Lawrence Abu Hamdan's exhibition "Zifzafa" has opened at the Munch Museum in Oslo, featuring a politically charged exploration of sound as both a celebration of life and a tool of displacement. The show centers on a forensic audio investigation into the impact of 31 planned wind turbines on the native population in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights (Jawlan). Works include a single-channel video projection "Wind Ensemble" (2024) featuring Jawlani saxophonist Amr Mdah, CGI animations visualizing sound pollution, and a 45-minute film "Zifzafa: Livestream Audio Essay" (2025) presented as a video game walkthrough that allows viewers to simulate the sonic impact of the turbines. The game incorporates field recordings by local composer Busher Kanj Abu Saleh and turbine noise recorded by engineer Adam Laschinger, capturing sounds of daily life such as wedding announcements, flute music, and water pumps that represent acts of resistance against Israeli occupation.
This exhibition matters because it uses innovative audio-visual techniques to address a pressing geopolitical issue—the displacement of communities through environmental and sonic violence in occupied territories. By transforming forensic audio investigation into an interactive, open-source game, Abu Hamdan makes the invisible threat of noise pollution tangible and accessible to a global audience. The work also highlights the resilience of the Jawlani people, who have built an autonomous water network as an act of resistance, and raises urgent questions about how infrastructure projects can be weaponized to render homes uninhabitable. As one of the first major museum shows to tackle the intersection of sound, occupation, and environmental justice, it positions the Munch Museum as a platform for politically engaged contemporary art.