Warehouse 50, Project Space
Lawrence Abu Hamdan invites colleagues and collaborators to a roundtable discussion around the impetus for the Zifzafa project and the larger question of sonic autonomy.
We will begin with Listening to Maps Closely, a presentation by architect and writer Jumanah Abbas on her research around technologies of control and forms of resistance through mapping and telecommunications in the occupied territories, including the Golan Heights and the West Bank. Next, Jawlani musician Busher Kanj Abu Saleh will break down how his compositions are shaped by the distinct sonic environment of the Golan Heights. Finally, the Earshot.ngo team will reflect on the making of Zifzafa and the aesthetic, political and technical demands required for such an intervention.
The session will take place on Wednesday, 18 September at 6:30PM at Warehouse 50, Alserkal Arts Foundation's Project Space.
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Biographies
Jumanah Abbas (she/her) is an architect, a writer, and a curator, working through collaborative projects with institutes and universities. One was the “Mapping Memories of Resistance: The Untold Story of the Occupation of the Golan Heights” a project in collaboration with London School of Economics, Birzeit University, and Al Marsad, Arab Human Rights Center in Golan Heights. The other was Tasmeem Biennial 2022, themed around Radical Futures, by Virginia Commonwealth University, where she was appointed to curate the biennial spatial design.
Her current and upcoming writings can be found on Arab Urbanism (2020), Failed Architecture (2021), New Generations (2021), Cartha Magazine (2022) Lumin Press (2022), and amongst others. She was previously selected for the Doha Firestation Curator in Residence (2022-2023), the Curatorial and Research Residency at Singapore Art Museum (2023), and Design Fellow for Labs for Liberation (2024).
Busher Kanj Abu Saleh is a composer and sound designer from Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights. His primary focus is on electroacoustic music. He has composed and performed music for orchestra, film, theatre, and art installations and his solo project under the name Busher Kanj. His academic research includes a thesis on the influence of the sonic environment on music composers. He is also the founder and guitarist of the band Hawa Dafi and 67 Recording Studio, where he records and produces wide range of artists.
Lawrence Abu Hamdan is a researcher, filmmaker, artist and activist or as he puts it a ‘Private Ear’. Abu Hamdan has over a decade of experience investigating audio and a doctorate from the University of London on the role of sound in legal investigations and political discourse. In 2023 he founded Earshot, the world’s first not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the study of audio for human rights and environmental advocacy. His work has been presented in the form of forensic reports, lectures and live performances, films, publications, and exhibitions all over the world.
His investigative work has been used as evidence at the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and in a formal request to the International Criminal Court. His research in sound and acoustic events has played a central role in advocacy campaigns for organisations such as Defence for Children International, al Haq, Human Rights Watch, Btselem, Forbidden Stories, Forensic Architecture and Amnesty International. His work with Earshot regularly furnishes journalists at Washington Post, Sky News, AlJazeera and others with the information they need to produce the most accurate reporting they can.
Abu Hamdan has held fellowships and guest professorships at the University of Chicago, the New School, New York and at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. His cultural projects that reflect on the political and cultural context of sound and listening have been presented at MoMA New York, MUAC Mexico, the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, the 58th Venice Biennale, the 11th Gwangju Biennale, the 13th and 14th Sharjah Biennial, the 34th Biennial of São Paulo, the Tate Modern, Hammer Museum L.A and the Hamburger Banhnof, Berlin. His works are part of collections at Reina Sofia, MoMA, Guggenheim, Hamburger Bahnhof, Van AbbeMuseum, Centre Pompidou and Tate Modern. Abu Hamdan has been widely recognized internationally with awards such as the Grand Prix at Winterthur International Film Festival, the 2020 Toronto Biennial Audience Award, the 2019 Edvard Munch Art Award, the award for best short film at the 2017 Rotterdam International Film Festival and the 2016 Nam June Paik Award for new media. For the 2019 Turner Prize, Abu Hamdan, together with nominated artists Helen Cammock, Oscar Murillo and Tai Shani, formed a temporary collective in order to be jointly granted the award.
The Zifzafa performance will take place on Saturday, 21 September 2024 at Warehouse 50, Alserkal Arts Foundation's Project Space. Learn more.
Image credits: Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Zifzafa, 2024. Stills from virtual reality audio platform. Courtesy of the artist.