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 independent investigator or Private Ear. His investigations focus on sound and linguistics and have 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. He has completed fellowships at the University of Chicago, and at the New School, New York; and a professorship at the J. Gutenberg University, Mainz.
His works have been presented in solo exhibitions at MoMa, New York (2023); Spike Island, Bristol (2023); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2022); Sharjah Art Foundation (2022); Kunstverein Nürnberg (2021); Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm (2021); Secession, Vienna (2020); Towner Eastbourne, UK (2020); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2019); Institute of Modern Art, Birsbane (2019); Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis (2019); Witte de With, Rotterdam (2019); Chisenhale Gallery, London (2018); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018); Tate Modern Tanks, London (2018); Portikus, Frankfurt (2016); Kunsthalle St Gallen (2015); Van AbbeMuseum, Eindhoven (2013); The Showroom, London (2012); and Casco, Utrecht (2012), among others.
Additionally he participated in many group exhibitions and international manifestations such as the 2nd Toronto Biennial (2022); the 12th Berlin Biennale (2022); Manifesta 14, Prishtina (2022); the 34th Bienal de Sao Paulo (2021); Kunsthalle Basel (2021); the 22nd Biennale of Sydney (2020); Mudam, Luxembourg (2020); the 58th Venice Biennale (2019); Sharjah Architecture Triennale (2019); Turner Contemporary, Margate (2019); Tate Modern, London (2013, 2018); Sharjah Biennial 13 & 14 (2017, 2019); Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne (2018); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2017); Contour Biennale 8, Mechelen (2017); MACBA, Barcelona (2017); Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2017); the 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016); the 9th Liverpool Biennial (2016); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2016); Beirut Art Center (2015); and the 10th Shanghai Biennial (2014), among many others.
Abu Hamdan’s videos have been screened at international festivals: IFFR, Rotterdam (2015, 2017, 2019, 2023); International Kurzfilmtage Witerthur (2022); New York Film Festival (2017, 2022); Punta de Vista, Pamplona (2021); Torino Film Festival (2018); Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival (2018), just to mention a few.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan is the co-winner of the Turner Prize 2019. He is also the recipient of the 2020 Jean Vigo Award, 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.
The Sonic Image - Exhibition view, Sharjah Art Foundation, 2022
Still Present - Exhibition view, Berlin Biennale, 2022
Air Conditioning, 2022 - Inkjet prints on paper, mounted on dibond
Air Pressure (A Diary of The Sky), 2022 - Exhibition view, Fondazione Sandretto, Turin, Italy, 2022
400 billion dollars of air, 2022 - Digital print on acrylic plates, linen, cardboard
45th Parallel - Exhibition view, Exhibition view, Spike Island, Bristol, 2022
45th Parallel - Exhibition view, Mercer Union, 2nd Toronto Biennial of Art, 2022
Once Removed, 2019 - Video installation - Exhibition view, Nirin, 22nd Sydney Biennale, 2020
Once Removed, 2019 - Video installation - Exhibition view, Nirin, 22nd Sydney Biennale, 2020
Dirty Evidence - Exhibition view, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, 2021
Shot Twice (with the same bullet), 2021 - Video installation - Exhibition view, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, 2021
For the Otherwise Unaccounted, 2019 - Series of thermographic prints on wooden shelves - Exhibition view, Kunsthalle Basel, 2021
Green Coconuts and Other Inadmissible Evidence - Exhibition view, Secession, Vienna, 2020
The Witness-Machine Complex - Exhibition view, Kunstverein Nurnberg, 2021
The Witness-Machine Complex, 2021 - Video installation - Detail
Green Coconuts and Other Inadmissible Evidence - Exhibition view, Secession, Vienna, 2020
Dirty Evidence - Exhibition view, Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, 2021
Earwitness Inventory, 2018 - Mixed media installation - Exhibition view, Witte de With, Rotterdam, 2019
Earwitness Theatre - Exhibition view, Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis, 2019
Earwitness Theatre - Exhibition view, Contemporary Art Museum, St Louis, 2019
After SFX, 2019 - Live Performance, MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2023
After SFX, 2019 - Live Performance, The Tanks at Tate Modern, London, 2019
Walled Unwalled, 2018 - Video Installation – Exhibition view, MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, 2023
Walled Unwalled, 2018 - Video Installation – Exhibition view, Turner Prize, Margate, 2019
Walled Unwalled, 2018 - Single channel video installation, color, sound
Walled Unwalled, 2018 - Video Installation – Exhibition view, 58th Venice Biennale, 2019
This whole time there were no land mines, 2017 - Video installation – Exhibition view, 58th Venice Biennale, 2019
This whole time there were no land mines, 2017 - Video installation – Exhibition view, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, 2019
This whole time there were no land mines, 2017 - 8 channel video installation, color, sound
Saydnaya [the missing 19db], 2017 - Digital print mounted on light box
Saydnaya [the missing 19db], 2017 - Exhibition view, Turner Contemporary, Margate, 2019
Saydnaya [ray traces], 2017 - Digital drawings on overhead projectors
Saydnaya [ray traces], 2017 - Installation view, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, 2018
Saydnaya [ray traces], 2017 - Digital drawings on overhead projectors
Disputed Utterance, 2019 - Wall installation - Exhibition view, Hamburger Bahnhof, 2019
Disputed Utterance, 2019 - Wall installation - Diorama detail
Disputed Utterance, 2018 - Drawing with oil and charcoal, digital print
[inaudible], 2018 - Exhibition view, mor charpentier, Paris
The Recovered Manifesto of Wissam [inaudible], 2017 - Mixed media installation - Exhibition view, mor charpentier, Paris, 2018
The Recovered Manifesto of Wissam [inaudible], 2017 - Mixed media installation - Detail
The Recovered Manifesto of Wissam [inaudible], 2017 - Exhibition view, mor charpentier, Paris, 201
The Recovered Manifesto of Wissam [inaudible], 2017 - Mixed media installation - Exhibition view, Art Parcours, Basel, 2019
Amir Shakib Arslan Mosque - Site specific intervention, Moukhtara, Lebanon, 2016
Amir Shakib Arslan Mosque - Site specific intervention, Moukhtara, Lebanon, 2016
Earshot, 2016 - Installation with digital video and prints – Exhibition view, MACBA, Barcelona, 2017
Earshot, 2016 - Installation with digital video and prints – Exhibition view, Portikus, Frankfurt, 2017
Earshot, 2016 - Installation with digital video and prints – Exhibition view, Portikus, Frankfurt, 2017
Earshot, 2016 – Installation with digital video and prints - Installation view, Gwangju Biennial, 2016
Spinneys Supermarket, Achrafieh Beirut, August 2017, 2015 - Digital print
A Convention of Tiny Movements, 2015 – Mixed media installation - Exhibition view, British Art Show, Leeds, 2015
Beneath the Surface, 2015 - 7 wooden panels, sound piece – Exhibition view, FRAC Franche Comté, 2019
Beneath the Surface, 2015 - Wooden panel painted with acoustic paint
Contra Diction: Speech Against Itself, 2015 – Video installation - Exhibition view, Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, 2015
Contra Diction: Speech Against Itself, 2015 - Live performance - HKW, Berlin, 2016
Contra Diction :Speech Against Itself, 2015 - Live performance - Corner House, Manchester 2016
Contra Diction: Speech Against Itself, 2015 - Live performance - Corner House, Manchester, 2015
Double Take, 2014 - Video installation - Exhibition view, MAC Val, Paris, 2017
Double Take, 2014 - Video installation - Exhibition view, MuHKA, Antwerp, 2016
A conversation with an Unemployed, 2013 – Installation view, Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven, 2014
A Conversation with an Unemployed (6), 2013 - Digital print on lightbox
A Conversation with an Unemployed (1), 2013 - Digital print on lightbox
Tape Echo, 2013 - Mixed media installation – Exhibition view, New Museum Triennial, New York, 2013
An Unspeakable Act, 2012 - Digital print
The Freedom of Speech Itself, 2012 - Mixed media installation – Exhibition view, The Showroom, London, 2012
The Freedom of Speech Itself, 2012 - Mixed media installation – Exhibition view, HKW, Berlin, 2012
Conflicted Phonemes, 2012 - Wall installation, vinyl, digital prints – Installation view, Tate Modern, London, 2013
Marches, 2008 - Relics of a performance, pair of shoes and digital prints