Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Will Saunders

Vibrations at frequencies within the approximate range of 20 to 20,000 hertz have particular significance as they make their way though the atmosphere. Though perhaps not as privileged as photons and their relationship to the retina these frequencies are no less crucial as it is this range that the human auditory sensory organs perceive as sound. Valued as speech and given some artistic currency as music it was not until the mid 20th century that the full expressive possibilities of sound began to be explored.

Since the emergence of electroacoustic music in its nascent state back in the 1950s and 1960s sound has been increasingly recognised as a potent tool for art making. As the technical demands became more affordable and accessible the importance of sound and its affinities with other time based disciplines in the visual arts has opened and expanded possibilities for contemporary practice.

Recent graduates of Middlesex University’s Sonic Arts department Will Saunders and Lawrence Abu Hamdan each developed research projects exploring the scope of using sound to produce quasi-cartographic documents of the city of London. Their diverse approaches borrowed working models from sociology, historiography, performance, experimental composition and video art to study the city and its possibilities for a meaningful creative engagement.

Both artists have been invited to reproduce the projects as maps of Glasgow for a weeklong exhibition and event series at Transmission Gallery.

Project Event Sunday 2 December 3 - 5pm Jim Colquhoun (artist) – performance reading and Oliver Rees (writer) – talk/lecture

Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Will Saunders