Welcome to the 17th edition of CTM Festival! 

CTM 2016 – New Geographies examines today’s rapidly collapsing borders and emerging new topographies. Tensions between globalisation and physically bound cultural identities, online worlds that renege the ties of locality, blurring of traditional notions of gender and ethnicity, and intensifying feedback between natural and manmade are examined by the artists, special projects, commissioned works, lecturers and contributors to the festival’s programme. Concerts, performances, an exhibition, discourse programme and more aim to offer a musical framework and sonic entry point into these questions, and to provide the conceptual tools needed to approach this increasing hybridity with greater openness.

Here’s a programme overview to help you find your bearings during the 10-day journey:

CTM by Night

The festival’s nighttime music programme connects past, present, and future musical experimentation through several series:

• concerts at the HAU Hebbel am Ufer kick off each evening’s music programme. At HAU1 the focus is on extended listening and grey zones in definitions of culture and appropriation while the HAU2 is dedicated to exploring diverse approaches to New Geographies, be it through audiovisual  and dance performances, or research into musical and technological tradition
• Berghain, Yaam, and Werkstatt der Kulturen events lean towards club-oriented sounds and visuals without forgetting a healthy dose of experimentation and surprises
• CTM’s collaborative concert with transmediale, which takes place over two nights at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, and this year features co-commissioned work Still Be Here — a journey into the world of 21st Century pop stardom.

CTM by Day

Transfer is the umbrella name given to CTM’s daytime programme, which bundles the festival’s daytime activities: 

• the CTM 2016 Exhibition: Seismographic Sounds. Visions of a New World, curated by Norient, on show 29 January – 20 March at Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien
• the Discourse series of panels, talks, screenings and presentations
• the MusicMakers Hacklab, an 8-day long collaborative environment in which pre-selected participants learn about new technologies and make their own musical inventions
• the CTM 2016 Radio Lab, which commissions two winning projects to explore the possibilities of coupling live performance with the medium of radio
• a Research Networking Day for graduate students and emerging artists working in fields of audio, arts, media and related disciplines
• the Meet & Greet for Collaborative Networks, which introduces three European network projects and gives information to artists and the public on how to get involved
• commissioned installations "Rituals" by Vincent Moon, and "Force Field" by Evelina Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand, that runs throughout the festival at HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU2) and ACUD Macht Neu respectively
• and NTS radio broadcasts from Where is Jesus, featuring artists performing at this festival edition and with an opening session with two of the 17th edition's curators.

CTM Opening Weekend

CTM will hold its Exhibition launch on Friday 29.01, which also includes performances that launch the 2016 MusicMakers Hacklab. New this year is an opening club night directly following, at Berghain/Panorama Bar. The CTM 2016 Opening Concert takes place Saturday 30.01. at HAU1 and is followed by a club night at Werkstatt der Kulturen, a new venue partner this year.

Before and during the Festival

Leading straight into CTM and transmediale festivals, Vorspiel 2016 takes place from 15.01 – 7.02.2015 as a city-wide programme where a variety Berlin-based initiatives and venues invite the public to a series of exhibition openings, performances, interventions, artist talks, and special events all over the city.

After the Festival

CTM has again collaborated with a diverse range of researchers, journalists and artists in order to create the CTM 2016 Magazine. The collection of essays included in the publication provides deeper reflection into a selection of artists and programmes reflected within the 16th edition's programme.

Also not to miss, NTS radio will be releasing a series of recordings from the CTM 2016 music and Discourse programmes later in the following months.