From post-digital pop mocking the music history to Romanian folk music turning into a meme culture.

  • Playlist by Gãy
    While Vietnam faces devastating flooding in 2022, some musicians are turning the uncomfortable into a new playground. Watch 5 video clips curated by the Saigon-based music collective Gãy in which weird sounds and harsh cuts play with our senses.
  • Short Essay by Adam Harper
    Defining one’s authenticity by being inauthentic is a central mode of being queer – and has become a popular aesthetic. In an essay inspired by the film «The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo», our writer asks how the metaphor of the flamingo might offer a route out of a repressive reality.
  • Short Essay by Ştefan Ionescu Ambrosie
    The Romanian music genre manele has recently undergone a very postmodern reception. Widely shared through memes seemingly ironically, the genre could also be the predecessor of a new counterculture.
  • Playlist by Neil van der Linden
    Six international curators from the Norient community have researched contemporary music videos that re-imagine, parody, or deconstruct Orientalism. Here is the shortlist by curator Neil van der Linden, who predominantly focuses on videos from Saudi Arabia.