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Lawrence Abu Hamdan: Decoding sonic memories

Artist and audio investigator Lawrence Abu Hamdan prepares for a live performance in New York.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan describes himself as a 'private ear'. An artist and forensic investigator of sound, he focuses on ear-witness, as opposed to eye-witness, testimony, unravelling truths hidden from view. Whether that鈥檚 determining the type of ammunition and location of gunfire from sound alone, analysing people鈥檚 auditory experiences for evidence, or uncovering crucial information buried within noise. As a new exhibition of Lawrence鈥檚 work opens at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, presenter Eliza Lomas follows as he prepares for a performance, After SFX. This piece interplays storytelling with live sound design and percussion, drawing from the artist鈥檚 investigative work to explore various aspects of sonic memory and revealing the unexpected ways we encode events in our mind through sound. We also hear from his collaborators, sound designer Adam Laschinger and percussionist Eli Keszler.

Presented and produced by Eliza Lomas
Executive producer: Stephen Hughes

Release date:

27 minutes