Event 1

For my first event, I attended the Lawrence Abu Hamden exhibition at the Hammer Museum. Through use of audiovisual, Lawrence demonstrates the Syrian military prison north of Damascus. Most of the prisoners were blindfolded in their cell and Lawrence uses audiovisual to represent their experience.

 

Lawrence Abu Hamden exhibition setup.

Picture of myself outside the exhibition in front of introductory panel.

First, when I entered the space, it had a speaker on the side and a wall with jagged edged at the front. Behind the wall were projectors showing lines crisscrossing each other to demonstrate the precepted image of the prisoners through sound. 

I found this exhibition very interesting as it closely relates to the math and art we have discussed and learned through Professor Vesna's video lecture. Lawrence uses the speakers and jagged wall to replicate the echoes in the prison. It utilizes diffusion, which causes the echo and disharmonious sound. On the other hand, the room itself was round, allowing the projection of the speaker. This method is explained by commonly seen phenomenon of auditorium acoustics. The smooth round surface allows clean noises to bounce off the walls and are directed toward the audience. Thus, with these two ideas combined, she replicated what the prisoners would hear inside the prison. At times, you would hear sounds of people talking and walking; however, there were various moments when the silence was piercing. It was stated in Rahul's article that audiovisual also enhances learning, demonstrating that audiovisual helps with conveying meaning to different audiences. Lawrence uses interesting methods to demonstrate this piece. I would recommend other peers to attend the exhibition as it uses simple setup to convey in-explainable oppression and loneliness of the prisoners.

Diffusion against different surfaces

Sources:

1. “A Study to Analyze the Effectiveness of Audio Visual Aids in Teaching Learning Process at Uvniversity Level.” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Elsevier, 12 Dec. 2011, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042811024554.
2. Auditorium Acoustics, ccrma.stanford.edu/CCRMA/Courses/152/auditorium_acoustics.html.
3. “Hammer Projects: Lawrence Abu Hamdan - Hammer Museum.” The Hammer Museum, 18 Dec. 2017, hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2018/hammer-projects-lawrence-abu-hamdan/.
4. Homeacoustics. “Acoustical Treatment Primer: Diffusion.” Home Acoustics Alliance Portal, 4 June 2017, homeacoustics.org/acoustical-treatment-primer-diffusion/.
5. Vesna, Victoria. Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean. YouTube, 09 Apr. 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg.

Image Sources:

1. “Specular vs. Diffuse Reflection.” The Physics Classroom, www.physicsclassroom.com/class/refln/Lesson-1/Specular-vs-Diffuse-Reflection.