Lawrence Abu Hamdan

Lawrence Abu Hamdan was born in 1985 in Amman, Jordan
He lives and works between Dubaï and Beirut

Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an artist and “private ear” whose projects have taken the form of audiovisual installations, videos, performances, photography, essays, and lectures. His interest with sound and its intersection with politics originate from his background as a touring musician and facilitator of DIY music.
The artist’s audio investigation 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 together with fellow researchers from Forensic Architecture.
Abu Hamdan obtained his PhD in 2017 from Goldsmiths College University of London and has completed fellowships at the Gray Centre for Arts and Inquiry at the University of Chicago and the Vera List Centre for Art and Politics at the New School, New York.

Selected solo exhibitions include Lawrence Abu Hamdan / Dirty Evidence, Bonniers Konsthall (2021); Green Coconuts and Other Inadmissible Evidence, Secession, Vienna (2020); The Voice Before the Law, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2019); Earwitness Theatre, Institute of Modern Art, Birsbane (2019), Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2019), Witte de With, Rotterdam (2019), Chisenhale Gallery, London (2018) ; Hammer Projects: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Hammer Museum, LA (2018); Earshot, Portikus, Frankfurt (2016); Taqiyya, Kunsthalle St Gallen (2015); Tape Echo, Beirut in Cairo and Van AbbeMuseum, Eindhoven (2013); The Freedom Of Speech Itself, The Showroom, London (2012), The Whole Truth, Casco, Utrecht (2012).

Additionally his works have been exhibited and performed at institutions and international events such as the Kunsthalle Basel (2021); the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020); the 58th Venice Biennale (2019); Tate Modern, London, UK (2013, 2018); Sharjah Biennale 14 & 13 (2017, 2019) ; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2017); Contour Biennale 8, Mechelen, Belgium (2017); MACBA, Barcelona, Spain (2017); Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (2017); the 11th Gwangju Biennale, Korea (2016); the 9th Liverpool Biennial, UK (2016); Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK (2016); Beirut Art Center, Beirut, Lebanon (2015); and the 10th Shanghai Biennial (2014), among many others.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan is the co-winner of the Turner Prize 2019. He is also the recipient of the 2020 EMAF Award, the 2019 Edvard Munch Art Award, the Baloise Art Prize 2018 and the Abraaj Art Prize 2018. In 2017, he won the short film award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and in 2016, he received the Nam June Paik Award for new media. More recently, he was awarded the 2022 Future Fields Commission in Time-Based Media by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo.

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