MEXICO CITY.- Yesterday, Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s exhibition Cross-Border Crimes opened at the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City. A performance of Natq coinciding with the exhibition opened on Friday 1 September 2023.

The exhibition presents works including 45th Parallel (2022). Through the history of the Haskell Free Library & Opera House, this work addresses the volatile character of borders, as well as the porosity and fluidity of limits and their contrast with the final and sometimes lethal nature of national borders.

Abu Hamdan's work is characterised by his explorations of the intersection between sound, space and politics. He questions the political dimension of voice and listening, capturing what exists beyond sound itself. Abu Hamdan is a private ear and his projects present sound as testimony and political evidence.

Abu Hamdan has said that 'the propagation of sound is the most expedient way to consider all forms of border-crossing, be they material, interpersonal, architectural, juridical, disciplinary, biological, sensorial or conceptual'.

His artistic practice experiments with ways of creating new aesthetic expressions that reshape politics. His pieces reflect on that which is perceptible and audible, but above all on the context in which these characteristics develop.

Abu Hamdan explores the conditions of testimony and the importance of who is listening and who is being listened to—that is, the political possibilities of listening. This liminal space constitutes the stage for his most recent piece: 45th Parallel (2022). Through the history of the Haskell Free Library & Opera House, this video addresses the volatile character of borders, as well as the porosity and fluidity of limits and their contrast with the final and sometimes lethal nature of national borders.

Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC)
Lawrence Abu Hamdan: Cross-Border Crimes (Crimenes Transfronterizos)
September 2nd, 2023 - March 17th, 2024
Curated by Virginia Roy with Triana Jimenez Serrano.