Cuba has restrictive free speech laws that prevent any unmediated discourse. The artist Tania Bruguera chose to supply people of Havana, Cuba with a temporary stage where any member of the audience could speak uncensored for one minute. She complicated the piece by having two men dressed in military garb escort the speakers off the stage at the end of minute. Also, a white dove was placed on the shoulder of each speaker referencing the one that landed on Fidel Castro during his speech in Havana after the 1959 revolution. Bruguera simultaneously allowed for discourse to occur in a place where it is suppressed, while challenging Castro’s use of a symbol for peace with military control. This democratic work of art not only provokes conversations surrounding the restrictions of freedom that Castro employed, but also allows anyone to participate in those conversations.
