Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Aural Contract: The Freedom of Speech Itself

Since 2010, The Showroom has been working with the artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan on the ongoing project Aural Contract. Constituted by a series of events, publications, performances, exhibitions, workshops and audiovisual material Aural Contract examines a contemporary politics of listening through a focus on the role of the voice in law. Over this time Abu Hamdan has built up a sound archive, containing recorded extracts from the project’s interviews, performances and workshops, together with specific moments of juridical listening and speaking gathered from numerous and global sources such as the trials of Saddam Hussein and Judas Priest, UK police evidence tapes, films such as Decoder and extracts from texts including Italo Calvino’s A King Listens.

At The Showroom, Abu Hamdan presents the most recent stages of the project as an installation featuring a new commission The Freedom of Speech Itself, excerpts from Abu Hamdan's audio archive, and a workshop led by the artist on Harold Pinter's play Mountain Language. To accompany the exhibition is a series of events titled The Right to Silence that focus on the legal status of the voice, programmed in collaboration with Electra.

The Freedom Of Speech Itself is an audio documentary looking at the history and contemporary application of forensic speech analysis and voice-prints, focusing on the UK’s controversial use of voice analysis to determine the origins of asylum seekers without travel and identity documents. Testimonies from legal scholars, phonetic experts, refugees, interpreters and Home Office officials and others reveal shocking stories and accounts of wrongful deportations as well as voice and/or accent impersonation. Combined with the experimental audio montage, these interviews are designed to fully immerse the listener in the heart of a discussion that profoundly problematises the nature of listening, forensics, free speech, statelessness, migration, translation and the law.

Notes to editors British/Lebanese artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan is based in London, his projects include Aural Contract at Homeworks 5 Beirut (2010) and WYSPA IS Gdansk (2011), and Model Court at CCA Glasgow (2008) and Chisenhale Gallery, London (2011). His hybridised practice means that he has written for Cabinet Magazine and the 10th Sharjah Biennial and is now developing a radio documentary trilogy produced by The Showroom, London; Casco, Utrecht; and as part of a PhD at the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths', University of London. Abu Hamdan is part of the group running the arts spaces Batroun Projects, Lebanon and 113 Dalston Lane, London.

For more information, or high resolution images, please contact Holly Willats by emailing holly@theshowroom.org or calling 020 7724 4300.

The Freedom of Speech Itself is produced by Somethin' Else and commissioned by The Showroom and Forensic Architecture at the department for Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths', University of London. The project is also part of Survival Kit: Art linking society, knowledge and activism, supported by the Culture 2007-2013 programme of the European Union. The Showroom is supported by Arts Council England and members of the gallery's Supporters Scheme.

Opening hours: Wednesday — Saturday, 12-6pm Events programme to be announced in January 2012.

Lawrence Abu Hamdan
Aural Contract: The Freedom of Speech Itself