CTM has always strived to provide a forum that facilitates exchange and networking between different creative communities, while simultaneously fostering open spaces of possibility. Every year it reflects on the contemporary social, cultural, and political climate. This edition's theme of Persistence examines the aesthetic and societal potentials and pains of perseverance, and of its opposite – the transient and the provisional. It’s not only a fitting allegory for our 20th birthday, but also describes an attempt to consider what is worth being persistent about, and how.  

Here's a programme overview to help you navigate the expansive 2019 edition.

Key Threads and Projects

→ Central to the programme are a number of artists that rebut various political violences. Across Berghain, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Festsaal Kreuzberg, and more are key performances from Linn da Quebrada, A Tribe Called Red, IC3PEAK, and Gazelle Twin, among others.

→ CTM collaborates with a number of crews, collectives, and other exciting projects, such as Bassiani, Floorgasm, Through My Speakers, and Lecken. 

→ The Nusasonic initiative welcomes a number of artists from Southeast Asia.

→ A collaboration with SET brings a slew of new works by Iranian artists to Berlin.

→ Continuing our critical exploration of AI, the annual CTM x transmediale collaborative concert features the debut live AI/AV show from Actress + Young Paint.

→ A programme at MONOM showcases works in 4DSOUND. 

Exhibitions, Installations, Talks, and More

→ The 2019 CTM Exhibition, Persisting Realities, arrives at Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, and welcomes artists grappling with our ever-changing realities.

→ Our annual Discourse programme also takes place at Kunstraum, and features threads such as Decolonising the Ear, (Re)Empowering the Music Ecosystem, Resilience, Political Narratives through Sound and Listening, and Resisting Fundamentalism, in addition to a MusicMakers Hacklab and Research Networking Day. 

→ Further exhibitions, installations, activities, and spectacles include Nik Nowak's new sonic tank, The Mantis; the premiere of Raster's new Labor at nGbK; the Eishalle, soundtracked by an array of DJ sets; Brandon LaBelle's The Other Citizen: Archive; and CTM broadcasts on Berlin Community Radio. 

After the Festival

→ The Eishalle extends for another week, welcoming a wide array of music from noise to reggae.

→ Persisting Realities continues until 17.3.2019.

→ The CTM 2019 Magazine will be for sale at Motto books.

→ Talks will gradually be posted on our SoundCloud and YouTube.