http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2010Biennial/SharonHayes Recent or recently updated pages on the Whitney Museum of American Art website &copy; 2012 Whitney Museum of American Art en-us Economy <p><font color="#7f7f7f">Exhibitions/2010Biennial/SharonHayes</font></p> <p><a href="http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2010Biennial/SharonHayes"><img border="0" src="/image_columns/0015/1326/blank_319.png" /></a></p> <div><p>Through her performances, films, and installations, Sharon Hayes examines the intersection of history, politics, and speech, with a particular focus on the language of twentieth-century protest groups. <i>Parole</i>, the title of this installation, refers to the term used by Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure to distinguish individual acts of speech (<i>parole</i>) from a larger system of language (<i>langue</i>). In this installation, several distinct scenes present examples of public speech in different contexts. In each of the settings, which include Hayes&rsquo;s recent performances as well as fictive scenes without an audience, the same figure appears, recording sound but never speaking. Hayes draws on historical texts&mdash;such as early lesbian activist Anna R&uuml;ling&rsquo;s 1904 speech <br /><br /><i>What Interest Does the Women&rsquo;s Movement Have in the Homosexual Question</i>&mdash;that &ldquo;re-speak&rdquo; to new audiences. These historical speeches, and Hayes&rsquo;s work in general, explore the construction of gender and sexuality and the articulations of political protest, revealing unexpected resonances across time periods. <i>Parole</i> encourages the viewer to think about how past forms of protest can inform the present and how the effects of public speech are altered in the process of documentation.</p></div> Whitney Museum of American Art Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:39:25 -0400 http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2010Biennial/SharonHayes http://whitney.org/Exhibitions/2010Biennial/SharonHayes