This workshop/discussion unites several organisers and promoters from Germany and beyond who have have actively undertaken measures to reach out to different marginalised communities and to provide and protect safe spaces and who faced challenges in promoting, encouraging and defending diversity at their events. All interested event organisers and general public are encouraged to attend! Later the same day, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge speaks with filmmaker Hazel Hill McCarthy III the night before their joint performance and presentation at HAU1.

After their performances last night, Iranian experimental musicians Sote, Siavash Amini and 9T Antiope speak about the scene and music in Teheran. Ayesha Hameed looks at possible afterlives of the Black Atlantic: in contemporary illegalised migration at sea, in oceanic environments, through Afrofuturistic dancefloors and soundsystems, and in outer space. Noah Sow speaks about the conception and production of the gender-bending satire play "Radio Meta“, which aims at the deconstruction of sexism, racism and bias in the field of pop music and radio. The day is rounded out with a panel on perceptions of the dancefloor, from uptopic neutral space to political realm as it aims to unpack how strategies of resistance and perhaps vested political action can be realised.

Two strong artistic voices appear on this evening's programme. Outspoken feminist artist Jenny Hval will make an appearance in the wake of a sobering experience of touring in the USA during the election. Her CTM performance created together with experimental duo Skrap will expand from her recent “Blood Bitch” album to respond to the prevalence of impulsive, hype-fed and emotion-driven politics there and elsewhere. Stine Janvin Motland will open the evening with “Fake Synthetic Music,” using her voice to imitate melodic synthesizer sequences of consistent, unrelenting intensity.

Downstairs at Berghain, rave culture and bass futures give voice to community and identity; contrasting music activists sound the emancipatory potential of forward-thinking club music. The programme includes SHAPE platform -supported Sky H1, Philadelphia-based experimental hip hop artist Moor Mother, Yally, the new project developed by Blackest Ever Black duo Raime, UK legend Actress, and Detroit Drexciya affiliate DJ Stingray, whose sets are as life-affirming as they are merciless. Upstairs at Panorama Bar, future-tropical sounds abound as Staycore meets Bala Club. Hyped label/collectives Bala Club and Staycore meet via Endgame, Mechatok and mobilegirl. Tastemaker, Bromance label co-founder and Kanye collaborator Virgil Abloh appears for a special DJ set.

This afternoon, hosted by music journalist Lisa Blanning, provides a platform for a few female and female-identified groups to not only present themselves to the public, but also to meet, exchange and cross-pollinate their work and ideas. The programme consists of a presentation by the Netherlands-based collective New Emergences, a panel discussion between representatives of Sister, MINT and Discwoman, a talk about self-care and artist lifestyles by shesaid.so and Emily Hodge, and a panel discussion with the Berlin-based collective Salt+Sass. 

For one of the last performances at HAU2 this festival, experimental pop maven Gazelle Twin will present her latest project, "Kingdom Come," an audiovisual work performed with live vocalists on treadmills. Transgressive Chinese noise artist Pan Daijing will deliver one of the fearless, brazen sets she's become known for. 

The Meet & Greet at 16:00 this afternoon in the Kunstquartier Bethanien Projektraum provides a chance to learn about and exchange with curators, organisations and artists involved in the independent music festival scene. Joining an array of festival representatives are teams from two international networks in which CTM is involved – Sound Heterogeneous Art and Performance in Europe (SHAPE platform) and the European Network for Contemporary Audiovisual Creation (ENCAC), both co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. 

Kurt Hentschläger's immersive, dissociative installation at Halle Am Berghain is one of the highlights of this year's festival. Its gargantuan scale and multi-level impact defy terse descriptions or quick documentation. It runs for the length of the festival as well as for two additional four-day periods later in February.