The artist’s work often explores the role of voice in law and the politics of listening. During his fellowship at the VLC, and in collaboration with faculty and students in fall 2016, Abu Hamdan will develop a new case study on ShotSpotter, a technology that registers gunshots, alerts police of their whereabouts, and is at this point installed throughout New York City. Abu Hamdan will lead an audio investigation into Shotspotter as a way to not only understand this algorithmic surveillance technology but to raise fundamental questions about the politics of representation, in particular, the limits of free speech and the diminishing possibilities of recourse to silence.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an artist and audio investigator. His interest in sound and its intersection with politics originate from his background as a touring musician and facilitator of DIY music. The artist’s audio investigations have been used as evidence at the UK Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, by organizations such as Amnesty International and are conducted as part of his research for Forensic Architecture at Goldsmiths College London where he received his Ph.D. in 2017. Abu Hamdan was the recipient of the 2018 Abraaj group art prize, his film Rubber Coated Steel 2016 won the short film award at the Rotterdam International Film festival 2017 and his exhibition Earshot at Portikus Frankfurt was the recipient of the 2016 Nam June Paik Award. Other solo exhibitions include Hammer Museum L.A (2018), Kunsthalle St. Gallen (2015), Beirut in Cairo (2013), The Showroom, London (2012), Casco, Utrecht (2012). Abu Hamdan is the author of the artist book [inaudible]: A politics of listening in 4 acts, and a forthcoming ebook produced as part of his 2015–17 fellowship at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics.