Audio investigator Lawrence Abu Hamdan weaves together urgent political narratives that pivot around acoustic experience and sonic memory. 'Live Audio Essays' presents three key performance works by Abu Hamdan, where sound and politics intersect. The performances present narratives and testimonies that detail violence, oppression and aggression, offering strategies for political critique and action.

‘Air Pressure’ (2021), the first of the performances, is a diaristic analysis written between May 2020 and May 2021 into the aerial soundscape of Lebanon where, from 2006–2021, there had been over 22,111 instances of Israeli fighter jet and drone violations in Lebanese airspace. Deploying publicly accessible information uploaded to the UN Digital Library, Abu Hamdan’s research and analysis brings this data together for the first time, making clear the scale and intensity of these incursions, and the consistent atmosphere of violence brought to bear across the territory.

Residents of Lebanon live in a state of precarity with the constant background noise of hostile jets and drones overhead. The potential of full-scale aerial bombardment is a daily possibility. Whether they are actively ignoring the noise from above or determined to document the violent aerial machines conspicuously hovering in the near distance, residents have developed modes of resistance.

Abu Hamdan’s account unfolds with live audio processing and countless videos of the rumbling sky, both pulled from open source content and captured by the artist and his team. Abu Hamdan employs the 'atmospheric' both aesthetically and conceptually to explore the ways in which violence is made manifest, reading Lebanon's air as a high pressure nexus in a global weather system.

'Air Pressure' is performed by Lawrence Abu Hamdan with live sound design by Moe Choucair. It has never previously been performed in the UK. With thanks to SWG3.

Further performances by Abu Hamdan include 'A Thousand White Plastic Chairs' on Sunday 9 June at Audio, 14 Midland Street, G1 4PP; and 'After SFX' on Sunday 23 June at Barrowlands, 244 Gallowgate, G4 0TT.

Access

Galvanizers is fully accessible.

Performance is seated with limited standing capacity.

A raised accessible viewing platform is available for concerts. This room can be accessed via 5 stairs, a platform lift or via a ramp.

Live captions are provided during this performance.

Accessible toilets are available in all ground floor level bar spaces servicing this area.

The nearest train station is Exhibition Centre (20 minute walk). 

Doors will open at 7pm. 

Performance will begin promptly at 8pm. Latecomers will not be allowed entry once the performance has started.

Performance duration is approximately 55 minutes.