Between The Lines; Who Speaks
1994-1996

Between The Lines; Who Speaks? is a collaborative video installation that revolves around a found text - the keynote address given by playwright Edward Albee at the 1991 OutWrite Conference in San Francisco. The project consists of a series of individual collaborations between Ma and a group of artists, writers, and performers. Through this process, a series of video segments in which Albee’s speech is performed, and text-based pieces in which the text of the speech is altered or rewritten, is created and form the main body of the installation. The third element is a karaoke video, which engages with the viewers by provoking them to perform the speech, thereby placing them in the position of a speaker/performer.

By splitting the singular “voice” of the original text into a multi-vocal and multi-textual performance, Between The Lines: Who Speaks? utilizes the different voices and subject positions of collaborators and viewers to comment on minority status, notions of community, and ultimately, the institution of multiculturalism. It seeks to create a plurality of resistance without leveling differences that exist among people, and it does so by highlighting the power relations between so called “marginal groups” while simultaneously resists being inscribed by them.

The size and dimension of the installation is flexible. Depending on the space in which the piece is installed, it can be presented as a room-sized installation—the Temporary Contemporary version occupied a 30’ x 25’ space, or condensed into a singular podium. The piece is also designed so that it can adapt itself to public spaces, such as lecture halls, bookstores, auditoriums, and classrooms.

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