Thomas Burkhalter
Landis & Gyr Stiftung Residency
2019
Thomas Burkhalter is an ethnomusicologist, cultural producer and music journalist from Bern, Switzerland. He is the founder and artistic director of Norient – Performing Music Research, and the director of the Norient Film Festival (NFF). Recent main projects include the documentary film contradict, 2019; the AV/theatre/dance performance Clash of Gods, 2018, and the re-launch of Norient, 2020.
Thomas published Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut in as part of his PhD research in 2013, and has co-edited a number of books including The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East, 2011; Seismographic Sounds – Visions of a New World, 2016; and Out of the Absurdity of Life – Global Music, 2013. As a cultural producer Thomas places great emphasis on transdisciplinary approaches between empiric research, theory and practice, and recent projects include audio-visual performance Sonic Traces: From the Arab World and Sonic Traces: From Switzerland; the exhibition Seismographic Sounds - Visions of a New World at ZKM Karlsruhe, CTM Berlin and Base Milano, 2015-17; and the documentary films contradict, 2019, and Buy More Incense - British-Asian Musicians in the UK, 2000.
Landis & Gyr Stiftung, Switzerland
The Landis & Gyr foundation awards studio scholarships to Swiss artists and cultural professionals in London, Budapest, Sofia and Zug. Its London-based residency partnership with Acme was established in 1987, and provides six month long work/live opportunities for ten Swiss artists per year. Artists are selected for the programme directly by Landis & Gyr Stiftung and must demonstrate a track record of achievement in their field. Over two hundred visual artists, curators, writers, musicians and composers have benefitted from the programme. Residencies are based in Stepney, E1 and are available to Swiss residents only
For more information visit lg-stiftung.ch.
