In this essay, The Politics of Sound on the Stage of Art. The Political Potential of Sound in Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s Saydnaya (the Missing 19dB), the aesthetical tensions between sound, art and politics are explored. The aim of this study is to examine the conditions and configurations of the perceptibility of sound within artistic contexts, and the political implications positioned therein. The inquiry is based on the ways in which sound is produced, theorized and negotiated in the sound installation Saydnaya (the Missing 19dB) by the artist Lawrence Abu Hamdan. This is conducted by analyzing the political problem of the whisper, as it is framed within the artwork, in correlation to Jacques Rancière’s notion of the voice as a division of phone and logos, as well as Brandon LaBelle’s concept of sonic agency. The essay also compares Earwitness Testimony to Rancière’s discussion of the sensorium of art, in order to examine the aesthetical conditions of the experience of art. I argue that sound entails different modes of perceptibility, due to its material conditions, and that it renegotiates visual representation within the conditions of the artistic scene.

Denna uppsats, Sonisk politik på konstens scen. Ljudets politiska potential i Lawrence Abu Hamdans ljudinstallation Saydnaya (the Missing 19dB), behandlar brytpunkterna mellan ljud, konst, och politik. Med utgångspunkt i gestaltningarna och tematiseringarna av ljud i Lawrence Abu Hamdans ljudinstallation Saydnaya (the Missing 19dB) syftar uppsatsen till att undersöka ljudets estetiska möjligheter och politiska implikationer. Detta görs genom en analys av den politiska potentialen i viskningen, såsom den gestaltas i verket, utifrån Rancières idé om rösten som uppdelad i läte och språk, samt Brandon LaBelles begrepp sonisk agens. Därtill undersöks öronvittnesmålets roll i relationen mellan konst och politik, utifrån Rancières idé om sensorium under konstens estetiska regim. Uppsatsen visar på hur ljudets materiella förutsättningar omförhandlar och problematiserar visuell representation, samt hur det inrättar en egen akustisk sfär genom vilken politik kan uppstå.