MoMA Presents Lawrence Abu Hamdan's "Walled Unwalled" and Other Monologues

This spring, #MoMA presents #lawrenceabuhamdan: Walled Unwalled and Other Monologues, bringing the work of #lawrenceabuhamdan to The Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio from April 8 through June 11, 2023. As a practitioner of “forensic listening,” Abu Hamdan examines the capacity of sound—and the physiological act of hearing—to exonerate and incriminate. His video Walled Unwalled (2018) investigates how information transmitted through walls—both by sophisticated surveillance technology and the human senses alone—has been used as evidence in courts of law and instrumentalized as a tool of the state. For this exhibition and program of performances, Walled Unwalled will be adapted for the Kravis Studio; the work, itself a solo #performance for camera, will be presented alongside a series of live performances, or “audiovisual essays,” by the artist: After SFX (2018), Air Pressure (2021), and Natq (2019). #lawrenceabuhamdan: Walled Unwalled and Other Monologues is organized by Ana Janevski, Curator, and Erica Papernik-Shimizu, Associate Curator, with May Makki, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Media and #performance. Performances are produced by Lizzie Gorfaine, Associate Director and Producer, and Kate Scherer, Manager and Producer, with Olivia Rousey, Assistant #performance Coordinator, #performance and Live Programs. It is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Signals: How Video Transformed the World.

Acquired by #MoMA in 2019, Walled Unwalled is one of four works by Abu Hamdan in the Museum’s collection. In the video, the artist delivers a monologue connecting three narratives in which sound, architecture, and politics intersect: the case of Kyllo v. United States (2001), the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius (2014), and the accounts of survivors of the Syrian regime’s Saydnaya military prison. Recorded at an East Berlin sound studio once used by state radio to broadcast propaganda throughout the Eastern Bloc and over the Berlin Wall, the video was filmed through the studio’s glass walls. In prior installations of this work, the video has been projected onto a glass surface; the presentation at #MoMA incorporates the Kravis Studio’s floor-to-ceiling windows, transforming the room into a citation of the work’s original setting and amplifying the work’s core concerns.

The Kravis Studio will host a series of ticketed performances by Abu Hamdan, with three works each being presented in two evening performances and one matinee #performance over three weeks during the exhibition:

After SFX (2018)
Saturday, April 8, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 9, 3:00 p.m.
Monday, April 10, 8:00 p.m.

After SFX is prompted by Abu Hamdan’s investigations into crimes that are heard but not seen. The artist explores sounds described by “earwitnesses” in interviews conducted by Abu Hamdan or sourced from trial manuscripts. In order to facilitate their testimonies, Abu Hamdan built hybrid objects, created to unlock witnesses’ acoustic memories, called Earwitness Inventory (2018–ongoing). A selection of these sculptures will be activated in the live #performance. Following the #performance on April 9, the artist will appear in conversation with curator Ana Janevski.

Air Pressure (2021)
Friday, June 2, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 3, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 4, 3:00 p.m.

Air Pressure draws on research, conducted between May 2020 and May 2021, into the aerial soundscape of Lebanon, documenting 2,412 instances of Israeli fighter jets and drones. Through chronological sequencing and live audio processing, the #performance analyzes the relationship between background noise and atmospheres of violence.

Natq (2019)
Friday, June 9, 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 10, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 11, 3:00 p.m.

In Arabic, natq, meaning “to vocalize,” is also the word that is used to describe speech that has been transmigrated from the living to the dead. In this #performance, Abu Hamdan examines the politics of listening to reincarnated testimonies—accounts from witnesses who can testify to long and continuous crimes that leak across generations and threaten the future.

Further information in the press release to download