping out all the existing and / or known signs relating to the marine world, to verify which signs are not part of everyday use (such as the term "Anthropocene” for example) with the aim of creating a common vocabulary for the deaf community.
ABECEDARIUM AT THE ART EXPLORA EUROPEAN AWARD!
"Abecedarium: the Ocean in Sign Language” project, dedicated to building an eco-glossary together with the deaf community, is nominated for the Audience Choice Award sponsored by Art Explora, a Paris-based foundation inspiring new encounters between art and audiences internationally. The European Award encourages new forms of audience engagement and participation in the arts and culture by supporting innovative projects.
Winning the Audience Choice Award will create an essential opportunity for Abecedarium, allowing for the launch of the second phase of the project which will develop an eco-glossary in Italian Sign Language (LIS) for the Ocean and its environment.
** Voting is currently closed **
The project was placed second (out of 20 participants).
FIRST STAGE OF THE PROJECT
Since January 2021 “Abecedarium: the Ocean in Sign Language” has involved the deaf community via an open call, inviting 12 deaf participants to help build a vocabulary of terms and signs in LIS (Italian Sign Language) linked to the ocean and its environment.
The group of participants took part in 15 training sessions conducted by scientists, researchers from the Institute of Marine Sciences, artists, and architects, exploring issues relating to the safeguarding of the world’s oceans, and focusing on the linguistic discussion around existing and known signs linked to the marine world.
In response to the measures taken to mitigate the the risk of Covid-19, the training took place online between January and May 2021, at the end of which the working group and the participants carried out a series of in-depth video interviews in Italian Sign Language in which they spoke about the first phase of the project.
Partners
