AIR PRESSURE: A DIARY OF THE SKY

LAWRENCE ABU HAMDAN

Impulse Theater Festival - Showcase
Saturday 11. June 2022, 19.00 Uhr

Info: Language: English

Durch Abu Hamdan Air Pressure Christian Schuller 10

The sky above Lebanon is filled with noise. Lawrence Abu Hamdan spent an entire year gathering data and videos of fighter jets and drones. He presents the results of his research vividly and clearly, underscored by an ear-numbing tapestry of noise. An audio-visual essay about acoustic insecurity as a tool of oppression.

The artist stand holding a microphone in front of a video projection of shaky mobile phone footage: “May 2020. 147 incursions into Lebanese air space. Total flight time: 511 hours and 45 minutes. 176 million decibels of noise.” Every month since 2006, the Lebanese Ministry of Defence has delivered statistics on incursions into Lebanese airspace to the United Nations. Fighter planes circle overhead and drones follow the covert movements of Hezbollah. And everywhere there is the hum of diesel generators because there are frequent power cuts due to corruption.

The noise tells us a lot about the present political situation in Lebanon – often more than official sources are willing to reveal. Lawrence Abu Hamdan talks of „atmospheric violence:“ the noise disturbs people and makes them ill. For the population at large, this constant sound in the background is as accustomed as it is deadly.

“Stimulating and intelligent: intense and unsettling.” (Nachtkritik)

Credits

Regie, Stimme: Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Live Sound-Design: Moe Choucair
Live-Video, Szenografie, Recherche: Nabla Yahya

Produktion

Eine Koproduktion von Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt am Main, und Frankfurt LAB im Rahmen von „This Is Not Lebanon. Festival for Visual Arts, Performance, Music and Talks“, Teil des Projekts „Architecture of the Mal-tempered Environment (AT)“, entwickelt im Rahmen der „2022 Future Fields Commission in Time-Based Media“, ein gemeinsames Projekt von Philadelphia Museum of Art und Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin. Teile der Recherche wurden unterstützt durch Art Research Sound, ein Forschungsprojekt unter der Leitung von Prof. Peter Kiefer, Mainz School of Music, Gutenberg Research College, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.

Eintritt 15,-/erm. 8,-

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