Brigitte Schiffer: Sounds of Exile
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| Admission: free admission |
| Planning: Duration: 60 min |
| Suitable for: 12 years and older |
| Venue: Mechanical Arena in the Foyer |
| Part of: Guestroom |
A conversation between artist Netta Weiser and musicologist Dr. Matthias Pasdzierny, on the life and work of Jewish-German composer Brigitte Schiffer (1909–1986). Together, they will discuss Schiffer’s years of exile in Egypt, queer traces in the archive, entangled histories of migration and practices of listening across cultures.
Brigitte Schiffer studied composition and ethnomusicology in Berlin in the early 1930s. As part of her doctoral research, she conducted fieldwork in Siwa, an isolated oasis in western Egypt. Traveling with a phonograph, she documented a wide range of vocal practices within the local Amazigh community. Among her recordings are rare sonic documents, including a funeral song performed by a children’s choir and a collection of love songs with undertones of queerness sung by agricultural laborers in the oasis gardens
Participants
Netta Weiser (b. 1991) is a Berlin-based artist and choreographer working across performance, sound installation, and experimental radio. In 2019, she initiated the long-term artistic research project Radio-Choreography, which explores the transformation of dance into sound, the relationship between live broadcasting and muted histories, and collective listening as a choreographic practice. Her works have been presented internationally, most recently at the KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, Tanzquartier Wien, Onassis Stegi Athens, WDR, Villa Medici Rome, and Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe. She is the recipient of fellowships from the Studio for Electroacoustic Music at the Akademie der Künste Berlin and the VALIE EXPORT Center Linz. Alongside her artistic practice, she hosts a monthly radio show on reboot.fm .
Prof. Dr. Matthias Pasdzierny (* 1976 in Goettingen) is a musicologist from Berlin (University of the Arts/Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities). His main research topics are: critical edition of (tape) music, music and migration after 1945, history of techno and electronic dance music; book publications: Wiederaufnahme? Rückkehr aus dem Exil und das westdeutsche Musikleben nach 1945, text + kritik München 2014; Inside the Studio. Spaces of Electronic Music Production Berlin/Cairo, Hatje Cantz Berlin 2025
