Sounds of a Global Carceral Society: the auditory experience of occupation and incarceration in Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme’s Contingency (2010) and Andrea Fraser’s Down the River (2016)

The visual imagery of incarceration and military occupation is widely recognizable: barred cells, checkpoints, and barriers meant to contain. This imagery is iconic, and as such, loses some of its tangible impact. A viewer can easily digest the imagery of incarceration and occupation, recognize it, and move on. Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme’s Contingency (2010) and Andrea Fraser’s Down the River (2016) elide the visual in lieu of the auditory in their sound installations culled from recordings at the Qalandia checkpoint in Palestine and Sing Sing prison in New York, respectively. In examining these two works, I argue that the use of sound aims to produce a more experiential understanding of these carceral locations. Additionally, I contend that, in their exhibition context, these works draw out the connections between the museum and carceral spaces, as well as the regulatory aspects of the broader society in which we live. The two installations demonstrate how, with varying degrees of efficacy, sound can serve as a means to overcome the well-known imagery associated with incarceration and occupation. They also implicate museum institutions and those who attend them in these broader systems and serve to highlight aspects of our global carceral society.