posts on the norient space by Philipp Rhensius

Before archives fix meaning, frequencies move. An opening conversation for the new Norient publication on listening, sonic pluralism, and the politics of what is heard – and what remains unheard.

Sound is memory, testimony, and sometimes just a boring hiss inside one’s flat. From Stolpersteine to deep-sea mining – this dialogic essay reflects the potential and pitfalls of sound as an introduction to the new publication «Where Sound Becomes Witness» with Rewire 2025.

With their performance «The Drum and The Bird» at Rewire festival 2025, Forensis and Bill Kouliglas unearth the echoes of colonial violence in Namibia – amplifying erased voices and the land’s testimony. A conversation about how sound can make history audible.

Sound can be listened to, but what do you hear when the sound listens back? This collage essay weaves together responses from sound artists and theorists, exploring the reciprocity of listening and the agency of sound itself.

When talking about listening in the broadest sense, listeners are usually at the center of attention. In this dialogic essay, Rewire Festival’s context curator Katía Truijen and Norient’s editor Philipp Rhensius what happens when the sound listens back.

How can old technologies be reactivated? In her work at Klangmoorschopfe 2023, the sound artist Ioana Vreme Moser lets the supposedly obsolete fluidics interact with current electronic components to develop a more sustainable future. Listen to her vision in this short podcast.

Improvising with machines. Listen to an audio essay featuring Brenna Murphy and Birch Cooper from the duo MSHR, in which they discuss their sound installation at Klangmoorschopfe 2023 based on a cybernetic feedback system.

How does wood sound? This is one of the questions in Andi Otto’s interactive sound installation at Klangmoorschope 2023. Listen to an audio essay in which he discusses his way of relating to the environment with sound.

In their sound installation for Klang Moor Schopfe, the collective Zaira Oram explores the notion of the apocalypse. Listen to an audio essay featuring the collective’s initiators Francesca Ceccherini and Eleonora Stassi.

Challenging the perception of its listeners is at the core vision of the collective Encor Studio. Listen to an audio essay in which they discuss their site-specific installation «Adsum» which creates moments of pure presence.

The first form of communication was not language but vibration. Listen to an audio essay featuring the biologist Juan José López and sound artist Ludwig Berger who sonify species that soon threaten to become completely extinct – if we don’t listen.

A body walks through the city while listening to a DJ mix. The switching between sites is like switching between tracks is like switching between worlds. An essay poem inspired by a mix of the New York-based artist Zarina.

While working on the collaborative publication «All In It Together», Norient’s editor Philipp Rhensius and Rewire’s context curator Katía Truijen enter into a conversation over email where they strive to learn from the various contributions.

Even at a time of fragmented digital selves, people often align with a single self-description, suppressing their multiplicities. In this essay, our author attempts to re-sample the embattled term (self-)curation, in search of its supposed emancipatory potential.

At Klang Moor Schopfe 2021, Philipp Rhensius created 12 experimental audio essays. Listen to a podcast inspired by the sound installation of Ursula Palla.

At Klang Moor Schopfe 2021, Philipp Rhensius created 12 experimental audio essays. Listen to a podcast inspired by the sound installation of Julian Sartorius.

At Klang Moor Schopfe 2021, Philipp Rhensius created 12 experimental audio essays. Listen to a podcast inspired by the sound installation of Fresco Sommer.

At Klang Moor Schopfe 2021, Philipp Rhensius created 12 experimental audio essays. Listen to a podcast inspired by the sound installation of Cod.Act.

At Klang Moor Schopfe 2021, Philipp Rhensius created 12 experimental audio essays. Inspired by installations of Alva Noto or Rie Nakajima, they merge sound art, poetry, interviews, and club music.

The artist Cathy van Eck uses microphones and loudspeakers as musical instruments and self-designed sound objects. Listen to an audio essay reflecting on one of her installations.

At Klang Moor Schopfe 2021, Philipp Rhensius created 12 experimental audio essays. Listen to a podcast inspired by the sound installation of Billy Roisz.

At Klang Moor Schopfe 2021, Philipp Rhensius created 12 experimental audio essays. Listen to a podcast inspired by the sound installation of the duo bittelangsam.

At Klang Moor Schopfe 2021, Philipp Rhensius created 12 experimental audio essays. Listen to a podcast inspired by the sound installation of Carsten Nicolai (Alva Noto) & Albert Oehlen.

The sound artist Rie Nakajima creates installations with small kinetic devices and prepared objects. This audio essay is inspired by the book «How To Disappear» of Haytham El-Wardany and approaches one of her installations by staging oneself as an unseen listener.

At Klang Moor Schopfe 2021, Philipp Rhensius created 12 experimental audio essays. Listen to a podcast inspired by the sound installation of A. Frei, Franziska Koch (OOR Saloon) in collaboration with Nelson Irsapoullé, Tracy September, and Vivian Wang Sommer.

At Klang Moor Schopfe 2021, Philipp Rhensius created 12 experimental audio essays. Listen to a podcast inspired by the sound installation of Ryoichi Kurokawa.

In the essay collection «Nothing Sounds the Way It Looks» 30 writers from 17 countries reflect on their worries, dreams, and hopes in the 21st century. Inspired by the films of the 10th Norient Film Festival, divided into 8 central Norient Topics.

Philipp Rhensius meditates on Amanda Melissa Baggs’ communication with every aspect of their environment, via Eden Tinto Collins’ and Giuliano Ponturo’s film «CoNEC» and his own childhood experiences.

There are many kinds of activism around the world. As some films from the 9th Norient Musikfilm Festival 2019 show, this depends on the intentions of the persons concerned, and the politics of the places and spaces they inhabit.

To be recognized might be the most fundamental need of being human. Yet the means and methods for seeking it differ radically, especially among artists. As some of the international movies at the 9th Norient Musikfilm Festival 2019 have shown, recognition can become a matter of survival.

Does the movie «Sinofuturism (1839–2046 AD)» confront us with a future China, that is an inhuman dystopia? No, says Philipp Rhensius. It just depends on the perspective on our world.

The musician Cedrik Fermont cuts lanes through the imagined landscapes of our world. The 2018 compilation «Uchronia» from his label «Syrphe» consists of 49 songs from artists of 32 Asian countries. We asked him about his five favorite songs.

Often, the politics of a song are carried in its lyrics. However, can instrumental electronic music also create concrete criticism? An investigation of D. Glare's song «Gentrification Death Certificate».

The music of of the electronic musician and singer Aïsha Devi creates a world of unheard sounds and utopian ideas. Read a sonic fiction in advance of her audiovisual live show at our new concert series.

Musik aus dem Globalen Süden und die Thematisierung von Queerness sind in. Doch wie lässt sich kulturelle Aneignung oder «positive othering» verhindern? Ein Gespräch mit Festivalkurator Thomas Gläßer (Köln).

There has always been a compulsive instinct to locate music geographically. But didn't it stand for a world without borders? The new album of the club music producer Nídia could decolonize music with hyperactive, hybrid and bass-heavy sounds.

On his recent release «Tar», the Tehran-based drone musician Siavash Amini creates thick walls of sound that conjure eerie landscapes and feelings of disorientation. But if one is brave enough to face the grim textures, it creates an effect of empowerment.

The human body is a drilled animal. The meta-national art and music collective NON Worldwide opposes this. Their performance «The Great Disappointment» at CTM Festival aimed at decolononizing the dancefloor by creating sensual disorientation.

Weil in der Wüste nichts ist, kann dort alles sein. Im Coachella Valley entstand in den 1990er-Jahren Desertrock. Mit dem eigenen Sound, den Jams im Nirgendwo und Bands wie Kyuss wurde der Stil international bekannt, verharrte aber stets im Underground.

Popmusik ist postkoloniale Musik. Sie ist immer mit den politischen Weltkarten und kulturellen Identitäten verklammert. Der Musikwissenschaftler Johannes Ismaiel-Wendt plädiert daher für ein anderes, neues Hören. Ein Gespräch.

The label Terror Negro from Lima is a lively home for south american bassmusic hybrids. The founder Deltatron talks about subverting the eurocentric mainstream and the micropolitics of Perus club culture.

In Botswana, heavy metal is a subversive form of self-expression, especially if the fans are female. The South African photographer Paul Shiakallis captured the metal «queens» in their homes. Norient spoke to him about his experiences with the Marok.

Die meisten Menschen hören heute Musik auf Smartphones und Laptops. Das verändere auch die Musikproduktion, sagt der Musikethnologe Wayne Marshall im Interview. Die sich ausbreitende Treble Culture sei aber kein Grund zum Kulturpessimismus.

Dubstep’s philosopher Rob Ellis aka Pinch from Bristol keeps alive the sound of early dubstep. In the interview the founder of the label Tectonic speaks about embryonal well-being, and dance music patience and pressure.

Die Grime-Szene in der britischen Hauptstadt steht unter scharfer Beobachtung der Polizei. Nach den Riots im Sommer 2011 müssen Clubbetreiber und MCs besonders kreativ sein, um ungestört feiern zu können.