Norient

Norient Norient is a platform for the sound of the world: For contemporary music, quality journalism, cutting-edge research, and events such as the Norient Festival.

https://norient.com Norient is an audio-visual gallery and a community (of practice) for the sound of the world: For contemporary music, quality journalism, cutting-edge research, projects and events like the Norient Film Festival (NFF). Norient conceives music, sound, and noise as seismographs of our time, facilitates space and place for thinkers and artists from currently fifty countries to tell new and different stories of the now and tomorrow. The goal is to support (sub)cultural diversity, broaden horizons, and open up dialogue across people, continents, and disciplines. The Norient Space «The Now in Sound» tells new stories about the world through audio-visual exhibitions, academic and journalistic articles, podcasts, photography, video, film, experimental formats, curated collections, specials and the Norient Sound Series. It is an online magazine for the future, a meta platform to support other thinkers, artists, journals, and media, and a researcher’s space for ethnographic data and bachelor, master’s and PhD theses. Topics range from electronic music in South Africa, rap in Pakistan, punk in Bolivia, free improvisation in Lebanon, Neue Musik to field recordings from landscapes, villages and cities, to reflections of diverse topics like the universality of music, noise-cancelling headphones, exoticism, or post-colonialism. Norient Place includes the biannual Norient Film Festival NFF and its satellites, lectures, performances, or concerts, curated and co-curated with the community of practice. Norient worked with: e.g. ZKM Karlsruhe, Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, CTM Festival Berlin, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Keleketla! Library Johannesburg, 100Copies Music Space Cairo, Rough Trade East London, Rewire Festival The Hague, Base Milano, H3K Basel, Wiener Festwochen, Zentrum Paul Klee Bern, Martin-Gropius-Bau Berlin, Frankfurter Buchmesse, Theaterspektakel Zürich, EPFL Lausanne, Bad Bonn Kilbi Düdingen, Castelgrande Bellinzona, Klang – Moor – Schopfe Gais. The Norient Shop offers publications and releases. And the planned Norient Lab experiments with new formats and practices on how to perform music and sound research in the future.

«In 2002, Norient was an attack on Orientalism and Exoticism. It was about opening up to contemporary music and expressions from the non-Western world. Now it is about creating a true community of thinkers and artists.»

Thomas Burkhalter, Founder and Director of Norient

Please enjoy our «overground» and «middleground» sections of the Norient Space for free, and become a member to explore curated collections, dig deep in the «underground», and join our ride and vision: The creation of a sustainable platform and strong media content from across the globe.

21/09/2026

✨ Zwischen Klang und Präsenz – ein Porträt von Annie Aries

Die Berner Komponistin und Musikerin Annie Rüfenacht aka Annie Aries bewegt sich an den Schnittstellen von zeitgenössischer Electronica, experimenteller Clubkultur und Synthesizer-Musik. Im Zentrum ihrer Praxis steht das Wechselspiel zwischen Klangtexturen und der Spontaneität des Live-Moments, das sie mithilfe modularer und spezialisierter Synthesizer erforscht.

Annie Rüfenacht studierte Musik- und Medienkunst an der Hochschule der Künste Bern (HKB) sowie Musikwissenschaft an der Universität Bern. Sie arbeitet als Musikvermittlerin und Dozentin an verschiedenen Hochschulen. Ihre Arbeiten wurden international auf renommierten Plattformen präsentiert. Sie ist auch Teil vom

Ein Film von:
🎬 Annie Rüfenacht, Hyungmi Amrein, Iliana Laubacher

Featuring:
🎵 Annie Aries

Eine Publikation von Norient und der Universität Bern, Institut für Musikwissenschaft. Aus einem Seminar von Thomas Burkhalter

🚀 Neue Formate in der Musikethnologie: Filme, Podcasts, Social Media Stories.

Die Welt verändert sich rasant. Musikethnologische Forschung, die durch Musik und Klang tief in Gesellschaften blickt, soziale Potenziale und Spannungen sichtbar macht – und Entwicklungen mitunter sogar vorhersieht –, ist heute wichtiger denn je. Doch wie können wir mit unserer Forschung weiterhin Menschen erreichen, wenn immer weniger lange Texte gelesen werden, Algorithmen das Einfache und Eindeutige bevorzugen und Forschungsgelder zunehmend gekürzt werden?

Für das Porträt wählten wir den Ansatz der «Projective Improvisation» nach Jean Rouch und Peter Loizos. Wir begleiteten Annie Aries in verschiedenen Situationen ihres künstlerischen Schaffens. Die Kamera kann dabei als Katalysator verstanden werden: Durch spontane Momente, Improvisation und Präsenz sollen implizite Aspekte und die Atmosphäre ihrer musikalischen Praxis sichtbar und erfahrbar werden.

16/09/2026

🔔Peter Conradin Zumthor ~ con sordino

Percussionist Peter Conradin Zumthor and inventor Gabriel Schneider modify the sound on the bell of the Reformed Church in Gais. Located in the main square of the town, the artistic intervention to this most familiar of sounds produces a hypnotic collective listening experience.

🎧Listen to this podcast episode in the bio link or by typing
norient.com/abhishek-mathur/peter-conradin-zumthor-bells-con-sordino

Polyphonic Fields - Listening to Klang Moor Schopfe 2025 
🎙a podcast series by
🎤 featuring Peter Conradin Zumthor, Florian Bach & , ._stoeckli, & Mario Marchisella, Tim Shaw , Kanako Saito , Roberto Maqueda & .disalvo, Vanessà Heer , Bosch & Simons peter_bosch_simons, Mercedes & Giulia Hess
🎧 editorial support:

📣 Outreach:
⁠🎚mixing & mastering: by  at 
🎨 artwork design:
💻web publishing:  

🛠a collaboration of & festival
🗓 published 09/2026
🤝Support and purchase on for 12 EUR
🎧Available on , , and other streaming platforms

«They protocologically killed of organic discovery by slowly entrapping us in their sterile virtual reality.» While the ...
14/09/2026

«They protocologically killed of organic discovery by slowly entrapping us in their sterile virtual reality.» 

While the virtuality of the internet once promised a non-commodified space to organically discover and share music, empires like Spotify have destroyed most of its utopian appeal. Aren’t there more egalitarian alternatives? 

Kadallah Burrowes Kadallah Burrowes is a transdisciplinary artist and creative technologist using emerging technologies for social good.
🎨snap design by Sergio Salazar

📒𝑯𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑺𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔
💬edited by Phil Rhe Janina Neustupny Thomas Burkhalter .liechti Vinzent Maria Preuß
💻 featuring essays, poems, articles, artworks, photos and sound pieces by 85 contributors from 38 countries
📚 book and cover design by Maria Uthe   Maria Uthe and Arief Wibisono
📸 cover photo by ronja falkenbach
🎬communication by Janina Neustupny
🖊️copy editing by Tash Siddiqui and Meredith Slifkin
🗓 published 06/2025 at Norient Books
📦available in the Norient Shop, Bandcamp and BigCartel EUR 29.–

09/09/2026

🛖🎤 🍃POLYPHONIC FIELDS – LISTENING TO KLANG MOOR SCHOPFE 2025

«In September 2025 I visited Klang Moor Schopfe festival in Gais, Appenzell, where audio-visual installations transformed rustic barns, scattered along the rolling meadows of the Alpstein mountains into sensorial micro-universes.»  Abhishek Mathur

These podcasts encapsulate sounds of the installations and conversations with the 11 artists behind them, creating a polyphonic field of sound.

Polyphonic Fields - Listening to Klang Moor Schopfe 2025 
🎙a podcast series by
🎤 featuring Peter Conradin Zumthor, Florian Bach & , ._stoeckli & Mario Marchisella, Tim Shaw , Kanako Saito , Roberto Maqueda & , Vanessà Heer , Bosch & Simons peter_bosch_simons, Mercedes & Giulia Hess

🎧 editorial support:
📣 Outreach:
⁠🎚mixing & mastering: by  at 
🎨 artwork design:
💻web publishing:  

🛠a collaboration of & festival
🗓 published 09/2026
🤝Support and purchase on for 12 EUR
🎧Available on , , and other streaming platforms.

ℹ️ The next Klang Moor Schopfe festival edition will take place from Sepzember 2-12, 2027.

✨ NORIENT TIMEZONES AT RADIOPHRENIA FESTIVAL GLASGOW Some exciting news! Tehran: A Gateway wandering Beyond, an episode ...
02/09/2026

✨ NORIENT TIMEZONES AT RADIOPHRENIA FESTIVAL GLASGOW

Some exciting news! Tehran: A Gateway wandering Beyond, an episode from the Timezones experimental podcast series will be broadcast live at the Radiophrenia Glasgow festival in Glasgow, Scotland. 📻

Date: Saturday 5 September 2026 🗓️
Time: 12:30 - 1:00 pm 🕰️

Produced by خاموش | میراث شنیداری, the episode is an introspection on where an artist or an artistic journey finds its existence - where it starts and ends, and how it emerges, unfolds or even falls into silence.

The Radiophrenia festival presents Radio Art Transmissions across Glasgow on 87.9 FM. There are broadcasts 24 hours a day from the 5th - 20th September.

For more details and detailed schedule visit radiophrenia.scot

Artistic Editor: Abhishek Mathur
Editors: Abhishek Mathur, Suvani Thomas Burkhalter
Outreach/Press: Janina Neustupny
Content Publisher: Rebecca Favale
Video Trailer: Carroll Omuom aka Karrl
Jingle Voiceover: Nana Akosua Hanson 🧜🏾‍♀️ Mamisi 🧜🏾‍♀️
Jingle Mix: DUBOKAJ
Mastering: Adi Flück,
Artwork: sejma fere





31/08/2026

✨ ROMANE BOUFFIOUX
“On doit pas trop se prendre sérieux.”
 
Wie porträtiert man eine Musikerin ohne gängige Formate zu bedienen?
 
Wie gelingt es, nah dran zu sein und gleichzeitig die Vielschichtigkeit ihres Schaffens abzubilden?
 
Das Portrait von Romane Bouffioux (sieh selbst) ist ein Versuch. Ein Experiment. Eine audiovisuelle Lasagne sozusagen.

Romane Bouffioux ist Schlagzeugerin, Performerin, Komponistin, Improvisatorin und Musiklehrerin. In ihren häufig interdisziplinären Projekten fokussiert sie sich auf Neue Musik, Théatre Musicale und Elektroakustik. Romane Bouffioux ist als Solokünstlerin und in verschiedenen Formationen tätig. Dazu gehören Projet Ohr, Romanesco Duo, das 4tet Laboratoire und Kandaleko. Infos: .ohr .duo /

Featuring:
🎵 Romane Bouffioux .art

Ein Portrait von: 
🎬 Samira Diem 
🎬 Cheryl Kubin 
🎵 Romane Bouffioux

Eine Publikation von Norient und der Universität Bern, Institut für Musikwissenschaft. Aus einem Seminar von Thomas Burkhalter

🚀Neue Formate in der Musikethnologie: Filme, Podcast, Social Media Stories.

Die Welt verändert sich rasant. Musikethnologische Forschung, die durch Musik und Klang tief in Gesellschaften blickt, soziale Potenziale und Spannungen sichtbar macht – und Entwicklungen mitunter sogar vorhersieht –, ist heute wichtiger denn je. Doch wie können wir mit unserer Forschung weiterhin Menschen erreichen, wenn immer weniger lange Texte gelesen werden, Algorithmen das Einfache und Eindeutige bevorzugen und Forschungsgelder zunehmend gekürzt werden?

In diesem Seminar schauen, hören und diskutieren wir neue – und teilweise auch klassische – Formate, mit denen Musikethnolog:innen und Anthropolog:innen arbeiten können: von Filmen über Podcasts und Social Media Stories bis hin zu experimentellen Formaten.

🗓 publiziert 08/2026

𓍼ོ Before the first note is played, listening has already begun. ༘⋆༄.°⋆Reflecting on experiences at Nextones Festival in...
25/08/2026

𓍼ོ Before the first note is played, listening has already begun. ༘⋆༄.°⋆

Reflecting on experiences at Nextones Festival in Northern Italy, this essay explores how walking, and sound dissolves the boundaries between place and performance.
Link in bio.

✍️An essay by Rebecca Favale
🎨 snap design by .ale.ssia
💬 copy edited by Tucker McGee
📸 Photos by Giacomo Alberico and Martina Nicole Garbin

🎬 outreach by Janina Neustupny
🤝a collaboration between Norient and NEXTONES
🗓 published 08/2026

24/08/2026

✨ DENEARIS - THROUGH BERN’S DJ SCENE

Following DENEARIS with a camera through Bern’s DJ scene, we gained insight into her experiences — and into the work still needed to make the scene more equitable for everyone.

The artist Tiziana Simpson, known by the stage name „DENEARIS,“ has been working as a DJ for several years, both in Switzerland and internationally. Her Jamaican roots brought her into contact with Afro-musical genres early on. Her DJ sets are described as a hybrid fusion, ranging from dancehall and baile funk through experimental sounds to gqom, Jersey club, and breakbeats. Her ability to blend unconventional genres with a distinctive lightness allows her to create an immersive, dynamic atmosphere despite the many challenges within the DJ industry.

Featuring:
🎵 Tiziana „DENEARIS“ Simpson

A Portrait by:
🎬 Lisa Maria Rosa Schmocker .l
🎬 Kay Linda Gemma Studinger

Support:
🎬 Leah Fee Lisa Studinger

A publication by Norient and the University of Bern, Institute of Musicology
From a seminar led by Thomas Burkhalter

🚀New Formats in Humanities and Social Sciences: Films, Podcasts, Social Media Stories.

Research that listens to societies through music and sound matters more today than ever. It reaches deep into social life, makes tensions and possibilities visible, and sometimes even anticipates what is coming. But how do we keep reaching people with our research when fewer and fewer read long texts, and when algorithms reward the simple and the unambiguous?

In this seminar we watch, listen, and discuss new — and sometimes classic — formats that researchers of culture and society can work with: from films to podcasts to social media stories, all the way to experimental forms.

🗓 published 08/2026

ترددٌ اسمه غزةA FREQUENCY CALLED GAZAفهل يستطيع المنفى أن يُسكت الأمكنة التي تركناها خلفنا؟Does exile ever silence the p...
12/08/2026

ترددٌ اسمه غزة

A FREQUENCY CALLED GAZA

فهل يستطيع المنفى أن يُسكت الأمكنة التي تركناها خلفنا؟
Does exile ever silence the places we leave behind?

اقرؤوا مقالًا read this essay on Norient: Link in bio.

💻 essay written by MohaMed Yaghi
💬 edited by Phil Rhe and Osama Abdullah WAV Recherchekollektiv
🎨 snap design by Kai Oh
🎵 snap sound by Aylu Grad
📸 photo by Hosam Abu Dan
Outreach by Janina Neustupny
💬 article copy edited by Tash Siddiqui
🗓 published 08/2026

29/07/2026

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Bern

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