Air Conditioning by Lawrence Abu Hamdan

Air Conditioning is a monumental work across over fifty metres at the Mudam Collection in luxembourg. Lawrence Abu Hamdan, an experimental artist and research-investigator from Amman, Jordan, mapped the instances of surveillance and violation of Lebanese airspace by Israeli military aircrafts over a fifteen-year period, from 2007 to 2021, following United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 in the wake of the July War of 2006 between Israel and Lebanon. Each 365 cm-long print represents a year, each centimetre corresponding with a day, and the height and thickness of the plume reflecting the number of planes and the duration of their flights.

"These images demonstrate the Lebanese atmosphere is a nexus of high pressure in a global weather system. The air is not a sovereign space but a volatile compound; of noise, carbon dioxide, monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide and all the other toxic emissions of international militarism," Abu Hamdan says.

With Air Conditioning, Abu Hamdan captures the effects of a systematic and prolonged exposure to omnipresent noise pollution, and the trauma it can cause, constituting what he calls ‘atmospheric violence’. The resulting images are occupied by a horizon of smoke clouds, without beginning or end, like stills from a film where sound is now absent, as if destined to be forgotten. Two dimensions coexist: erasure and trace. Through his reflective practices, placed at the intersection of political, legal and social spheres, Abu Hamdan invites us to take part in a meditative experience where we must take the time to observe and decipher to immerse ourselves in this fluctuating texture.

Air Conditioning by Lawrence Abu Hamdan is open at Mudam until 9th June.

Photo credit:

Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Air Conditioning, 2022 | Collection Mudam Luxembourg | Acquisition 2023

Vue de l’exposition Lawrence Abu Hamdan. Air Conditioning, 29.03 — 09.06.2024, Mudam Luxembourg

© Photo : Studio Rémi Villaggi

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