CTM 2021 – Transformation

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As the pandemic changed our means and understanding of connection, CTM 2021 Transformation aimed to respond to some of the challenges facing arts and culture in these exceptional times. The Transformation theme offered ongoing critical reflections and encourage artistic experimentation that could lead us to new and better practises. The festival split into two parts, with the main focus taking place during an intensified winter lockdown period. This 100% online configuration was an attempt to experiment with new digital formats, see how we can continue to support ongoing artistic work, and find moments of interaction and togetherness as a remote music community and audience.

This first part comprised two virtual club nights, each of which approach the challenges of filling the void of listening to music and partying together in different ways. A series of trans/local commissions tasked artists with envisioning new ways of creating and performing remotely, be this through new technological innovation, narrative solutions, or other explorations. Two virtual club nights brought the rave to our homes with Club Matryoshka in Minecraft and in Club Quarantäne's virtual venue. Festivalgoers were also invited into the multiplayer CTM Cyberia immersive multiplayer 3D exhibition and festival space, and to the finale performance of a 100% remote MusicMakers Hacklab where 10 selected fellows sought solutions to online collaboration throughout the festival week. A week-long Discourse programme explored the Transformation theme in multiple ways.

Two new online apps and tools allowing for engagement with artists and other viewers could be tested throughout the programme; the Streamback browser-based app allowed viewers to record and send video questions for the q&a within our Discourse programme, or reactions to artistic performances at the festival closing concert, which were visible to the artists and audience. Performing artists could be supported via the CTM 2021 Solidarity Pass. All pass proceeds were donated to participating artists via the open-source CTM Drop App, created by Ape Unit's Eventivize. The app was an exploration of alternative ways of valuating and monetising online music performance and art, aiming to offer the public different ways of financially supporting artists. The app allocated a certain number of  ◊Drops that festival goers could allocate to artists of their choice, or to all artists evenly. After the festival, each participating artist received additional income (on top of their artist fee) based on the number of ◊Drops they have received. Unused ◊Drops were equally split between all participating artists.

In September, CTM 2021 Transformation rounded out its 22nd edition with four in-person events, marking a return to the in-person physical-sensual experiences that have always been at the heart of the festival. This autumnal series of events featured works that could not be shown in January due to the pandemic: the »Ventrilogues« sound exhibition, two concerts, and an installation in public space. Virtual visits to the exhibiton and installation were offered to festivalgoers that were unable to join in-person.

»a bold new approach to music festivals«
→ Emily Gosling, Creative Boom, UK

»Berlin’s renowned CTM festival has reinvented itself for the pandemic, and given rise to unexpected, affecting pieces.«
→ Lewis Gordon, VICE, INT

»So ambitioniert wanderte bisher kein Festival ins Digitale.«
→ Steffen Greiner, die Tageszeitung, DE

»With such refreshing ideas, looking for new solutions and paying attention to issues that others would consider marginal, the Berlin festival has once again proved its worth. If someone else needs to be convinced that the crisis can also be an opportunity and now is the best time to rethink, reevaluate and reorganize matters that until recently seemed impossible to move, then CTM provides arguments.«
→ Piotr Tkacz, Ruch Myzychzny, PL

»The CTM Festival is a treasured mainstay of Berlin’s music scene, having nurtured and celebrated the city’s DIY and club communities since 1999 … This year, CTM moved completely online while a new lockdown continues, but it did so by fully embracing the digital, not letting it be just a makeshift solution to the current restrictions.«
→ Jazmina Figueroa, Texte zur Kunst, DE

»It was like partying in a puzzle! The body did not quite fit a 13” computer monitor, but now I had Berghain in my kitchen and it was beau-tech-ful! I listened to people like Amazondotcom and rRoxymore, and I felt at home in everything, from tripping jungle music, hardy ghetto house, the even faster Chicago variant juke, and to snake fat, hot tech from the Shanghai underground, and I have to admit, I got the urge for a solo mosh.«
→ Andreo Michaelo Mielczarek, Seismograf, DK