CTM Festival will return to Berlin from 24 January – 2 February 2025, visiting partner venues silent green, radialsystem, Berghain, Morphine Raum, and more.

The myriad of experimental, personal, and emotional practices regrouped in the festival mirror a world in distress and uncertainty, and (artistic) attempts to process this. CTM 2025 will run without an overarching theme, instead exploring a series of new and ongoing thematic strands.

One of several points of focus will be on how traditional forms can be reinterpreted within modern sound and performance, outside of (self-)exoticisation and the uneven power dynamics created by mass-cultural and other stereotypes. Centred around the »Resynthesising the Traditional« artistic lab, this theme will also be reflected in concerts and discourse sessions throughout the festival. Continuing our examination of artificial intelligence in sound, this festival edition will also explore themes of disruption and creative anarchy within AI’s evolving role in music and art, notably through the »Wilding AI« artistic lab and discourse sessions. Evoked first within our Radio Lab, the theme of »affection« will be examined through diverse performances.

We launch our 2025 programming with artists:

• 33 (INT)
• Abdullah Miniawy Trio (INT)
• Agustín Genoud (AR) – »Liederbuch der Apokalypsen«
• Antconstantino (BR)
• Ash Fure (US) »ANIMAL«
• Dis Fig & Spooky-J (INT)
• DJ Love (PH)
• Eek, Female Wizard, Harrison Hall, Sam Mcgilp pres. »STACK« AV (AU)
• Emma Ruth Rundle (US) – »Electric Guitar 3«
• Ganavya (US)
• Heinali & Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko (UA) – »Гільдеґарда«
• Jordan Deal (US) – »Seas of Triple Consciousness«
• Kianí del Valle (KDV) Performance Group with Tayhana and Hamill Industries (INT) – »CORTEX«
• Kilbourne (US)
• Marie Davidson (NL/CA) presents »City Of Clowns« with Nick Verstand
• Morgan Garrett (US)
• Murderpact (US)
• Nídia & Valentina (PT/UK) – »Estradas«
• ---__--____Seth Graham & More Eaze (US) – »Night Of Fire«
• PΞB (DE)
• Runhild Gammelsaeter & Lasse Marhaug (NO)
• These New Puritans (UK)

CTM 2025 Radio Lab Winners:

• Lynn Nandar Htoo, rEmPiT g0dDe$$, Gabriel Htoo, Sarah Hanan (INT) – »Resonant Resilience«
• Yara Mekawei (EG/DE) – »Sonic Forces«

Participants of the Resynthesising the Traditional artistic lab hosted by Susie Ibarra (US) and Stas Shärifullá (INT):

• Anna Jurkiewicz (PL/AT)
• bela (KR/DE)
• Bilawa Respati (ID/DE)
• Marie Yevkiné Tirard (FR)
• Medina Bazarğali (KZ)
• Nakul Krishnamurthy (IN/UK)
• Shoty Ndjoly (CD)
• trē seguritan abalos (US)

The Wilding AI Lab held at MONOM is seeking participants via open call tol engage the hybrid possibilities of spatial audio and generative AI with hosts:

• Alexandre Saunier (FR)
• Beth Coleman (US/CA)
• Maurice Jones (DE/CA)
• Portrait XO (US/DE)

Read the full announcement

Early-bird passes are on sale now in limited quantities. These passes grant access to most CTM events. You can choose from the CTM Festival Pass, CTM Weekend Passes, or Connect Passes for CTM+transmediale. Tickets to individual events will be released in December.

Buy CTM 2025 pass

Two winning CTM 2025 Radio Lab projects have been selected from over 300 entries from artists in 53 different countries, which responded to this year’s open call. The two winning projects will premiere at CTM 2025, with subsequent radio broadcasts via Deutschlandfunk Kultur and ORF in spring and autumn 2025 respectively.

Yara Mekawei blends recordings from Egypt’s borders with Palestine, Libya, and Sudan with live sound manipulation to navigate the complex emotions surrounding affection in the face of both internal and external conflict.

Lynn Nandar Htoo and rEmPiT g0dDe$$ fuse personal and political narratives to underscore the role of music as a means of resistance, resilience, and healing for displaced and queer people in Southeast Asia. Their fusion of recorded soundscapes and instruments with digital elements will be enhanced by dynamic visual art created by the filmmaker Gabriel Htoo and visual artist Sarah Hanan.

More information

Resynthesising the Traditional is an artistic lab which will host eight artists selected via open call for a weeklong exploration of the intersection of heritage, technology, and political imagination. Co-hosted by composer and sound artist Susie Ibarra and sound researcher and artist Stas Shärifullá, the lab will culminate in a public event on Sunday 2 February in radialsystem Halle, mixing presentations, performative inputs, and talks.

A big congratulations to the selected fellows who will kick off this inaugural edition of the lab:

• Anna Jurkiewicz (PL/AT)
• bela (KR/DE)
• Bilawa Respati (ID/DE)
• Marie Tirard (FR)
• Medina Bazarğali (KZ)
• Nakul Krishnamurthy (IN/UK)
• Shoty Njoly (CD)
• trē seguritan abalos (US)

Read more about the fellows, their practices, and the lab on our website.

More information

This four-day lab set within the 4DSOUND environment at MONOM will focus on the application of generative AI in spatial audio, and collectively explore the wilder territories of AI. Shaped as a mix of theoretical and hands-on components, the lab culminates with a public presentation session Sunday 26 January.

Application deadline: 29 November 2024

Read more & apply

CTM Festival would not be possible without the support of a team of volunteers. Our annual call is out for anyone wishing to participate behind the scenes.

More information & to apply

Returning to London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) this November for the second year of collaboration, CTM Festival is bringing a two-day program with 11 international artists – from polyrhythmic club to walls of guitar drone – for some serious Advanced Weekender vibes. In Berlin Iranian artist Sote presents his latest album Soundsystem Persepolis at Morphine Raum, in which he weaves the rich sounds and textures of hardcore club sounds and acoustic and electronic instrumentation both futurist and traditional.

Funded by
Senate Department of Culture and Social Cohesion | The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media | Goethe-Institut | German Federal Foreign Office | Creative Europe Programme of the European Union

In Cooperation with
transmediale | Berghain | Morphine Raum | MONOM | OXI | radialsystem | RSO.Berlin | silent green | Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz

Programme Partners
SHAPE+ | Deutschlandfunk Kultur Hörspiel / Klangkunst | ORF Ö1 Kunstradio | tekhnē | Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) | Berlin Technical University | Freie Universität Berlin | Trust | Dancecult

Media Partners
Deutschlandfunk Kultur Hörspiel / Klangkunst | Refuge Worldwide | The Wire 

Supported by
d&b | SAE | Berliner Pilsner | WALL AG