Tatlin’s Whisper #6

 

In 2009, Tania Bruguera provided a small platform for participants to come come on stage and deliver a speech of their choosing – something that would normally be censored by the Cuban government. As part of the speeches, each participant had a white dove placed on their shoulder, reminiscent of the white dove that had landed on Fidel Castro during his first speech in Havana after the 1959 revolution.  After the allotted one minute speech limit, participants would be escorted off the stage by two hired actors wearing military uniforms.

Bruguera’s goal with Tatlin’s Whisper #6 was to recontextualize the imagery of speeches that are normally connected with ideas of censorship and dictatorship, and connect them with the idea of uncensored free speech.