New on Open Space: Tess Thackara writes on Patty Hearst’s Speech Acts, which is now on view as part of Stage Presence: Theatricality in Art and Media.

Excerpt:

“Mum, Dad, tell the poor and oppressed people of this nation what the corporate state is about to do…That they’re about to be murdered…Tell the people that the energy crisis is nothing more than a means to get public approval for a massive program to build nuclear power plants all over the nation… Tell them, Dad, that the removal of unneeded people has already started.”

So goes the fourth audiotape in the famous series of recordings of Patty Hearst aired on public radio during her kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in 1974.

Read the full post here.

Pictured: Sharon Hayes, Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) Screeds #13, 16, 20 & 29 (still), 2003; four-channel video installation with sound; courtesy the artist and Tanya Leighton, Berlin; © Sharon Hayes