Matteo Giordano Reporting from Berlin
CTM is a prominent international festival dedicated to contemporary electronic, digital and experimental music and sound creation, as well as the diverse range of artistic activities and social practises that develop within and connect to those audio cultures. Since 1999 it takes place concurrently and cooperatively with the transmediale – International Festival for Art and Digital Culture, Berlin.
CTM reflects on the agency of contemporary sound creation within the cultural fabric of society and its technological and social transformations. It explores the intersections of contemporary music and audio art with other artistic forms and cultural fields. A special emphasis is put on the creative use of new technologies, the interplay of sound with other media formats, the formation of social networks, the development of structures for informational and economic self-determi- nation, and the advancement of a positive form of globalization.
CTM puts the focus on direct experience, risk-taking and personal interaction. Thereby the festival emphasizes the situational potential of live performance, process-oriented projects, collabora- tion and interdisciplinarity. It encourages exchange between cultural niches, critical art practise, cultural industry and academic research.
Together, the two festivals CTM and transmediale comprise one of the most comprehensive and relevant occasions in the world for reflection on digital culture and, moreover, one with a more comprehensive scope than any usual festival remit. The two parallel festivals attract a broad, diverse public yet at the same time offer artists, producers, agents and curators a lively platform for informed, thoughtful debate and opportunities to network across the globe. In doing so, they fathom and illuminate the minutely diversified grass-roots level of music and media arts produc- tion. Both festivals do much more than simply present new trends and developments however. In their role as partners to the artists, as participants in on-going contemporary discourse, as active network facilitators, information resources, research bodies and disseminators of innovative work, they also make a vital contribution to the further development of critical, innovative music and media cultures.
For its 15th edition, Berlin’s CTM festival goes under the theme of Discontinuity. Acts include Buchla Music Easel player Charles Cohen, Phil Niblock a showcase of electronic music pioneer Erkki Kurenniemi’s work, plus Cyclobe, Mark Ernestus’s Jeri-Jeri, Metasplice, Porter Ricks, Rodion GA and more
