People behind
Dr. Andreas Heinecke
Dialogue in Silence was created by Dr. Andreas Heinecke. He is the founder and CEO of “Dialogue in the Dark” (→ www.dialogue-in-dark.com), an installation where blind people lead sighted visitors through a totally dark space. This concept and the experience gained from it were widened to include the situation of deaf people. Andreas owns several social enterprises in Germany and abroad and won various awards. He is the first social entrepreneur in Western Europe, fellow of Ashoka (→ www.ashoka.org) and the Schwab-Foundation (→ www.schwabfound.org).
Dialogue in Silence was shown the first time in Frankfurt in 1997 as “Schattensprache” . In 2003 the exhibition was presented in the Cité des Sciences et l’Industrie (→ www.cite-sciences.fr) in Paris throw the collaboration of Andreas Heinecke with Orna Cohen (→ www.orna-co.com), Thierry Roisin theatre director (→ www.theatredunord.fr) and Bachir Saifi, deaf actor at the International Visual Theatre - Paris (→ www.ivt.fr). Since that moment on the exhibition was continuously developed by the exchange with experts from museums and deaf cultural centre.
Orna Cohen
Orna Cohen is co-founder and director of Dialogue in Silence. She is curator and author of well known exhibitions. After benefiting from a broad and varied educational palette, Orna went on to exhibition design and implement interactive exhibition which immerse visitors in the exhibition experience and help enhance their understanding of the world around them. In 2004 she was given the award: “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French government. (→ www.orna-co.com)
Bachir Saifi
Bachir Saifi is a French deaf actor. He is part of the International Visual Theatre (→ www.ivt.fr). He is working as a coach and trains the deaf guides of Dialogue in Silence all over the world.
Susanne Genc
Susanne Genc is a German deaf actress. She is the team manager for the deaf co workers at the exhibition in Rendsburg - Germany (→ www.schattensprache.de). She is working as a coach and trains the deaf guides all over the world.