Lawrence Abu Hamdan: Air Pressure (A Diary of the Sky)

A close investigation of aerial war and atmospheric violence through artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s newly commissioned audio and video installation

This publication documents the creation of a new work by artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan (b. 1985) for the Future Fields Commission in Time-Based Media. For this commission, Abu Hamdan has developed an ambitious multichannel sound installation and singular film derived from ongoing documentation and analysis of Israeli Air Force violations of Lebanese airspace. The film features narration in Arabic, presented in English in this volume, that elaborates on the artist’s research methodology while chronicling the details of these acts of aerial and aural trespass—a diary of the sounds, subjects, and powers that turn the air violent.

The publication also includes a conversation between Abu Hamdan and Ghalya Saadawi that explores the tension inherent to a violence that is both exceptional and routine. An essay by Marina Peterson situates Abu Hamdan’s work within the broader artistic and scholarly study of noise, political violence, and air pollution. Contributions from Irene Calderoni and Amanda Sroka introduce the commission and detail other works in the artist’s larger Air Pressure project. Together these texts position the commission as a continuation of Abu Hamdan’s rigorous investigations into the political dimensions of listening and the role of sound as a tool that can be used to silence, suppress, or heal.