CTM 2020 launches with a two-night showing of “Frontera” at the Hebbel am Ufer (HAU1) theatre. In an era of aggressive nationalism and corporate mass surveillance, the human body has never been rendered so visible. Subjected to increasingly invasive forms of industrial-scale oversight and processing, bodies are perpetually monitored, defined, and captured. In “Frontera,” by Animals of Distinction with choreography by Dana Gingras, nine dancers navigate spaces of inclusion and exclusion—their bodies mapped in high resolution, their destinies unresolved. “Frontera” considers surveillance technologies and the advancing frontiers of knowledge and control that they represent. As borders organise and orchestrate the passage of bodies through the world, and as public and private realms are obscured by monitoring technologies, what space remains for the unruly, ungovernable body? Featuring light-based scenography by United Visual Artists (UVA), live music by Fly Pan Am, and field recordings by Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s Dave Bryant, “Frontera” offers a dynamic commentary on our messy entanglements with corporate technologies and the complexities of our present moment.

Jasmine Guffond presents work from her forthcoming record, Microphone Permission, due out next year via Editions Mego. Continuing her explorations of data sonification and surveillance, Microphone Permission refers to the consent supposedly given by smart device users when installing various apps, inspired by a 2018 scandal in which fans of Spain’s most popular soccer team were, effectively, turned into unwitting spies. Listeners are invited to collectively consider the implications of algorithmic, invasive, and computational listening practices. Guffond is accompanied by Ilan Katin, a Berlin-based artist who works across drawing, live visual performances, and installations.

"Frontera" is part of the culture programme related to Canada’s Guest of Honour presentation at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2020. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Government of Canada. With additional support by the Embassy of Canada and the Québec Government Office in Berlin.