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Lawrence Abu HamdanZifzafa

Who suffers the consequences of the green movement? Hear the way 250-metre tall wind turbines blend with everyday sounds and impact on a local community.
Wind turbines in a landscape where the sound created by the turbines is visualised as white rings. Graphics
© Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Zifzafa, 2024, still from virtual reality audio platform. Courtesy of the artist

Exhibition

Floor 10
Until 04.01.2026
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Zifzafa is an Arabic word describing a wind that shakes and rattles everything in its path. Lawrence Abu Hamdan has created a work which demonstrates the effect that more than 30 planned wind turbines will have upon the inhabitants of the occupied Golan Heights. 

Lawrence Abu Hamdan takes you through the landscape in a guided play-through, showing the impact of the planned 250-metre wind turbines. Their mechanical roar merges with recordings of children at play, bees buzzing, birds singing. Abu Hamdan also includes a video of saxophonist Amr Mdah, playing from the balcony of one of the area’s small houses. Together, these elements form an acoustic portrait of the Golan Heights: both a warning of what stands to be lost and a record of the community’s resilience.

As well as being a powerful installation in itself, the work also addresses important critical questions to do with the green movement and those who suffer in the transition to so-called clean energy. This is especially relevant in connection with the current anti-wind turbine protests here in Norway/Sápmi.

The exhibition is curated by Tominga O’Donnell.  

About Lawrence Abu Hamdan:

Artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan (born 1985, Amman) has described himself as a Private Ear, on behalf of people under attack from state authorities and others such as Israeli soldiers in Palestine, the Parisian police or torture in Syrian jails. His work has been presented in the form of forensics reports, lectures, live performances, films, publications and exhibitions around the world. He runs earshot.ngo. 

Lawrence Abu Hamdan received the Edvard Munch Art Award in 2019, which at the time included being given a solo exhibition at MUNCH. The jury was unanimous in its appreciation of Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s artistic practice, highlighting his commitment to human rights, and the originality and the profound questions his work addresses.  

Photo: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Zifzafa, 2024, still from virtual reality audio platform. Courtesy of the artist

A dark exhibition room illuminated by a projection covering an entire wall. The projection shows a computer animation of wind turbines on the Golan Heights. In the middle of the room stands a black bench, and on the wall to the left of the image hang three vertical screens. On the far right of the image, a loudspeaker displays a projection of the saxophonist Amr Mdah playing from a balcony. Photograph
Photo: Ove Kvavik, Munchmuseet
A group of people stand in a dark room in front of a wall covered by a projection showing a computer animation of wind turbines on the Golan Heights. Photograph
Photo: Ove Kvavik, Munchmuseet
A group of people stand in a dark room in front of a wall covered by a projection showing a computer animation of wind turbines on the Golan Heights, along with a box displaying a chat dialogue. Photograph
Photo: Ove Kvavik, Munchmuseet
Photo: Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Zifzafa, 2024, still from virtual reality audio platform. Courtesy of the artist.

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