The Reluctant Orator

I entered the Guggenheim Museum this past Saturday for New York-based Sharon Hayes' performance as the second half of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic 1963 speech, "I Have a Dream," echoed through the museum's rotunda. It's Twentieth Century America's most famous bit of rhetoric, although it's unlikely many Americans can recall more than a few lines. As a part of Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance, the museum's collection show that examines how artists' photo-based works test and invigorate the image's famous relationship to death, Hayes installed behind a DJ booth on the ground floor of the rotunda and spun spoken-word records.

Hayes is best known for her politically charged performances and installations that use the strategy of "respeaking" (a term associated with her often direct recitation of non-fiction dialogues and political addresses) that calls for participation poignantly provoked but not seized upon. Stemming from the artist's similar but only 20-minute performance in 2004, Hayes' five-hour DJ set here included It highlighted speeches from the Civil Rights Movement and poems, dating primarily from the 1960s.
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