Lawrence Abu Hamdan

Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an artist and audio investigator currently living in Berlin as a guest of DAAD. Abu Hamdan’s interest with sound and its intersection with politics originate from his background as a touring musician and facilitator of DIY music . The artists audio investigations has been used as evidence at the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and as advocacy for organisations such as Amnesty International and Defence for Children International. The artist’s forensic audio investigations are conducted as part of his research for Forensic Architecture at Goldsmiths College London where he received his PhD in 2017. 

Abu Hamdan's Rubber Coated Steel 2016 won the short film award at the Rotterdam International Film festival 2017 and his exhibition Earshot at Portikus Frankfurt (2016) was the recipient of the 2016 Nam June Paik Award. Other solo exhibitions include Hammer Museum L.A (2018), Kunsthalle St Gallen (2015), Beirut in Cairo (2013) , The Showroom, London (2012), Casco, Utrecht (2012). Abu Hamdan is the author of the artist book  [inaudible] : A politics of listening in 4 acts  and a forthcoming ebook produced as part of his 2015-17 fellowship at the Vera List Centre for Art and Politics at the New School in New York.  His works are part of collections at MoMA New York, Guggenheim New York, Van AbbeMuseum Eindhoven, Centre Pompidou Paris, Tate Modern London.

Events

8

Dec

 Dec 08, 2017, 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
 Gray Center Lab at Midway Studios

929 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

SIDEBAR welcomes internationally renowned artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan, curator Omar Kholeif and scholar W.J.T Mitchell (University of Chicago, Department of English) to the Gray Center Lab for a lecture and conversation exploring Abu Hamdan's work on the politics of listening and visuality. The discussion will center on Abu Hamdan's work as a "private ear," and his projects that deal with the intersection of politics and legality in the Middle East and abroad. 

3

Mar

 Mar 03, 2020, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 Logan Center for the Arts, Performance Penthouse

915 E. 60th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Join us for a special evening of performances in the Logan Center Penthouse conceived by Gray Center Fellows Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Hannah B Higgins, and W.J.T. Mitchell; joined by special guests Nancy Rose Hunt, Sasha Crawford-Holland, Siting Jiang, and Caleigh Stephens. The event employs a special scenography designed to invoke strategies for seeing words and hearing images. The performance will examine and challenge our evolving notions around the politics of listening and the voice,  enacting live what the trio of Abu Hamdan, Higgins, and Mitchell term the Sonic Image.

9

Mar

 Mar 09, 2022, 12:00 PM – 9:00 PM
 Logan Center Performance Hall

Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts
915 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637

A Thousand White Plastic Chairs documents Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s performance in the Logan Center Penthouse in March 2020, as part of “The Sonic Image,” an evening of performances conceived by Gray Center Fellows Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Hannah B Higgins, and W.J.T. Mitchell during their Thinking Through Sound Fellowship