Lawrence Abu Hamdan

Earwitness inventory, 2018

Installation composed of 95 objects and instruments and a black and white, silent video. 5 separable elements
Frac Franche-Comté Collection

Earwitness Inventory consists of 95 objects, collected or custom-made by the artist to recreate a specific sound, all related to legal cases where sound evidence is contested and acoustic memories must be recovered. Based on descriptions from earwitnesses—a building about to collapse that sounds like “popcorn,” a gunshot that sounds like “someone dropping a metal cart”—Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s installation shows how the experience of acoustic violence creates surprising analogies in our memory. The ensemble constitutes a library of sound effects, similar to those used by the film industry to dub certain characteristic noises.

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Alongside this series of objects (which includes, among other things, a mosquito lamp, feather dusters, a selection of shoes, as well as a series of doors specially designed by the artist), an animated text explains the meaning of each element and reveals the investigative work undertaken by the artist, who has collected or studied dozens of sound testimonies from around the world.

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Earwitness Inventory is an inventory of objects, but it's also a database where each item is listed, and which includes the stories and episodes from which these objects came. I've chosen to include only some of these stories, as I didn't feel it was necessary to have an explanation for everything. Among the anecdotes linked to certain objects: the coins refer to the story of a tear-gas grenade in Israel; the popcorn machine alludes to the appearance of a sinkhole in Florida; the wagon wheel refers to the collapse of a mine in South Africa; the punching bag is linked to the sound of the wind, and to that of the first Belgian steamer arriving in the Congo. It's a transhistorical collection of stories and objects, pointing to the larger question of sonic experience, conflicting memories and the acoustic debris stored in our ears. - Lawrence Abu Hamdan

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This installation was commissioned and produced by Chisenhale Gallery, London, in partnership with : Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam; Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis; and Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.

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Lawrence Abu Hamdan

Born in 1985
Based in Beirut

His work explores the relationships between sound, language, memory, and justice, particularly through investigations of speech as evidence in legal and political contexts. He uses various mediums such as video, installation, performance, and audio research. Abu Hamdan has collaborated with human rights organizations, including Amnesty International. He developed the concept of forensic listening, which involves examining recordings, testimonies, or soundscapes to detect clues that reveal a truth: an accent, background noise, a hidden frequency, etc.