The Right to Lie

Lawrence Abu Hamdan, a 2015-17 Vera List Center Fellow, is a visual artist and audio investigator with a background in DIY music. He was the Armory Show commissioned Artist of 2015 and has exhibited and performed at venues such as The New Museum, Van AbbeMuseum, The Shanghai Biennial (2014), The Whitechapel Gallery, MACBA, Tate Modern, MHKA and The Taipei Biennial (2012). In 2013 Abu Hamdan’s audio documentary The Freedom of Speech Itself was submitted as evidence at the UK asylum tribunal where the artist was called to testify as an expert witness. He continues to make sonic analyses for legal investigations and advocacy. Most recently, his audio analysis was a prominent part the No More Forgotten Lives campaign for Defence for Children International. His writing can be found in Forensis (Sternberg Press, 2014), Manifesta, and Cabinet.

GIDEST is a Mellon-funded research institute based at The New School that incubates transdisciplinary research at the intersection of social theory, art, and design. As well as our faculty, artist-in-residence, and doctoral fellows’ programs, we run a series of biweekly public seminars that feature both prominent and emerging scholars and practitioners. Our seminars are devoted to discussion of pre-circulated materials. For more information, please visit http://gidest.org.