Thomas Burkhalter, PhD, is an anthropologist, multidisciplinary artist, and writer from Bern, Switzerland. He is the founder (2002) and director of Norient (winner Special Prize for Music 2025 – Swiss Music Prizes) and the Norient Festival. Currently, Burkhalter's focus lies on his new music/AV duo, Melodies In My Head, and the podcast Long Take: Life as an Artist. He is a co-editor of the 2025 released book Home is Where the Heart Strives (Norient Books). Burkhalter has co-directed documentary films, including Contradict (Berner Filmpreis 2020, Al-Jazeera Witness), and created AV/theatre performances. He is the author and co-editor of several books, such as Local Music Scenes and Globalization: Transnational Platforms in Beirut (Routledge) and The Arab Avant Garde: Musical Innovation in the Middle East (Wesleyan University Press).

Simon Grab, the co-founder of ganzerplatz soundstudios has been an active musician and producer in a wide range of musical contexts. As a composer and sound artist he produces music & sounddesign for feature films, documentaries, theatre and radio. In live performances and installations he uses the venue as an acoustic playground. He likes exploring new grounds by negating existing borders. Follow him on Youtube, Instagram, or BandCamp.