The 4th edition of SET, Tehran’s annual experimental music festival, is dedicated entirely to artistic dialogue with Berlin. The 5-day SET X CTM event takes place 26-30 July 2018 in Tehran, and has been conceived and organized in close collaboration with CTM.

The collaboration between SET and CTM started in 2016, when support from Goethe-Institut enabled the two partners to commission Sacred Horror in Design, a pioneering collaboration between Tehran-based artist Sote, and Berlin-based artist and Thom Yorke/Nicolas Jaar collaborator Tarik Barri, which subsequently led to the first showcase of Iranian electronic music at CTM 2017 in Berlin.

With SET X CTM, the two festivals intensify their efforts to foster cultural dialogue and to strengthen the growing network between Tehran and Berlin. Co-funded by the Goethe-Institut’s International Coproduction Fund, the festival will see the premiere of two new commissions that bring together artists from the two cities alongside a range of performances from Berlin-based and Iranian artists.

SET Experimental Art Events is an artist-run festival founded in 2015 with a specific focus on experimental music and audio/visual performance. The festival’s main emphasis is on styles of music or visuals which cannot be contained by mainstream culture’s established boundaries. SET aims to bring together individuals who, up until recent years, have found themselves out of place in the dominant music and arts canon. The festival allows them to congregate in a DIY and collective atmosphere that can help bring their ideas to fruition. In the long run, SET hopes to contribute in building a solid network of experimental artists and audiences that will act as backbone for an ever-expanding scene in Tehran.

By bringing together established and emerging experimental artists from Iran and Europe, SET aims to increase dialogue between not-so-distant cultures. These efforts contribute to the development of a more inclusive worldwide scene, and encourage the sharing and exchange of artistic practices and ideas.

DAY 5 Programme

SET X CTM Panel | Music Museum
9T Antiope, Rainer Kohlberger, Shanin Entezami (SET Festival), Jan Rohlf (CTM Festival). Moderated by Raphaela Rößler (Tanawo Festival)

Following short presentations by 9T Antiope and Rainer Kohlberger, the discussion is joined by representatives from SET and CTM festivals, who will speak about collaborating on SETxCTM.