LAWRENCE ABU HAMDAN
° 1983
Born in Amman (Jordan), lives in London (United Kingdom).
Lawrence Abu Hamdan, who has a background in DIY music, has often re-purposed the format of the radio documentary for the contemporary art context as a form of text–sound composition enlarged with live performance elements and graphic or three-dimensional visualisations. His work connects the fundamentals of how the human body conveys meaning by setting airwaves in motion – tone, voice, words – with the demands and pitfalls of legal systems. His work, much of it made within the framework of the doctoral research at Goldsmiths College in London, helps us re-appraise the precision of speaking, and of remaining silent. Abu Hamdan usually analyses fundamental concepts – the oath, the right to silence, freedom of speech – and demonstrates that the battle for free speech is now about control over the conditions in which we are being heard. (AK)
