Lawrence Abu Handman had an opening at Chisenhale this week and we’ve got some seriously mixed feelings about it…
The idea of sonic memories and how not all things look the way they sound or sound the way they look is very exciting. However, the show itself is a room full of crap. There’s a bin full of plastic tubing and a cricket bat, a stepladder, metal shelves covered with popcorn, teacups and trainers, watermelons on the floor, big bottles of fizzy drink, a paddling pool. Just a bunch of stuff hastily and messily laid out. The display is frustrating; it feels too much like art objects/trendy assemblages. They aren’t random though, the objects all relate to testimonies such as someone who has described gunshots sounding like “the popping of balloons” or the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy like “somebody dropping a rack of trays”. There’s an additional element to the show which is a pitch-black listening room where you sit and listen to interviews the artist did with detainees of the Syrian prison of Saydnaya. This also makes us feel slightly conflicted because he’s profiting off the pain and suffering of the victims of the sound recordings. Overall, it’s a pretty great show and even one that made us slightly jealous; we also had the opportunity to listen to Handman talk more about his ideas which always helps to sell a show.
