For this sound installation, three voices sing distinct versions of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at different, conflicting tempos. Bethany Collins is particularly drawn to contrafacta—songs in which the melody stays the same, but the words change. The lyrics in the versions selected for this work tell a story of race, women’s suffrage, and the flexible forms of enduring patriotism. For Collins, that malleability reflects a specifically American relationship with language and identity: near-sacred national texts growing and changing alongside the evolution of American identity and values.