Apr 14, 2017 2 min read

April 28 and 29

‘I Wish To Say’

Market Square will be filled April 28 and 29 with the sounds of vintage typewriters transcribing messages to President Trump for artist Sheryl Oring’s project “I Wish to Say” as a pool of 10 typists will set up a public office to dictate postcards to the president.

The public is invited to share their thoughts, feelings and suggestions from 4 to 7 p.m. April 28 and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 29, which represent the 99th and 100th days of President Trump’s administration.

Oring has presented her “I Wish to Say” project since 2004, which grew out of her concern that not enough American voices were being heard in regards to the current state-of-affairs, and her strong belief in the freedom of expression.

To date, more than 3,200 postcards have been sent to the White House as part of this project, including many that were shared in her 2016 book “Activating Democracy: The I Wish to Say Project.”

A former journalist, Oring has long been obsessed with typewriters. Oring uses carbon paper to make two copies of dictations, one of which will be sent to the White House, while the other is kept for her archive of America’s commentary.

“I Wish to Say” has been performed more than 70 times around the country, but this is her first performance in Pittsburgh.

Local Pittsburghers will be filling the role of the typing pool and they will be trained in advance by Oring and will practice typing on manual typewriters in preparation for the show. Additionally, readers will be sharing some of the messages collected in Market Square.

Oring will also present an artist’s talk on April 29; details are forthcoming.