New Years Eve:
--
:
--
:
--
:
--
°F
(NEW YORK, NY — April 27, 2026) — Times Square Arts, in partnership with Fall of Freedom, is proud to present Cuban artist Tania Bruguera’s landmark participatory performance Tatlin’s Whisper #6 on Friday, May 1, 2026, from 12–1pm. Staged in the heart of one of the world’s most visible public places on the occasion of May Day—celebrated by workers across the globe as International Labor Day—the one-hour performance invites members of the public to step forward and speak, freely and uncensored, for a limited period of time.
First performed at the 2009 Havana Biennial, Bruguera presented Tatlin’s Whisper #6 as a temporary platform for the free speech regularly denied in Cuba. Audience members were invited to step forward and speak uncensored for one minute, before being escorted away. The work has become one of the defining performances of the 21st century—an enduring meditation on free expression, civic participation, and the fragile conditions under which speech becomes possible.
In 2015, a version of the performance was staged in Times Square in partnership with Creative Time, four months after the artist was arrested for attempting to enact the performance in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución in December 2014. This upcoming interaction, more than a decade later, arrives at a moment of renewed urgency around democracy, dissent, and the rights of assembly and expression.
The performance is conceived around a simple setup: a microphone, a raised platform, and an open invitation to the public to step forward, one by one, to speak before the audience and passersby. White doves will be briefly placed on the speakers’ shoulders. Each participant’s contribution will be constrained by time, underscoring how liberty is so often granted conditionally, temporarily, or at risk.
By re-staging this work, Bruguera identifies a common thread across autocratic and dictatorial regimes: the systematic suppression of free speech, often legitimized through states of exception, competing political imperatives, or the insistence that dissent be suspended in the name of “broader achievements.” This dynamic normalizes the premise that silence is a necessary condition for stability, progress, or the collective good, effectively enforcing a form of civic coercion.
“Freedom of expression is taken each time silence feels safer than speech, each time convenience outweighs conviction, each time we mistake the absence of punishment for the presence of freedom,” said Tania Bruguera.
“There are few places in the world where the right to be seen and heard carries the symbolic charge and reach that it does in Times Square,” said Anna Starling, Director of Times Square Arts and Vice President, Development & Partnerships at Times Square Alliance. “We are honored to bring Tatlin’s Whisper #6 back to the Crossroads of the World, this time on May Day, to open up a temporary public forum where speech itself becomes the artwork.”
Tatlin's Whisper #6 (Havana Version) is on loan from the Solomon R, Guggenheim Museum, New York.
ABOUT TANIA BRUGUERA
Tania Bruguera (b. 1968) is a Cuban artist and activist whose work centers on installation and performance. She lives in Cambridge, where she serves as head of media and performance at Harvard University. Bruguera has participated in major international exhibitions, including Documenta 11 and Documenta 15, as well as the Venice Biennale (2001, 2005, 2009, 2015). Her work is held in the permanent collections of institutions such as Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, and Bronx Museum of the Arts.
Bruguera’s practice interrogates structures of power and control, often re-presenting conditions shaped by autocratic and dictatorial regimes. As a result of her artistic actions and civic engagement, she has been repeatedly detained by Cuban authorities.
ABOUT FALL OF FREEDOM
Fall of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation. Beginning May 1, 2026, galleries, museums, libraries, comedy clubs, theaters, and concert halls across the country will host exhibitions, performances, and public events that channel the urgency of this moment. Fall of Freedom is an open invitation to artists, creators, and communities to take part—and to celebrate the experiences, cultures, and identities that shape the fabric of our nation.
ABOUT TIMES SQUARE ARTS
Times Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists and cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one of the world's most iconic urban places. Through the Square's electronic billboards, public plazas, vacant areas and popular venues, and the Alliance's own online landscape, Times Square Arts invites leading contemporary creators, such as Charles Gaines, Joan Jonas, Jeffrey Gibson, Pamela Council, Mel Chin, and Kehinde Wiley, to help the public see Times Square in new ways. Times Square has always been a cultural district and place of risk, innovation and creativity, and the arts program ensures these qualities remain central to the district's unique identity.
PRESS INQUIRIES
