Xabier Erkizia - Narrative layers creating worlds in sound

Xabier Erkizia at Berlinale 2024 // © Daniel Pook (Short-Talks.com)
Basque sound artist and researcher Xabier Erkizia has been combining experimental music with sociocultural fieldwork since the 1990s. His work uses sound as a tool to explore memory, identity, and cultural change—such as in the participatory mapping project Soinumapa.net or through assembled industrial noises in installations.

Basque sound artist and researcher Xabier Erkizia has been combining experimental music with sociocultural fieldwork since the 1990s. His work uses sound as a tool to explore memory, identity, and cultural change—such as in the participatory mapping project Soinumapa.net or through assembled industrial noises in installations.

As a film composer (including Lois Patiño’s Samsara), he develops soundtracks as autonomous narrative layers that intertwine archival material with electronic elements. In 2024 we met the co-founder of the pioneering ERTZ Festival (1999–2017) - who is also a lecturer at EQZE film school - in Berlin where he was part of the Berlinale Shorts award jury.


More about the 2024 Berlinale Shorts jury & Short Talks: