A Play on Words and Looks: “PokaZ”

The article offers a poetological analysis of PokaZ (ShoW), a performance directed by Justyna Wielgus that references the practices of freak show. Piniewska discusses the compositional strategies used in PokaZ to subversively crip the oppressive freak show genre. Adopting the perspective of critical disability studies, the author reflects on the popular cultural images of disability (a victim, a hero, an eternal child, and a medical specimen) and discourses thereof (discourse of pity, medical discourse) referenced in the performance. The analysis centers on the ways of talking about and looking at disability that shape artistic communication with an audience.