The paradoxical power of the verb increases, while freedom of expression remains threatened in many countries of the world. This is the intent of the installation by the American artist Jenny Holzer, commissioned by PEN America on the occasion of her centenary.
“Speech Itself” will take place on the facades of three buildings in Rockefeller Center, New York, from this Wednesday 14 September to Sunday 18 September, at nightfall. Large illuminated letters will be displayed on the buildings, bearing quotes from famous authors whose writings have marked the course of PEN America.
The writings of Ayad Akhtar – the current president of PEN America -, Salman Rushdie, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Margaret Atwood, Ron Chernow, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Joy Harjo, Jhumpa Lahiri, Yoon Ha Lee, Toni Morrison and Alejandro Zambra by Jenny Holzer for his installation, but borrowed quotes from around 60 authors are announced.
” In a world where free voices are increasingly suppressed, PEN is not a luxury, but a necessity “For example, New Yorkers will be able to read by looking up: the sentence is by Margaret Atwood.
The challenges of censorship
The PEN America organization celebrates its centenary in 2022, just a few months after that of PEN International and Club PEN France. Several large-scale events have been implemented by this facility with very significant media power across the Atlantic.
During a gala on September 12, several American and international literary personalities came to greet the actions of PEN America and share their feelings about freedom of expression around the world.
READ: #StandWithSalman, a global solidarity movement
” We are entering a new century, determined to be there, but also aware that the challenges we face are much greater than all of us. said Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director of PEN America, during the “Words on Fire” event. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jenny Boylan or even Margaret Atwood responded to the meeting.
Created a year after PEN International, a facility opened in 1921 by British poet and playwright Catherine Amy Dawson-Scott, PEN America celebrates its anniversary in the United States in a particularly complicated context. Self the attack on Salman Rushdie recalls the danger of religious fundamentalism for freedom of expression, a wave of reactionary censorship it also threatens many authors and their booksfor several months, in libraries across the country.
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Photography: illustration, Maciek Lulko, CC BY-NC 2.0
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