Meira Asher: The Politics of Sound Art

Podcast
by Thomas Burkhalter

The uncompromising work of Israeli sound artist Meira Asher has been portrayed by Norient from time to time (see here or here). In this podcast she talks about her militant approach to music making and her aim of providing alternative information through sound art. She presents a few of her artworks such as «One Blanket Lost» on Nigerian girls being prostituted in the European sex business. A podcast from the Norient exhibition Seismographic Sounds by Thomas Burkhalter.


Quotes from the Podcast

#militarization

«In the last few years I’ve been working mainly on one subject: militarization and trying to reduce it.»

#activism

«I do not very much believe that music by itself can do the job. I think you also need to start acting and to be an activist while doing art.»

#uncompromising

«This is about channeling the experience of people through a non compromisive sound work. So it is much beyond music.»

#catharsis

«It is a mean way to reach a form of a deeper understanding, some form of catharsis.»

#information

«With these radio pieces I can offer young people a good alternative information as opposed to what they are being almost forced to listen to in school.»


«One Blanket Lost»

Biography

Dr. Thomas Burkhalter is an anthropologist/ethnomusicologist, AV-artist, and writer from Bern (Switzerland). He is the founder and director of Norient and the Norient Festival (NF), co-directed AV-performances and documentary films (e.g. «Contradict», Berner Filmpreis 2020 + Al-Jazeera Witness), and is the author and co-editor of several books (e.g., «Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut», Routledge, «The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East», Wesleyan University Press). He teaches regularly at universities, and runs workshops for arts institutions. Since 2022 he produces the Norient Mixtape for Swiss National Radio SRF3. Currently, he is working on his new music project «Melodies In My Head», and on the podcast series «South Asian Sound Stories» with musicians from the UK, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.

Published on August 21, 2017

Last updated on August 11, 2020

Topics

Activism
War
Utopia
All Topics
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