It was an open mike and a free-for-all for about 50 people at Art Positions on the beachfront at Collins Park early Saturday evening. During Hear it Here, a performance conceived by Los Angeles-based artist Shana Lutker, two men stood on stage, headphones covering their ears and their vision limited by bug-eyed sunglasses. Audience members approached microphones near the stage, and spoke, well, whatever they pleased. The men on stage repeated what they heard as words were transmitted to their ears.

So what was on people's minds? It started softly. ''I love art. Art is life,'' one person said into the microphone. ''I . . . I want do something,'' said another. Then it got a little more serious. ''Secondhand smoke is bad!'' said a middle-aged blond while an onlooker smoked to her side. Then, true to Miami, there was a bit of politics: ''Castro tried. He failed, but he tried,'' said a man in his 30s. A young man approached the mike: ''Sh--. Can we say sh--?'' One of the men onstage, whose audience-controlled performance was intended as a vague commentary on the American presidential campaign, shouted the words back to the crowd. Seems the young man got his answer.

-- JAWEED KALEEM

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