Berlin Atonal 2023

Aasthma is a sonic experiment born out of many collaborative experiences shared between techno jesters Peder Mannerfeld and Pär Grindvik. Taking inspiration from their work on Fever Ray’s last record “Plunge”, Grindvik and Mannerfelt set out to deconstruct the conventional techno sound into a future-centric, collaborative and free-flowing format. The musical result is a startling fusion of pop, trap, EDM, dancehall, R&B, and of course techno. This special premiere live show invites Sara Parkman – who works somewhere between folklore, heavy beats, Hildegard von Bingen, Gregorian chants and dirty violins – into the chaos.

The multifaceted collaboration between AceMo & MoMA Ready, is the embodiment of a bubbling New York scene which is ready to go global. Both accomplished artists in their own right, alongside NY contemporaries like Kush Jones & DJ Swisha, it’s their joint projects which have escalated the duo’s profile to some of the most respected producers in the game. Effortlessly flitting between Techno, Jungle, House, Acid and more, the pair have released countless solo projects, working at a sometimes blistering pace which has been mirrored by their busy touring schedule.

Working with elements of techno, electro, R&B and concrète, electronic luminary Darren Cunningham aka Actress has patented a sound that’s instantly recognisable, impossible to emulate. As one of the most preeminent and singular voices in UK electronic music, Actress’s work has continued to innovate across an already illustrious career. His productions as are his DJ sets, charged with electricity and abstract intensity.

Rhizomes AV draws on the concept of roots reaching out to connect with other roots. They are constantly in motion, expanding in all directions. They possess no definite beginning or end but perpetually reside in the middle, where it grows and overflows. This piece adapts this concept to explore the influence of sound materials on creation, the appropriation of a sound object, and the collaborative nature of a composition that responds to modernity. Aho Ssan creates musical rhizomes by employing a variety of sonic elements and collaborating with artists like Angel Bat Dawid, Nicolas Jaar, Moor Mother, and clipping. Sevi Iko Dømochevsky creates the audiovisual aspect through a hybrid exploration of languages and emotional responses to the piece, that play a crucial role in immersing the listener in an organic, mutating universe. Dømochevsky has worked with Arca, Grimes & Black Midi.

Ain Bailey, Triosque

Originally commissioned for Bruckenmusik 27 in Cologne, 2022, “Trioesque” is an evocative musical composition that transports listeners on a captivating sonic journey. Taking as its starting soundscape recordings from within Deutz Brucke, the composition aims to weave together the epic reverb of the interior (the longest in Cologne), the sounds emanating from The Rhine below and an homage to jazz trios. Known for her innovative approach to soundscapes, Bailey masterfully interlaces diverse elements, creating an intricate tapestry of sonic textures. “Trioesque” explores the interplay between these distinct sonic entities, beautifully harmonizing and converging, yet maintaining their individual identities.

After several acclaimed releases on Mannequin Records, L.I.E.S. Records and Pinkman, Alessandro Adriani returns to Berlin Atonal with a brand new live set, bringing on stage a full on armor of heavy and noisy analog machines. The Italian producer, based in Berlin since several years, is often incorporating elements of EBM, post-punk and cold wave in his live sets, creating a unique blend of retro and contemporary electronic sounds, picking up the dark and atmospheric basslines, driving rhythms, and experimental textures of bands like D.A.F., Liaisons Dangereuses and Front 242. Adriani is the founder of the record label Mannequin Records, which is celebrating 15th years of activity in 2023.

Alessandro Cortini debuts his live version of ‘Nati Infiniti’ at Berlin Atonal 2023, in an audio-visual show designed together with by Marco Ciceri.‘Nati Infiniti’ was first presented as an immersive audio installation at Sonar Lisboa 2022, and centered around ‘Strega’, the instrument he co-designed with Make Noise. For Berlin Atonal he reimagines this piece into an audiovisual live improvisation: a unique, evolving dialogue, accompanied by live visual elements by Marco Ciceri. Cortini is best known for his haunting, atmospheric work. An acclaimed solo artist, he’s also a member of Nine Inch Nails and has released collaborative albums with Merzbow, Lawrence English, and Daniel Avery.

Brazil-born, now Berlin-based, alys(alys)alys main focus is on exploring the (un)common ground between experimental, club, and soundcloud music; crafting a dynamic approach to her own productions and eclectic DJ sets. She also co-hosts a regular show on Mutant Radio called “short attention span”; allowing her to further showcase the b-side of herself and guests, an open-call for experimentation and no expectations.

IT IS NIGHT IN AMERICA
41 mins, 16mm digital transfer
Courtesy Ana Vaz, Pivô and Spectre Productions

Midday blue. Summer sun. A carcass lies in the middle of the pavement. The only sound is the hum of traffic. My footsteps slow as I approach the body: rough long fur streaked with black and pink, arched paws with long claws as if frozen mid-scamper, the long snout for eating from the earth. This stray body of what must be a grieving mother’s pup knocked me sideways. On the wings of Brazil’s aeroplane-shaped capital city, a necropolis transformed into an oasis by architects, thousands of trapped lives seek refuge in its gardens. How to mourn this dead creature? The baby anteater I can’t find a name for except Flee, struck by the ferocity of traffic, poisoned by noxious plantations, slaughtered by the sprawling city that spits out any life that can’t adapt. 55 million years, this instant…

…IT IS NIGHT IN AMERICA is a film recorded at Brasilia Zoo, habitat of hundreds of rescued species in the city. Giant anteaters, maned wolves, owls, wood foxes, capybaras and caracaras meet with biologists, veterinarians, caretakers and the environmental police in a sombre plot where the challenges of preserving life weave a web of intersecting perspectives. In the end, who are the real captives?

Apeiron Crew is a DJ collective formed through a shared love of angular techno, breaks and afterparties blasting Italo disco. Members Solid Blake, Smokey and Mama Snake paused the project to focus on their solo adventures in 2017, and have since built names for themselves in their respective pockets of the wider global electronic music scene. Now: they’re reigniting the project for a one-off, limited edition tour at a carefully selected set of cherished clubs and festivals in 2023 – a date that coincides with the 10-year anniversary of their first parties together. It’s going to be a trip.

CROSSCURRENTS is an homage as much as it is an invocation. Premiered as the first act of Atelier Impopulaire’s opera Before We Love inspired by the story of New York City’s legendary UMBRA Poets Workshop, the unique performance – fronted by the inimitable Dreamcrusher – focuses on voice, moving images and the revelatory and antagonistic live act of Dreamcrusher, whose transformative essence embodies and liberates the political nature of poetry. A collaboration that brings a decennial research on the legacy of spoken word and the primitive forms of free jazz into a multi-sensorial wall of sound, recalling the rise of socio-cultural struggles that shaped pre-Black Arts Movement experiences and whose potency is more relevant and contemporary than ever. Pia Bolognesi and Giulio Bursi have worked together as Atelier Impopulaire since 2012. Their practice involves moving-image, writing, installation, sculpture. Favoring collaborative methodologies and collective processes AI rethinks received models of dissemination presenting narratives that highlight moments of rupture in our contemporary culture.

aya, formerly known as LOFT, packs force into tiny details to create bracing, emotive, experimental music. Here, she’s joined by visual artist Marcel Weber. Her work is primarily concerned with the transfigurative power of experience and memory on the physical body.

Azu Tiwaline is an innovative artist who blends the rhythms and heritage of the El Djerid desert with modern musical elements like dub and techno. Her music emanates a cosmic sense of belonging, turning inner experiences into danceable energy. Rooted in Soundsystem psychedelia, she masterfully merges Saharan frequencies with contemporary electronic beats, positioning herself as a standout in the modern electronic music scene.

Battle-ax is Sydney-born, Vienna-raised violist Beatrix Curran. With improvisation at its core, her performances are as much disruptive as they are refined. Distortion clips and merges with relentless chains of reverb, testing the characteristics of her instrument as a means of both escapism and immediacy. Battle-ax presents a new series of work featuring arrangements of Gustav Mahler’s symphonies and Jean Sibelius for the viola.

Detroit-based BEIGE, renowned for diverse and danceable sets, emerged prominently in the music scene following a pivotal performance at the 2022 Honcho Campout. Their unique style merges well-known tracks with inventive arrangements, creating a blend of familiar and novel auditory experiences. Beginning their musical exploration in Melbourne’s vibrant electronic scene in 2013, their career trajectory witnessed significant milestones, including collaborations with influential artists like Eris Drew and Octo Octa, and performances at esteemed venues globally. BEIGE’s dedication to pushing musical boundaries sets them apart in the industry, bridging gaps between iconic hits and innovative soundscapes to curate transformative dancefloor experiences.

Big Ever’s music is a taught assemblage of UK club rhythms, tightly woven basslines, minimal synth experiments and deft percussion – seamlessly combined with a unique club-ready sensibility. While retaining the clinical accuracy, relentlessly deconstructed funk and speaker testing bass tones for which Cop Envy was known, Big Ever’s new material takes a step towards a more colourful and psychedelic sound, dotted with elegiac pad sequences, re-contextualised vocals and nimble drum workouts.

The Thief’s Journal is a spatial and performative extension of Billy Bultheel’s work as a musician and composer. Based on psychoacoustic effects, elaborated between architecture and musical compositions in Renaissance buildings, this new performance and sound installation seeks out parallels between the sacral and industrial within the Kraftwerk setting. Bultheel’s work as an experimental composer and performance artist bridges contemporary composition with techniques and traditions of European Medieval and Renaissance polyphonic music. His music explores performance and installations, often site-specific, leaving the constraints of the concert hall behind in order to find new territory for musical experiences. The musicians become performers, moving through sound tropes, interacting with architecture, sculpture and custom-made instruments. This project unites the performers Steve Katona, Blaise Cardon-Mienville, Amélie Ratle, Rebecca Lane, Adam Sinclaire, Alexander Iezzi, Sara Neidorf, Fanny Meteier, Thomas Pfaffinger, artist Billy Bultheel, curator Marie-Therese Bruglacher and scenographer Andrea Belosi.

Black Rave Culture is a Washington DC supergroup representing East Coast club, junglist rhythms and sunny house music with a truly holistic, cross-genre vision. Their music teems with grit, unbridled energy and most importantly, power. Born from the essence, Black Rave Culture lifts up the torch and begins to walk forward spreading the message of Black Rave.

Blackhaine is a UK based project operating between Noise and Drill. With its origins in the static anxiety of 2020, their output focuses on the ‘transition from stomach knotted dread to exhaustive, prang-out negative ecstasy’. A political act – the live show contains deconstructions of their existing sounds and future releases whilst experimenting with genre convention ranging from ambience to hardcore punk. At once confrontational and intimate, Heyes probes the limits of rap machismo, street poetry, experimental dance and, ultimately, what it means to be an artist from a working class background. Aggression, braggadocio and nihilism, intense vulnerability and unrefined honesty all come together for this premiere show at Berlin Atonal 2023.

Blawan’s initial foray into the musical world was as a percussionist – an element of his history that is eminently hearable given his inherent command over rhythmic nuance, spanning from the austere to syncopated complexities and swaying everywhere in between. A standout intellect within modern techno, his live performances are viewed as treasured invitations to witness the virtuoso in action. Blawan graces Kraftwerk for the first time for the concluding night of Berlin Atonal 2023.

Despite only being established in October 2022, London-based duo BLUMITSU have cemented themselves as a force to be reckoned with at lightning speed, birthing one of the most exciting UK club scene partnerships in recent times. The formidable collaboration between notorious DJ/producers and friends Bluetoof and Jossy Mitsu began with the idea to merge their consecutive Wednesday evening Rinse FM radio shows, creating an electrifying b2b show exploring the darker sides of high-octane electro and techno. The BLUMITSU ethos is based around ideals of duality; opposites of each other that are in fact two extremes of the same thing. Their combined power takes shape in their sonic journey, weaving through forward-thinking beats inspired by themes of space, technology and science. Expect nothing less than world domination as the highly sought-after BLUMITSU continue to go from strength to strength on their immense trajectory.

BOLT RUIN brings immersive electronic music that fuses the energy of black metal with cinematic sonic palettes. An apocalyptic sound described by Loud and Quiet Magazine as “a concept-heavy form of electronica that shares much of its DNA with Tim Hecker, even with the sonic totality of Blanck Mass”.

Bridget Polk, Reclaimed Damages

Reclaimed Damages is a collection of towers made of demolition debris, statuary and construction materials without using any affixer other than gravity. Bridget considers not only the shape and size, but also the history of each piece’s elements, creating the opportunity for viewers to ponder the interdependence of past and present world and personal events. Bridget creates new pieces as they inevitably fall, using her meditative practice of stillness, silence, focus, and patience. She is hopeful that viewers will appreciate the ephemeral nature of her work, encouraging detachment from our past and present to make space for an informed future, created anew.

Having achieved certain recognition with his dancefloor-oriented project Buttechno, the Berlin-based artist is currently focused on sonic experiments and artistic collaborations under his birth name. Opposed to the aggressive imperial politics of his homeland, Pavel works in various musical genres and with different media to acknowledge the historical and cultural context, delving into socio psychological issues that haunt the society, and addressing memory — both collective and individual — and its potential to change our visions of the future.

The diverse sonic worlds that Carmen Villain has built over her career invite the listener to explore depths, caverns, and intimacy within a discography shaped by her natural curiosity of sound, and of seeing the potential for music in everything. In her creative process, Carmen admits she doesn’t know exactly what the final result will be, preferring to operate by intuition, and seeing the process as a “conversation” with sound. A texture or melody buried in a field recording can be the spark that becomes a sketch.. With any horizon blurred and distant, Carmen Villain will continue to follow those shapes, sparks, and ideals, to build many more worlds for us to explore.

This special collaborative performance combines the transformative musical power of Caterina Barbieri, the layered sonic investigations of Space Afrika and the unique visual wizardry of Marcel Weber (MFO) for the very first time. All entities are used to exploring transcendence through the inwardness of auditory experience with a particular emphasis on compelling and profound live performances. The idea to bring these musical realms together for Berlin Atonal 2023 hints at a world where the dizzying musical patterns that Barbieri explores help us understand the mutable bond between the cybernetic world and the fleshy, human domain from which Space Afrika’s musical explorations emanate.

CHENG NWSH stands as the co-founder behind Awkwardly Social, a community-spirited dance music collective deeply rooted in Berlin’s community. Armed with a mastery of razor-sharp blends and a penchant for high-energy selections, he swiftly carved his reputation within the local club circuit. Although originally hailing from China, he has charted his journey through Shanghai, Paris, and London, finally finding his home in the heart of Berlin. Cheng possesses an unparalleled ability to intertwine the emotive highs of vintage rave euphoria with the cutting-edge rhythms of halftime steppers, futuristic jungle, deconstructed techno, and an array of other styles.

Christian Love Forum is a devotional band from Thessaloniki, Greece. Their (usually) private performances and recordings charter a higher purpose through ribboning microtonal keyboard jams that sound like Gurdjieff with a Casio and a knackered drum machine after too much sacramental wine. A syncretic blend of durational hillbilly trance, Byzantine newbeat and acid-rock’n’roll, CLF holds JC as its DJ, a Lord working in strange ways and days.

CORIN is Corin Ileto – Sydney-based art working in the field of performance art, sound design and theater. Her productions are an assemblage of converging styles moving somewhere between IDM, grime, EBM, trance, and baroque-laden ambience. In her compositions, traditional forms merge with hyper-digital sounds to create new imaginary realms. Coming from a background in classical piano, Ileto is interested in creating a sonic space in which western classical music can be hybridized with contemporary electronic production and non-western forms. This new audio-visual performance based around her release on Lee Gamble UIQ label is a speculative fiction, in which the artist investigates the possibilities of a collective heightened consciousness in times of crisis.

Crystallmess is a French producer and artist whose music immediately stands out for its abrasive dancefloor feel. Her DJ sets are uncompromising, ranging from hardcore rap to footwork and her devotion to club music and her multifaceted nature make Crystallmess an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

This collaborative performance combines the dance of artist Skjold Rambow and the music of CTM for the first time. A bow is a gesture, a sign that something has happened. It is a choreography that creates the transition from fiction to reality. “Bow” revolves around the intricate relation of entertainment and the weight of expectations that accompany both performers and their audience, on stage and behind the scenes. The backdrop and focal point in the music intertwine, stretching out the moment between what was and what will come, combining intimate presence with a collective language.

Cyprien Gaillard, Absorbent Figure

Absorbent Figure is based on an existing object found by the artist at the Kijk-Kubus-museum house in Rotterdam. The origin of what this statue represents is unclear and has been the source of debate over the years. One known recorded entry for a similar figure from the British Museum (1982) notes:

„wooden figure of a man in a loin cloth sitting cross-legged and holding his head in his hands. This design is known as the ‘weeping Buddha’.“

One interpretation is that those who touch it will feel a mysterious alleviation of their sorrows.

With its new industrial skin, the figure sits outside Kraftwerk amidst those gathering, taking part in the collective experiences of music and nightlife.

Cyprien Gaillard, Nightlife Archive Slideshow

A sequence of images from Gaillard’s Archive volume “Nightlife”

Hailing from Barcelona, Silvia Konstance and Viktor L.Crux (a collaborator of Nurse With Wound and J.Arbeit from Einstürzende Neubauten) have developed over the last years a unique music style recognized as “Tribal Wave”. Mixing synth bassline arpeggios and live percussions, noises and congas, industrialism and tribalism, Dame Area run across the same path and breathe the same air of the EBM/Industrial driven Diseño Corbusier or the drum compositions of Roberto De Simone. Championed by Manniquen’s Alessandro Adriani they appear with him for a special appearance at Stage Null.

Delia Beatriz, aka Debit, is a unique gem in the realm of electronic music. With her roots in Monterrey, Mexico, and current base in New York, she blends feverish tribal guarachero and gritty industrial techno, whilst also daringly wandering into dissonant ambient terrains. From solo releases on Mexican label NAAFI to audacious reworks of Missy Elliot’s ‘Get Ur Freak On’ and Bad Bunny’s ‘No Te Hagas’, Debit’s repertoire is as vibrant as it is varied. This month, she’s set to unveil her second album, ‘The Long Count’, via respected experimental outlet Modern Love. The album fuses her fascination with ancient Mayan wind instruments and modern machine-learning techniques, promising a novel sonic venture.

Deborah Stratman, Last Things

Last Things is Deborah Stratman’s latest film, holding in view evolution and extinction and considering from the vantage point of rocks and future subjects. Catalysed by two novellas by J.-H. Rosny, joint pseudonym of the Belgian brothers Boex who wrote sci-fi before it was a genre, the film takes up their pluralist vision of evolution, where imagining prehistory is inseparable from envisioning the future. lso formative were Roger Caillois’s writing on stones, Clarice Lispector’s “The Hour of the Star,” Robert Hazen’s mineral evolution theory, the symbiosis theory of Lynn Margulis, Donna Haraway’s multi-species scenarios, Hazel Barton’s research on cave microbes, and Marcia Bjørnerud’s thoughts on time literacy. In one way or another, these thinkers have all sought to displace humankind from the centre of evolutionary processes. Passages from Rosny and interviews with Marcia Bjørnerud form the film’s spine. Stones are its anchor. We trust stone as archive, but we may as well write on water. In the end, it’s particles that remain.

Having released EPs on the most prestigious techno labels out there (Jealous God, Blackest Ever Black, Mannequin, Pinkman, Return to Disorder) December has consistently put out high-quality, singular club music. His touch is powerful but melancholic, minimalistic but romantic, dark but filled with emotions, characterised by his unique use of vocals. Mariachiara Troianiello, the Milan-based sound artist behind the moniker Katatonic Silentio, works at the crossroads of electronic music, performing arts and sound studies. Both as a live performer and an independent researcher, she seeks to bridge different spheres and approaches to sonic production. Active as a DJ for more than 15 years, her sets adopt multiple forms, fluctuating between an analogue past and a technological, fast-paced future. At times, her sets focus on pure abstraction, consisting of ethereal soundscapes that seek to transcend the tangible through a mix of musique concrète, world, spoken word, ambient or dub.

DJ Caring is the name that Carin Abdulá (head of Berlin Atonal’s management and agency arm Outer Agency and key member of BA23’s music curation team) often uses on her days off. Always dedicated to championing the independent spirit of underground music in her working life, as a refined selector of tracks she is dedicated entirely to the spirit of weird and wonderful vibes.

DJ Holographic is a funky force of joy. Born Ariel Corley in Detroit, she is a leading woman of the next generation of the dance music underground, and carries that potent energy with her. When she steps behind the decks, you feel her love as she channels the energy of the crowd and the seasons, curating a soundtrack of house, funk, techno and beyond. The time to enter the world of DJ Holographic—a joyfully soundtracked, ever-expanding, creative, heart-centered glittering disco ball of possibility—is now.

At first listen, it might not appear that Gqom’s minimalist, bass-heavy sound would take Lwazi Asanda Gwala from Clermont township in Durban to commanding dancefloors in the UK, Europe, North America and Asia. But DJ Lag’s superb production skills have played a big part in transforming a sub-genre of house – one that began by soundtracking taxi trips around Durban – to an enviably innovative participant in the global scene.

This special collaborative live show builds off the mnestic soundscapes of dj lostboi and Torus’ split album pop music heard on the radio, jumbled street recordings, and everyday technological objects – The Flash evokes the melancholic pull of such recollections without ever succumbing to nostalgia. The moments eked from these samples stretch into quiet eternity – still and suspended – while retaining their quotidian, terrestrial qualities. Their shared body of work reveals a new chapter in their heartfelt wandering, recalling the spatial dynamics of The KLF’s zoned post-rave landscapes flickering with thoroughly modern paraphernalia and emotions.

Although DJ Marcelle has been collecting music longer than most of us have been alive, she still feels like The Netherlands’ sweetheart. She’s an artist with a mischievous, rule-bending and almost ironic approach to her DJing, producing and radio hosting – cut with her trademark wit yet supported by an unquestionable amount of skill. Well known for her three-turntable setup, DJ Marcelle makes compositions out of songs and symphonies out of mixes – colliding disparate genres, appropriated vocal snippets and warped soundscapes into a giant Frankenstein-like melting pot. Her performances are inventive, euphoric and above all powerful.

DJ Plead is a Melbourne/Naarm producer, based in Berlin and making percussive club music. Drawing on his Lebanese background, DJ Plead makes tough, functional, and percussive tracks. His unique style references the rhythms, scales and timbres of Lebanese pop and traditional Lebanese wedding music, blending them with contemporary RnB, Club and other dance styles.

Berlin’s DJ Spit has surfaced as the new exciting talent pushing for a hybrid set of sounds. Geared towards drum and bass, techno and warehouse to drill and amen-infused breaks, Spit fills a gap between bass, garage and hi-tech industrial as can be seen in his recently launched project EXPLORERS, which investigates the contemporary protagonists and music in these sub genres in many different formats. With him plays a child of the Dutch underground. mad miran has been on an exceptional rise of late. Her mastery behind the decks shows as she smoothly moves between electro, bass music, IDM, dubstep, electronics and breakcore throughout her sets. An infectious energy behind the decks that truly manifests it on any dance floor she takes control over. Her infinite love for obscurities have left many prowling for tracks played, as her sets tend to be an adventure through leftfield novelties and obscurities deeply rooted in 90s rave.

Sherard Ingram is a menacing node in the vast tangle of electronic music’s history, present, and future. As DJ Stingray 313 he propagates a seer-like, totalising concept of what it is to be engaged in thinking ahead by making people move. Permit yourself to zoom out of your singular reality enough such that all activity, all that is knowingly accumulated and all that is unnervingly accepted on this earth, is a spectrum of information. This includes the thermodynamics of our own biological structure. Now consider that music is a segment of this spectrum, and DJ Stingray’s 313 nexus of electro, house and techno a further specialised section forged in bypassing normalised circuits to confront the future, to articulate abstract dynamics. It’s a slice of information, it is a bandwidth. Ingram’s crucial and distinctive function in this system is to decode his particular nexus as a speculative software for others, and to encode its conspicuous qualities as a feedback system with the rest of the spectrum. If it sounds intense, it’s because it is, and it’s still just about sweating it out at a club.

DjBadshape has become an electrifying force in the bass music scene. With over a decade of experience captivating audiences, this Leipzig-based dynamo has become synonymous with the city’s vibrant club scene. A true sonic adventurer, DjBadshape fearlessly delves into an extensive array of styles and genres, skillfully weaving together seamless sets that transcend musical boundaries. Whether it’s breaks, techno, or experimental electronica, her innate ability to unite different genres leaves a joyful experience for all who are there.

To be revealed from the 01. September!

Many DJs claim to be a champion of free-spirited eclecticism, but few truly break boundaries or swerve convention. Step forward Elena Colombi, a DJ and radio host whose inspired sets are not only open-minded and mind-altering, but also seek to toy with the emotions of listeners and dancers via switches in intensity, tone, lightness and darkness. The different strands of Colombi’s DJ career are almost as diverse and otherworldly as her on-point selections, a reflection of her ability to translate her vast music knowledge and sets to differing environments. Yet it’s in clubs, where she can truly let loose and take dancers on a journey, that her celebrated talents hit home hardest.

This new collaboration is a dialogue between both artists’ worlds and underworlds, responding to each other’s sonic narratives. Field recordings, voice, noise and drones are transmuted into an obscure abstract image, ebbing in and out of focus, as a creative way finding a profound edge around which both artists linger. This new collaboration creates a meeting place for distinct intensities to synchronise, finding commonality in contradicting tones, towards a non-hierarchical soundscape of mutual expression. The sounds themselves could grow out from the dark, invisibility embodied – a methodology in seeking the unheard.

Emma dj is a Paris based artist, producer, dj who has been building a rapidly growing catalogue of releases since 2019. A remarkable output from the Finnish native who’s been quietly forging an aesthetic of his own. His productions display a clear penchant for harder, grittier and ever indescribable sounds translating directly into his dj sets as well as his collaborative experimental trap live show ‘g0drm’ which debuted at Bourse de Commerce, Collection Pinault in June 2021. Emma dj will present a new live piece with multidisciplinary artist cxoxc at Atonal 2023.

Emptyset present Ash — a new collection of sound experiments developed over the last three years and assembled in Bristol during summer 2023. The work draws on the project’s roots in structural percussion and physical sonics, employing spatialised recording techniques and an array of analogue hardware, evoking the transformative and sculptural properties of sound. The release marks a return for the collaborative duo of James Ginzburg and Paul Purgas, following Ginzburg’s work within the exploratory performance group Osmium and Purgas’ extensive research into the history of India’s first electronic music studio. It brings them back to Bristol where the project first began, channelling the echoes of the city’s sound system culture and resonant musical continuum, anchoring their sound within its formative origins.

Einstürzende Neubauten producer Boris Wilsdorf, Karl O’Connor aka Regis and MY DISCO’s Liam Andrews assemble as Eros, bottling no-wave/industrial lightning with a tight set of pulverized, widescreen torched-songs that rasp, grate and throb somewhere between This Heat and Cabaret Voltaire.

Fauzia first broke through as a DJ inspired by the interwoven legacies of fast music from either side of the Atlantic. Her sets see her blend together the best of footwork, jungle and everything in between.

Peder Mannerfelt and Flore join forces for their first ever b2b. After Peder released Flores genre busting single Get Digit / Base IQ the natural next step is to link up for a shared DJ set that promises to showcase both artists unique talents and taste for slaying the dancefloor.

Since 2020, Florentina Holzinger and her team have organized musical activations – ‘études’- in public spaces. These Études have taken place in multi-storey car parks, on streets and in town squares; predominantly metropolitan spaces associated with accelerated transfer, urban crossings, and the motorized sphere. According to Frédéric Chopin, “an étude is a musical composition of considerable difficulty, designed to provide practice material for an instrument and its player.” A stunt is defined as an extreme form of physical activity that requires precise, technical training. In these Études, stunt effects meet the world of music to create scores for bodies as instruments. In Étude For Church, a two tonne iron bell is asked to ‘call in the canonical hours, summon tempests and awake the sleeping soul’.

Trigger Warning
Nudity, blood.

Credits
Choreography, Concept, Direction: Florentina Holzinger
Performers: Sophie Duncan, Luna Duran, Fibi Eyewalker, Lucy Fire, Florentina Holzinger, Annina Machaz, Xana Novais, Bärbel Schwarz, Veronica Thompson
Scenery, Concept: Nikola Knecevic
Composition and Sound Design: Stefan Schneider
Bell Arrangement: Almut Lustig
Conductor: Sibylle Fischer
Piercer: Philippa Downey
Technical Direction: Stephan Werner
Stage Support: Camilla Smolders, Daniela Kuich
Rigging / Operator: Dörte Wilfroth
Stunt and Rigging Coordination: Alexander Kusmak, Florian Christoph / Gravity Stunts
Stunt Supervisor: Ronny Horning / Gravity Stunts
Stunt Advisor: Joe Tödtling / Stunt Factory
Production: neon lobster / Giulia Messia, Sarah Parolin, Katharina Wallisch, Tammo Walter

A production by Florentina Holzinger and neon lobster in co-production with Berlin Atonal and in collaboration with Ruhrtriennale. The series Études is funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Community – Spartenoffene Förderung.

Vind, 2023
43 mins, video
Courtesy of the artist.

Vind is a still image film composed of photography by artist Frederik Worm and instrumental compositions by musician and composer CTM. Created for the cinema, Vind addresses the fundamental question of place —Where? — and the threshold between solitude and participation in contemporary subjecthood. As a collaboration the film is concerned with facilitating encounters as well as problematising and speaking of ideas of hospitality. Music and images largely refrain from representing human beings, under which condition the initial question develops into: “How did I come here?”, “What made me?” and “What do I bring?”.

Various Illustrations
Courtesy of Uta von Debschitz & Thilo von Debschitz

Dr. Fritz Kahn (1888–1968) was a Berlin based gynaecologist and popular science writer who visualised the structure and function of the human body in a unique way. His magnum opus “Das Leben des Menschen” fascinated laymen as well as scientists with its visual analogies and metaphors and their unusually expressive and contemporary design. To pique his reader’s curiosity for the sciences and anthropology, Kahn tried to be up-to-date in both content and form. The predominant and more conventional illustrations were created in the publisher’s design department, following Kahns instructions. For more complex images, Kahn commissioned freelance painters, architects, and graphic designers who implemented his ideas in their own styles. A famous example was the almost life-sized poster “Der Mensch als Industriepalast” of 1926. This conceptual way of illustration became Kahn’s trademark and is now considered as a pioneer work of information design.

Wata Igarashi and Haruka have been two of the leading figures of the Japanese techno scene. They both display a certain commitment to a uniquely Japanese aesthetic, a recognition of the force and beauty that comes from paying careful attention to details. For the first time in Germany these two craftsmen of energy and emotion play together, combining intricate soundscapes layer by layer, blending mesmerising psychedelic elements with exhilarating rhythmic transitions and offering a one off opportunity to experience the highest level of Japanese techno in the most storied location in Europe devoted to the artform.

Hearing Berlin specialises in custom in-ear systems and hearing protection for all forms of noise cancellation and reduction in partnership with manufacturers Fisher Amps and Ultimate Ears. With over 30 years of experience, HB offers reliable and fitting products that ensure the best sound quality possible no matter your situation as music professional or aficionado.

You can sign up for a discounted custom made ear protection fitting on Wednesday 13th September from 6pm via this link: hearing-berlin.de/shop/club-edition.

Holy Tongue began as a studio collaboration between percussionist Valentina Magaletti and producer Al Wootton. With three critically acclaimed EPs behind them they have transitioned into a live trio with the addition of Susumu Mukai. Their high energy live sets invoke the experimental dub of On-U-Sound, the frenetic rhythms of 23 Skidoo, Liquid Liquid and ESG. Psychedelic, free-form, high energy, spiritual dub-dance music.

A sermon that pushes the boundaries of traditional religious oration and modern liturgical music, THE BLOOD (2TEARS & A $UCKET) challenges the audience to confront their own perspectives on love, death, and memory. Employing hip hop as found material, Honour sculpts immersive visuals and abstract vocalizations. The resulting compositions reflect an emotional dynamism that relies on unconventional instruments, rhythms, electronic synthesis, field recordings, and the artist’s voice to immerse the listener in a realm that is both unsettling and captivating—in doing so, mirroring the apocalyptic visions and spiritual depths described in the Bible’s final chapter.

The ear is one of the most sensitive organs in the human body. Our ability to pick up, understand, mimic, respond to and appreciate music depends on a complex process that begins in a very delicate part of our bodies, which can also be irreversibly damaged by sound through overexposure. Shapednoise made his most recent album after an unexpected period of hearing loss, which left him unable to produce music, DJ, or attend music events. In this session, he’ll join moderator Jenna Jones to talk about this experience, and how it forced him to reconsider his work and confront his body’s precarious materiality.

Ireen Amnes is a multifaceted artist and DJ, founder of the collective and label Under My Feet., known for its provocative exhibitions and showcases of power electronics and live experimental music. Her artistic roots in industrial, noise, and experimental genres infuse her live hardware and DJ sets with moody, unpredictable journeys that explore an array of styles and intensities. Based in Berlin, Ireen’s musical odyssey commenced as a singer and instrumentalist in metal bands, eventually weaving her signature style into the world of electronic music. Regardless of the genre Amnes’ music does (or doesn’t) fit into, its intense dynamism, nuance, and emotive power represent the expressions of a deeply complex and passionate artist.

ISAbella is one of the leading figures of the Barcelona club scene, but her reach goes far beyond the DJ booth. A co-founder of celebrated LGBTQ+ party, platform and collective MARICAS, she’s become a veritable icon within the city’s queer community while carving out space for dancers of all stripes and backgrounds to find connection, both on and off the dancefloor. A native of Colombia, ISAbella has always been passionate about music, but it’s in Barcelona that she’s come into her own as an artist. In 2016, she started the Mistress club night, but it was two years later that she helped launch MARICAS, which immediately injected a new (and distinctly queer) energy into Barcelona nightlife.

Istanbul Ghetto Club is an anonymous art collective that emerges from Berlin’s widely-recognized underground and avant-garde scene. A collaboration borne of an altercation in a Turkish music bar has become an eclectic music collective that blends traditional Anatolian, Greek, and Mesopotamian tunes with modern modular synthesizers and performance art.

Jack Dove is a musician and artist from London working in performance and composition related to mechanical movement, pyrotechnics, electrical light and space. His work makes purposefully ambiguous of what is controlling what, playing between the programmed and the aleatoric. In this opening performance of Stage Null, Dove focuses on rhythmic flashes, forms of immediacy and vibrancy, percussive material textures, waveform and electrical sound.

The Wide World – video intervention

James Richards’s expanded practice examines themes of obsession, desire, and technology through archival research, found footage, and extensive collaboration. Addressing the relentless flow of imagery in the twenty-first century, Richards’s work carves out a space where personal politics and digital materiality meet. This new video piece navigates symbolic and fragmentary moments from the mass as well as a highly personal ongoing archive used by the artist. Its anti-narrative structure is characteristic of Richards’ restless search for a personal iconography.

James Richards + Steve Reinke, When we were monsters

Richards and Reinke rework a cache of archival medical photographs used by Gretchen Bender in one of her final projects, recombined with other images and animations, texts, audio and spoken word. The medical gaze of the Bender images is expanded first to a broader scientific gaze where it collapses into some kind of abstract erotics. Pavlov’s ghost dogs. Pastel fovea. Wounds, flowers. Dust and dusty stains. Hallucinations, fire ceremonies, organic flicker, intoxicated language. Plants are the new people.

Jana Irmert is a sound artist who works across spatial composition, film soundtracks and live performance, often exploring the borderline between musical sound and noise through extensive experimentation with field recordings. Bending and melting recordings of lava debris and desert sand with processed voice, synthesizers and manipulated samples, she delves into the layers of rock and sediment, tracing the strata of bedrock deep beneath our feet. In fascination with the ephemeral and impermanent, she conjures up a world that existed long before humanity and will exist long after it.

K.P.M. stands for Kashual Plastik Mix the fictional synonym for the mastermind and subculturalist of Kashual Plastik. A protagonist of the vibrant Neukölln scene, influential disc jockey and selector. He works out of Berlin and is involved in various music/art projects under several dozen mysterious names. Booker, curator at arkaoda in Berlin. With his own label Kashual Plastik, he experiments with an authentic DIY approach composed of an intriguing graphic aesthetic and a hard-to-categorize sound inspired by punk, 80s synth-wave, EBM as well as ambient, folk and leftfield electronics.

Klein, DJ DROP

KLEIN is one of the most iconoclastic artists to come out of the UK in recent years. Her disjunctive experimentalism is used to create a sensory world that melds popular reference points with personal associations. Her musical style is characterised by elements such as R&B-inspired vocals, artfully distorted audio samples, and ethereal metallic drones, while her specially conceived performances dance between musical events and art pieces. She performs a newly prepared concert entitled DJ DROP to capstone Wednesday night’s Universal Metabolism programme.

Kode9 – born Steve Goodman – is a pioneering figure in underground dance music and a key originator of the UK bass music scene. He founded the groundbreaking Hyperdub label in 2004 which was instrumental in developing and nurturing an innovative sound between genres like jungle, dub, and garage, releasing amongst much else, the recording debut of Burial (with whom Goodman released a split single in 2023).

Lamin Fofana is an artist and musician currently located in New York. His music contrasts the reality of our world with what’s beyond, and explores questions of movement, migration, alienation and belonging. Fofana’s overlapping interests in history and the present, and his practice of transmuting text into the affective medium of sound, manifests in multisensory DJ sets and installations featuring original music compositions, field recordings and archival material.

Laure Boer is a multi-instrumentalist based in Berlin. Her music is inspired by noise music and traditional folk. Her performances are hypnotic improvisations around traditional instruments, electroacoustic and DIY-electronic objects, and sometimes a voice, singing or reciting in her native French; a vibrant universe that is both vulnerable and brutal.

Laurel Halo presents a new live show, Atlas — a culmination of a few years’ research into noir atmospherics, cinematic strings and jazz harmony. Performing at Berlin Atonal 2023 on grand piano, synth and electronics, she’ll create an uncanny ambient, designed to transport. The pieces function as musical maps for late night drives to nowhere, with ambient texture as topography and harmony as highway. She’ll be joined by the cellist Leila Bordreuil, whose own energy as a formidable free improviser will augment and punctuate Laurel’s soundworlds. The performance will be an immersive, modal deep dive into the meeting of two musical minds, headed into the fog.

Petras+Saleh’s Humanities uses tropes familiar to opera to present a duet performance. Through improvisational choreography within Atonal’s infrastructure, Humanities produces a living portrait of the performers alongside Petras’ drawings, which prefigure ideas of ruination.

LCY is a London based, Bristol born musician and visual/audio artist and DJ. A main focus of LCY’s work is world building and storytelling, writing stories and creating art to flesh out their sci-fi and fantasy narratives. Their sets are known to be dark and deconstructed whilst still paying deep homage to UK club music.

Lee Gamble is an artist, producer, label owner and DJ of exploratory electronic/dance music. Lee’s work combines the sculptural sound objects of Musique Concrète and the ever mutating dancefloor mechanics of the Hardcore Continuum, He’s created several works spanning the conceptual, filmic, dreamlike, and the straight up and hallucinated dancefloor. He will be present at Berlin Atonal 2023 as well as inviting artists largely drawn from contributors to his UIQ label platform.

There’s a type of listening that overrides all other senses and leaves us with the blank, vacant look of a person who has temporarily left their earthly body for a higher plane. It can take us beyond casual consumption and into a mental space that’s closer to creation – we can think actively about what the artist has made, how and why they have done it, and what we might want to make ourselves. These moments are valuable for music-makers and music lovers alike, but they don’t happen every day, and when they do, we’re often alone in the experience. This session invites you to spend some time with Perila in an intimate listening environment, and join a guided discussion for expressing the thoughts and connection points that arise from listening to music together.

Livia Melzi, Le Théâtre Cannibale de Bry

This ensemble of seven tapestries presented as a polygon is inspired by Théodore de Bry’s 1592 work, Grands Voyages : America Tertia Pars. The Americae retell the story of the great “discoveries” of America – in reality the beginning of a process of colonisation. They were published in Frankfurt in thirteen volumes between 1590 and 1634. The author also created numerous engravings to illustrate his texts, without ever having left Europe. The volume dedicated to Brazil was inspired by the stories and drawings of the protestant pastor Jean de Léry, the French explorer André Thevet, and the German sailor Hans Staden, each of whom encountered the Tupi tribes in the sixteenth century. Théodore de Bry’s engravings depict the indigenous people as barbarian, savage warriors, while at the same time lending them European traits. The Tupi regularly waged combat on other tribes in order to capture prisoners. During an inaugural ceremony, they were enslaved for a period ranging from a few months to several years. They were then executed and eaten entirely in highly elaborate rituals intended to encourage further wars, tribal mechanisms of social control.

Loraine James began developing her musical language early in life. Growing up on Enfield’s iconic and colourful Alma Estate in North London, she was surrounded by a plethora of parallel cultures, and thanks to her mum’s obsession with anything from heavy metal to calypso, James was able to experience music from the driver’s seat. She learned to play the piano as a teenager, frequenting emo, pop and math rock shows before teaching herself electronic music production with a MIDI keyboard and a laptop. In her low-key home studio, James channeled her wide range of interests into a personal sound that in time evolved into an identifiable signature. She presents the world premiere of her new live show based on material from her upcoming Gentle Confrontation release on Hyperdub.

Lydo is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York City. As a resident DJ of BASEMENT NY, their distinctive sets explode the parameters of techno, deftly cutting across genres while retaining a highly personal emotional resonance. Whenever Lydo plays, it’s best to leave your expectations at the door and simply prepare for an unexpected array of sonic thrills, ranging from visceral and grooving to mind-bendingly experimental.

Mala is one of the most influential figures in UK music in the last half century. One half of Digital Mystikz, founding member of the legendary DMZ club night and head of Deep Medi Musik, Mala has been stirring dubstep’s musical melting pot with its most primal ingredients before it even had a name. Almost 20 years later, his ideas and his creations continue to influence, push and fuse contemporary electronic music to unchartered place. He arrives to Kraftwerk for a special set closing the Berlin Atonal 2023 festival.

Dead Chickens, 1989
21 mins, 16mm digital transfer
Courtesy of Dead Chickens.

Over more than 20 years The Dead Chickens have enriched the cultural scene of Berlin with their concerts, shows and magnificent machines. This documentary art-comedy by Malika Ziouech follows the work of the legendary Berlin artists group Dead Chickens in animated and performed sequences. The Dead Chickens for 20 years have enriched the Berlin counter-cultural scene with their concerts, shows and machines. Somewhat like an inversion of the Strugatsky brothers’ Hard to be God, the film follows the Dead Chickens as archaic aliens, sent to earth as development workers to encourage humankind to take a different perspective of art.

Manami is an up and coming DJ and producer born in Japan, raised in the UK, currently based in London via Bristol. Her high energy, prog-laced, and UK infused sound have placed her on esteemed lineups across the UK and beyond. Manami takes her influences from a background in classical training, psychedelic grooves and Bristolian Bass music. The result is an intricately woven and refreshing venture through some of the most exciting sounds of our times.

DESASTRES hallucination elation in disorientation exhaustion from confusion Experimental/Noise/Metal/ that synchronizes image, specially adapted for Berlin Atonal 2023.

As a sound artist, Margaux explores possibilities of sounds, using unconventional instruments, everyday objects and field recording to create a rich and textured soundscape. She studied classical piano at the Conservatoire. Over time, she became increasingly interested in the possibilities of unconventional sound sources and started to incorporate these into her compositions. Using everyday objects and sounds from surrounding environments allow her to create music that is both deeply personal and universally resonant. Margaux started to work with field recording to capture her daily life in Hanoi as a sonic memory. She began by making soundscapes for her dad’s martial art videos before developing her own immersive projects with recordings from those sessions, including the sounds of traditional martial art weapons and instruments used for celebrations. Her love for organic sound pushes her to constantly engage her sonic surroundings, seeking out new sources of inspiration and experimenting with different recording techniques.

Maria W Horn is interested in the manipulation of time and space through sonic extremes – oscillating between minimalist structures and piercing power electronics utilising both digital and analog synthesis as well as acoustic instruments and audiovisual components. Her work examines aspects of human perception – how audiovisuality and overload/loss of perceptual stimuli can conspire to transcend everyday life and invoke alternate mental states.

Marta De Pascalis’ sonic world acts as an uncanny translator that freezes and expands emotions, conveying them into unique soundscapes. Her solo works employ analog, fm synthesis and a tape-loop system, whereby she carves oscillator’s waveforms to shape cathartic sound bodies. She joins this year’s Atonal edition with the premiere of Sky Flesh, a work that reflects the eternal cosmic dialogue with the boundless above, where sound serves as medium to bond with the furthest heavens. A sequence of sound meteors that burst through the show length into clusters of blissful frequencies and tearing resonances, as celestial bodies dipped in mystery.

Marwa Belhaj Youssef is a Tunisia-based Multidisciplinary artist. Her mixes are mental selections highlighting the beauty and violence of sounds as she navigates across cultures, genres and signatures. She is a resident artist at Movement Radio (Athens) and worked as a booking agent/ curator at LYL Radio where her personal goal is to support Arab artists through her show KHENJAR.

An A/V show produced over the last two years between Berlin and one of the world’s deepest marble quarries in the south of Portugal. Through a cycle of electroacoustic pieces for analogue synths, woodwinds, voice, and field recordings, and imagery shot under the scorching sun of the hottest summer on record, Shenfeld and Maia explore change and repetition,deep time and the ephemeral moment, equilibrium and imminent threat. Pushing the boundaries of Super 8 film and drones shootings, Maia’s analog film processing is brought into dialogue with Shenfeld’s layered textural compositions to create an immersive radiant live audio-visual experience.

Amsterdam’s mayo is a musical multiped, whose path is rather unruly than unlogical. Her DJ sets, as well as her first releases, prove that she’s not easy to pigeonhole. With a focus on downtempo electronics, EBM and techno, she weaves together a wide array of musical styles. Taking music lessons at a young age, she discovered she couldn’t commit to one program. By playing the drums, the guitar, and the saxophone, she worked towards a playfield of her own. Inspired by many musical styles, ranging from punk and metal to reggaeton, mayo eventually moved towards DJing and music production, which would channel her unstoppable energy best. With whatever available to her, she managed to brew her experimental sounds into electronic punk music carrying her uncompromised disposition of character.

Mia Koden aka Sancha Ndeko is a South London-based South Sudanese and British music producer and DJ who also works across heritage, culture and community projects. Initially growing up in Ghana and Nigeria soundtracked by her parents’ lively stash of music from across the African continent and beyond, her formative years back in the UK had frequent soundsystem pilgrimages to spaces where roots reggae, drum & bass and dubstep could be heard. At some point during her London university days, two rusty Technics 1210’s arrived. Ndeko has since been creating and championing underground electronic music whilst building an arsenal of records traversing many sonic corners of the world. Having made serious waves within the highly acclaimed duo Sicaria Sound with their penchant for forward-thinking 140BPM, Ndeko’s new alias brings along the same infectious energy and bass-and-percs-heavy sensibilities with her own exciting deviations. Expect a range of carefully crafted content and innovative sets sprinkled with secret weapons as she steps forth.

Mire Lee, Black Sun: Room with many holes / Black Sun: Sculpture with many holes

For Berlin Atonal’s Universal Metabolism exhibition, Lee will create a hanging fabric installation, where worn-out, torn, and ripped fabrics are dipped in viscous liquid clay. Over the course of its exhibition, the clay absorbed by the fabric “skin” of the work will be slowly thinned down by water —sprayed from a set of water pumps, hoses, and misting nozzles situated at it’s top— before collecting in basins located at the foot of the installation. Lee, whose sculptural practice has been profoundly influenced by vorarephilia, the erotic desire to consume or be consumed by the other, is known to create kinetic sculptural installations that appear shabby, ridiculous, and precarious. Lee questions human fantasies of technologies that contradict the realities of subjects that decay and deform through time. While liquid clay could allude to excrement or melting flesh, Lee’s works engage the senses in a visceral way, outside the realm of intellect and language.

Moopie – born Matthew Xue – started turning heads with his DJ sets impressing the likes of Donato Dozzy and DJ Nobu on their early Australian tours. As A DJ, Moopie is daring and eclectic, connecting strands from far corners of electronic music history and pushing them forward alongside contemporary and unreleased cuts: an open-minded approach. Who else but Moopie dares to release lost indie-pop grails alongside contemplative ambience, four-to-the-floor cuts and forward-thinking soundsystem music, while comfortably playing festival stages and clubs around the world? The sharing of musical discovery remains at his core. Weaving different eras, crossing genre boundaries and tirelessly connecting artists from bourgeoning micro-scenes, Moopie stands out as a uniquely creative force.

A highly-regarded talent at the forefront of Tokyo’s vibrant underground club scene, mu”he has built an unquestionable reputation as a multi-genre DJ with the versatility to both build up a room and command the peak hours of a rave. Balancing introspective selections with outbursts of collective jouissance, there is careful intentionality behind her mixing philosophy rooted in the history of communal dancefloor experience. Building upon a background collecting leftfield and experimental records as a teenager, mu”he’s style draws from an uncompromising palette of the harder-edged side of dance music. With a range encompassing styles from techno and trance to hardcore, jungle, and footwork, mu”he deftly weaves across the BPM spectrum, unafraid to intersperse tough physical grooves with moments of dancefloor euphoria.

Nastya Vogan, a musician hailing from Odessa, educated in Kyiv and currently living in Berlin, approaches high-intensity dance music tracks as found objects for engineering odd and varied sonic adventures. Nastya’s dj gigs translate her immediate responses to particular environments, while her recorded dj mixes are a diary of sorts of the path she treads in both stylistic and psychogeographic terms. A Tumblr-era urban dweller, she also constructs hybrid dj-set/live performances utilizing loops cut from YouTube videos, thus exploring both the potential of four- deck mixing and the sonic treasury that is the Internet for a keen ear like hers. Nastya does her own music production and composition work as well, ranging from full-fledged live solo performances to creative collaborations, such as recently for an opera with Albert van Abbe.

Neu-Romancer is the solo venture of Australian musician Laura Bailey. Playing the likes of Zanias (Fleisch) and post-punk band Ciern, her broad aesthetic entangles Dark Disco, Electro, EBM, Italo and sleazy beats – bringing a playful light to the depths of the dark realm.

Ninasupsa is a DJ, co-founder of Mutant Radio, community media platform based in Tbilisi, Georgia and a resident at Horoom Club (Bassiani). Nina’s musical style can be described as “broad”, her mixes are versatile and suit different types of venues and are enjoyable not only at clubs and big festivals, but at record stores and listening bars as well.

NTI-MA is a multi dimensional and sensorial experimentation in dance, movement, sound, music, sculpture and storytelling blurring and blending the boundaries between music, theatre, and visual art. The project emerges as an exploration of the dynamics between noise as a non-representational aspect of nature, the immaterial legacies embedded in music, the shifting hierarchies of the senses, spaces for non-human intersubjectivity and the use of symbolism as vessels that the invisible can occupy. Music and dance are used as codified science, decoding and recoding ancestral musical traditions and spiritual technologies for a contemporary music experience. While tuning into the living archives of various interconnected indigenous spiritualities and cosmic nature through synesthesia and elements of ritual and ceremony. Most mystical traditions emphasise the importance of connecting with the invisible realms in order to heal and transform oneself and society through communal participation and the blurring of boundaries between performer and audience. The Ancient Kongo traditions are characterised by a belief in the interconnectedness of all things and the importance of community and collective well-being, these have been important notions in the development of contemporary Pan-Africanism (Ubuntu, Kimuntu). The Kongo word NTI refers to the sacred palm tree, and Ma refers to the gift of the feminine, NTI-MA representing the heart chakra, the torus vortex where we connect to others, visible and invisible through the rhythms of our heartbeats. NTI-MA musically challenges the dominant Western notion of music as a form of representation bringing the focus instead on the ways in which music shapes and affects our experiences. This perspective opens up new possibilities for thinking about music and its role in society and offers a way to explore the decolonization of musical composition. As music can be used to reinforce dominant power structures, this is particularly powerful in contexts where indigenous musical traditions have been demonised, suppressed or erased.

Playing a freeform blend of techno, jungle, club and house, south east London’s OK Williams isn’t afraid to keep a dancefloor on its toes. She’s a magician at work – weaving seamlessly through genres, with mostly upbeat, booty-shaking, hi- energy bangers, peppered with perfectly-timed, calmer cool jams, with this equally effortlessly cool, calm and collected demeanour, totally taking it in her stride. A club selector par excellence, her idiosyncratic take on club sounds has been a highlight of many festival and club lineups. She plays the famous Tresor space for the first time.

Originally from Paris, Marine Tordjemann alias OKO DJ’s impeccable taste for the weird and wonderful has seen her establish as one of the finest DJs and producers to pace the world’s stages. In her sets, Marine aims at exploring connections rather than divisions, dishing out distinctively rich, genre- busting tapestries that transcend all limitative roles. As a producer, artist and energetic healer, Tordjemann is a master at channeling surrounding energies and forces in her art with unrestrained panache and authenticity. She is greatly inspired by the power of nature and the sacred divine feminine.

ophélie is a France-born, Berlin-based DJ with a strong taste for bass-heavy music in all its forms. They are interested in the fluid, liquid, melancholic, and often emotional aspect of music, achieved through combining multiple layers of sounds, and weird (poly)rhythms. As a producer, they enjoy experimenting with FX, textural sounds, and all different kinds of percussion.

Originally from Scotland, Arthur Cayzer was first into punk and hardcore before he moved to London and became interested in the then-flourishing dubstep scene. Since then has established himself as one of the most striking artists working in modern club sounds. With releases on R&S and Fever AM, plus operating the VOAM imprint with Blawan, his productions and DJ sets instantly recognisable. He joins Berlin Atonal 2023 to play in the famous Tresor floor as well as for the world premiere of Persher, his band with Blawan.

The Berlin Atonal 2023 commissioned new collaboration between Pavel Milyakov and Perila – entitled pmxper – unfolds as an immersive extended performance/happening which will take place on the ground floor of Kraftwerk building. They will work on a special live set that will explore the threshold between being outside and inside of an ongoing performance, softly shifting the gap between listeners and the sound-makers. The act will involve an improvised acoustic piece and sound installation which will be inspired by specific acoustics and architecture of the space followed by a live set presenting their new record on Smalltown Supersound’s Le Jazz Non sublabel.

David Kennedy, known as Pearson Sound, seamlessly blends UK soundsystems’ legacy with modern dancefloor beats. Widely acclaimed as a producer, DJ and mix engineer—as well as one of the three founders of the Hessle Audio imprint—he is synonymous with a wide-angle view of the bass spectrum. Pearson Sound productions, DJ sets and remixes are all brought to life in high fidelity with dark rhythmic grooves, complex percussive arrangements and exacting melodic details.

Persher is the brand new project from British producers Blawan (Jamie Roberts) and Pariah (Arthur Cayzer). Both artists’ solo releases have established them as two of the most inventive and versatile producers in electronic music and their work together as Karenn, both live and in the studio, accounts for some of the most instinctual, exciting techno of the past decade. Persher is the culmination of a long creative partnership and friendship, and sees the two producers exploring and pushing the boundaries of punk, hardcore and metal. As a band they are joined by George Addy on drums and Matt Fidler on bass.

Prison Religion from Richmond, Virginia shatter all musical certainties we possess in their creation of a dystopian musical soundtrack. Their music meets the need both sonically and subject-wise for what they weren’t hearing elsewhere, evolving over the years alongside the conversation of its two members, friends Parker Black and Warren Jones. Their sound is a genuine reaction to the world around them. This is manifested in the caustic wall of sound, heavy beats akin to public gunshots, mumbled screams like breaking glass, thumping flourishes of techno or weighty drones. Their wails aren’t mere 2D angry yelling or relentless bleakness, either – there is a radical hope and sense of possibility here, coaxing the world to collapse in on itself.

New York based quest?onmarq is an amorphous and adaptable artist. A living interrogation, quest?onmarq rejects any reductive definition of their style. questioning both status quo and the relationship between sounds from all corners of the global underground. Even when exploring a global palette of genres within their sets what remains consistent in across markets and continents is their handle on audience experience. quest?on infuses their sets with infectious, unbridled dance energy and raw precision.

Rabon Aibo, Hidden Resonance X Kraftwerk

Hidden Resonance X Kraftwerk is a sound installation consisting of industrial gas cylinders that have been transformed into sound-generating machines, that interact with the sound of the old pipe infrastructure inside the Kraftwerk building. The installation and performance are about transformation and decontextualisation: The old industrial gas cylinders evoke associations mostly true in the network of people, hierarchies, processes, rules and things that make up an “industrial production site”. Torn out of this associative network, dis-placed and re-positioned, the objects no longer fulfil their intended purpose. Thus, they become free to be something else: a resonating body, a source of sonic irritation in space, objects of uncertainty, enigmatic in their aesthetics. Questions arise about our history, the structures and transformations of power and energy, suppressions and conflicts resulting from our limited resources, and the changing contexts of a post-industrial age.

Rainy Miller was born and bred in Longridge, Preston in the UK; a typically unremarkable northern market town. Things began getting remarkable once the nascent Grime scene began spilling over from its London birthplace and began taking root in disparate other places, as it did in Preston around 2006. Miller’s live shows are a poetic and emotionally penetrating study of loss and longing that present an idiosyncratic and sonically developed sound. The end result is a full bloodied, emotionally visceral piece of work segueing and stretching across a sound world of contorted pop and laconic drill. For Berlin Atonal 2023, Rainy Miller presents a bespoke one-off performance – ‘A Fugue State’ – inspired by human spirituality at its most volatile.

synchronized and non-synchronized exercises of arrhythmic empathy – Video Intervention (with Sandro Mussida)

Synchronized and non-synchronized exercises of arrhythmic empathy, [ exercise b ] is an extract taken from the first video collaboration between visual artist Rebecca Salvadori and composer Sandro Mussida. The visual compositions [ exercise a – b ] present a series of animated shapes and colours, assembled together according to constantly evolving combinations of intentionalities, tuned with the compositional process of the piece. The combinations never repeat; the arrhythmic evolving movements attempt to break free from a mechanical, predetermined outcome.

Messengers
20 mins, video

Salvadori built a temporary set in Konvikt – Umělecké Centrum, a former Jesuit monastery and filmed a series of mise-en-scènes, exchanges, live performances and one-to-one conversations, together with musicians Kenichi Iwasa and Maxwell Sterling, light artist Charlie Hope, writer, editor and curator Elaine Tam and photographer Henerico Rossi. The footage shot on occasion of PAF Olomouc 21st Festival of Film Animation and Contemporary Art contains different conversations on the nature of friendship, music and relationships with the city of London; different meta-narratives presented within a very subjective and intimate frame. The deconstructed film set where the mise-en-scènes took place was attended by the audience as an event; the audience became part of the film.

Like liquid mercury in a petri dish—slick, supple, and playfully disobedient—Rhyw’s music dazzles as it defies expectation. The Welsh-Greek artist cut his teeth as one half of Cassegrain and has been finding new paths for his mutant sound ever since. In the studio or behind the decks, he brilliantly fuses different strains of ultra-modern techno and broken beat: eyes-down minimal lights up with modular sass, choppy kicks flirt with rolling grooves, and sharp sound design slices through earthy subs. It’s the kind of amphibious sound that can slip into otherworldly spaces while never truly leaving the dance floor. This is the German premiere of his live show.

RIchard Sides, Shoplifting in the Anthropocene

Shoplifting in the Anthropocene is a new commission by artist Richard Sides that takes the form of an expansive installation developed with the architecture of Kraftwerk in mind. Considering the building as a conduit for industrial energy production, Sides choreographs a system of interconnected environments which challenge standard exhibition modality to include sculptural interventions and time-based elements throughout the spaces. Each part forms discrete elements akin to a diagram. Made from household waste, printed material, found objects and low-fi elements Sides humorously sets the coordinates of a formal timeline which questions common definitions of the human project.

Robin Fox, TRIPTYCH

Drawing inspiration from Polish A/V pioneer Stanislaus Ostoja-Kotkowski, Robin Fox’s latest creation, an “audio-visual space-time carving,” employs laser projectors to metamorphose venue architectures into uncharted environments. In his large-scale laser performances, Fox creates experiential one-off sensory experiences intimately situated in a specific place and tied directly to the perceptive bodies within it. This landmark new work entitled TRIPTYCH, for which Fox won this year’s “Isao Tomita Special Prize” from the Prix Ars Electronica, will be shown as the capstone concert performance of Universal Metabolism’s Tuesday programme.

Romeo Castellucci, The Third Reich

This video-installation is based on a spectral representation of all names. All the nouns found in the dictionary are projected, in a sequence, one by one, onto a giant screen. These nouns potentially represent all objects in reality that have a name. The speed of this sequence is given by our ability, based on our retina and our memory, to retain a word that appears in a flash, lasting one twentieth of a second. This constricts our gaze, which soon reaches a tipping point where a fusion occurs, just before our perception loses its grip. In the resulting flicker, it is no longer possible to distinguish the single terms. In the borderline situation created by this frenetic series of words, some of them will leave a trace on each spectator’s visual cortex, while others, the majority, will be lost. All pauses are abolished, occupied. The pause, or the absence of words, becomes a battlefield for the words and their military aggression; the nouns from the dictionary, projected on the screen, are flags planted in a conquered land. The projection will be preceded by a symbolic action in which a performer brings to life a ceremony in which language is “ignited”. The sound that accompanies the installation, composed by Scott Gibbons, will be apodictic.

The iconic persona Rrose is revered in the techno scene. A Duchamp influenced alter-ego of U.S. artist and London-based DJ Seth Horovitz, Rrose explores microtonality, perception boundaries and machine quirks, in the pursuit of a type of powerful techno elegance. Active since the early 90s, Rrose plays as part of Berlin Atonal 2023 on Stage Null for the first time.

rRoxymore’s own music is an intriguing, one-off blend of contrasting textures – organic and synthetic, icy and warm – a fresh step in dance music. The French musician and producer has a long history making music in various ways, with various people, before settling in Berlin and concentrating on the solo project that collects it all. Her DJ sets expand with energetic rawness merging with an energising sense of psychedelia.

Sandwell District – David Sumner (Function), Juan Mendez (Silent Servant) and Karl O’Connor (Regis) – was a label, a collective, an impulse, an in-joke, a suicide mission, a gang, a point of view. Berlin Atonal 2023 marks the very first time this also becomes an audio-visual live show. An amphetamine- fuelled fever dream, a group psychosis, an out-of-hand piss-take which happened to reinvent techno in its own bleakly modernist image. Growing out of the Downwards label that Sutton and O’Connor established in 1993, throughout the 2000s the collective had a powerful mystique. Its records sell and its reputation swells by word of mouth alone. For the longest time it reveled in being faceless, opaque, impenetrable – and now brought into the light again.

Between the binaries of darker moods and bliss energies – Sarkawt Hamad’s sound is unmistakable. Grown up in the Netherlands, the Erbil born- Amsterdam based artist finds inspiration in all sorts of elements: from fascination for rock music, to dreamy pop and her roots. Firmly entrenched in the Dutch underground scene, she translates this experience into a melodic flow behind the decks. Diverse in sources, her sets ebb and flow effortlessly between genre – from breaks, to leftfield techno and house, all connected through a contagious energy. Sarkawt creates a space in which euphoria, more pensive states and deep soft noise can coexist.

The duo consisting of electronic music maverick Sam Shackleton and visionary avant-folk virtuoso Waclaw Zimpel, has now engaged one of Indian Carnatic music’s greatest emerging young vocal talents – Siddhartha Belmannu – to perform a piece which is equal parts both a meditative exercise and an urge to transcendence whilst thematising both the acceptance of our mortality and the joyous celebration of living. Avant and forward looking music which doesn’t rely on cynical gestures to keep attention or enhance its artistic credentials but engages with the audience in a direct and honest way. Put more simply, it is intended to go straight to the heart. The trio will be joined by Pedro Maia, who will bring analogue and live film manipulations to create an immersive live audiovisual experience.

Shannen SP has been an instrumental part of some of London’s most exciting and forward-thinking music for a few years now. Her DJ sets and curation in both music and the arts explore the spectrum of the global underground, platformed through her event series and forthcoming label E.B.N.X. She treats us to sounds often overlooked by the European scene, making a bold statement of what scenes we should be listening to.

“Absurd Matter” is a labyrinthine sonic conundrum that spirals around the two poles of extreme noise and hip-hop. It’s Berlin-based Italian producer Shapednoise’s most ambitious full-length to date, structuring his ear-bending sonic experimentation into unstable but familiar patterns and featuring guest spots from NY rap duo Armand Hammer, techno-rap trailblazer French producer Brodinski, David Lynch-collaborator Dean Hurley, vanguard Philly poet, musician, and activist Moor Mother, and Bruiser Brigade’s ZelooperZ. “Absurd Matter” it’s accompanied by a new a/v live show in collaboration with visual artist Sevi Iko Dømochevsky; the visual aspect of this live will showcase a delirious and schizoid pseudo narrative CGI adventure based in a sewer world full of nightmarish entities with very experimental and deep-fried energy to it—tons of chaotic and explosive 3d visuals with a twisted sense of humor.

Over the course of two decades, Shinedoe has carved a path into the world of house and techno that is entirely her own. Shinedoe relentless passion for the finer elements of electronic dance music has seen her win over hearts and minds in every aspect she has turned her attention to – from her transformative DJ performances, authoritative productions, and exquisitely curated label – Intacto and MTM Records. Like only a handful others in the scene, her name signifies a strength of purpose and commitment to quality that is rare in the world of dance music. With her deep connection to the sounds of Detroit, Chicago and the often unsung Amsterdam scene, her DJ sets blend these influences with a warmth and style that few can hope to emulate – her mixes take dancers on an explorative trip to the beyond. Shinedoe radiates a positivity that at times can seem in short supply elsewhere in electronic dance music. Dive into her extensive back catalogue of productions and it’s clear she has established a sound that is recognisably her own – both timeless and unique.

Sidney Gérard and Souleymane Said’s musical explorations traverse a rich tapestry of genres, moods, and sounds. This is most apparent in the success of the Latency platform they have developed together, which as a label and curatorial platform now celebrates 10 years of existence. Additionally to contributing a special DJ set, their musical interests are also reflected in Berlin Atonal 2023 through their work as guest curators for the festival.

Drawing on the rich lineage of the UK’ s hardcore continuum and Berlin’s long form Techno culture, Sigha’s sound has proved to be both malleable, and at its core, highly defined. The last few years have seen the British artist in a period of consolidation and exploration, laying the foundations for a new body of work that sets its own pace and takes its own path.

Simo Cell is from Nantes. His singularity in the flourishing French landscape results from a style at the crossroads of many genres. As a DJ and as a producer, he blends UK sounds with eclecticism and an experimental approach. Affiliated with English imprints such as Livity Sound, Timedance and Wisdom Teeth, the Paris-based producer is also deeply involved in the French scene working with the infamous BFDM crew and collaborating with artists such as Bambounou, Low Jack and the Pilotwings. DJing for more than a decade and taking part in several collectives, Simo Cell is also not restricted to any one scene or particular style. His original and adaptive repertoire builds unpredictable and dynamic sets.

French producer Siu Mata has been steadily gaining recognition for his exceptional productions, ranging from dembow-infused bass tracks to innovative dancehall variations. Collaborating both independently and alongside his talented associate, Amor Satyr, Siu Mata has carved out a niche for himself as a meticulous producer and DJ, crafting dancefloor anthems for those with an insatiable energy and zest for rhythm.

Somatic Rituals is the collective of talented producers and DJs Kombé, Mafou, and Mukuna. Hailing from Basel, Switzerland, these artists are leaving their distinct mark on the electronic music landscape with their innovative ambient techno and deep tribal grooves. Having gained international recognition and with the successful launch of their label, they are not just DJs but also influential curators. Somatic Rituals’ high-energy performances, a unique blend of Afro-diasporic roots, mind-altering rhythms, and percussive grooves, are helping to shape Switzerland’s club scene, encouraging openness and a broader appreciation for bass-heavy sounds.

Sonia Boyce, Oh Adelaide

Oh Adelaide is a single-channel video by Sonia Boyce and sound artist Ain Bailey, that incorporates found film footage from the internet of the late jazz singer and entertainer, Adelaide Hall (1901-1993). Through re-imagining the footage Hall is re-rendered as an ethereal figure on the stage in which she appears both in and outside of history – a sense that is underscored by Bailey’s immersive and haunting soundtrack comprised of re-worked audio tracks of Hall and other performers from the ‘Devotional Collection’: an ongoing project since 1999 that Boyce has been developing on Black women in the British music industry. Adelaide Hall is widely regarded as a pioneer of jazz scat singing: a wordless technique where the voice mimics a musical instrument. She appears throughout Oh Adelaide, and yet is also eclipsed by the illuminated animation, that threatens to engulf all in its path.

Atonal has invited artist-of-many-aliases and 3XL label head Special Guest DJ to invite some friends to the club and stitch together an atmospheric hearing session of ambient jungle trip hop dub and all the woozy stops in between for over four hours. In support of this lofty aim he has recruited sound-affiliates Mister Water Wet, Pontiac Streator and Huerco S to contribute to the mood.

Stella Zekri represents an encouraging generation of DJs in Berlin that set out to keep things interesting. She has forged a singular path as an exhilarating DJ unafraid to slow down and sensualize the dancefloor, while providing a myriad of euphoria. Deemed the queen of long sets, Stella’s sets have become somewhat of a phenomenon in the sometimes dense, and spellbound city of Berlin. They are truly an exalting, and gleeful experience. Every song she plays out is a statement, and she is unafraid to jump between pitched down trance, old school hip hop, disco, house and new beat. Each record is something she has found, loved and insists you come along for the ride.

Struktur, formerly Σ, is Frieder Blume’s current musical project. With a discography ranging from Drone and sonic soundscapes to intricate Techno, Blume’s musical explorations invite listeners to embark on a journey through diverse sonic dimensions. Struktur delves into the repetitive nature of techno, exploring the foundational elements of the genre’s hypnotic loops. Struktur’s intent is to investigate the genre’s range, venturing into its outer spectrum embracing a diverse range of rhythmic patterns. Blume channels this, crafting sonic entities that hover between the temporal and the timeless, where rhythm becomes an enigma and sound unfolds in celestial orbits.

King of Blends, bon-vivant, living embodiment of the Paris underground, Teki Latex never fails to impress with his high energy sets. He has established himself as a one-of-a-kind sonic architect with a holistic point of view who can provide dynamic, vibrant performances wherever he goes. A man with head turning style on and off the decks, Teki caters to many different tastes while cherishing the specificities of each genre he touches, constantly balancing lesser-known underground gems with nostalgic anthems. Expect anything from Techno, Booty & Hardcore to Grime and Italo with a few bursts of Dance and accelerated pop slipped in, in order to push the euphoria levels to the maximum. Teki Latex takes the crowd on a journey, with some unexpected twists when the time is right.

Kevin Martin, under his alias The Bug, has carved an audacious path through the musical landscape for over two decades. Unrelenting and transformative, his sound is an electrifying embodiment of Martin’s unwavering commitment to sonic exploration, his music transcending barriers to become a phenomenon unlike any other. Martin’s interests lie not just in sonic intensity but also in the fusion of seemingly disparate elements. He effortlessly strides between cultures, genres, and scenes, embodying a kind of sonic bedlam that is as compelling as it is confounding. The Bug’s live performances with Flowdan, a longtime collaborator, embody the essence of their creative partnership – dynamic, raw, and viscerally engaging. Flowdan’s commanding vocal prowess weaves into The Bug’s punishing sonic landscapes creating a uniquely transformative synergy.

The Fear Ratio was formed in early 2011 by two substantial heavyweights of the UK techno scene, James Ruskin & Mark Broom. Originally an outlet project of studio sessions for them to combine their passions for electronica, hip-hop and dub beats beyond the parameters of 4/4 techno, the duo, who are long-term collaborators have created their own signature style with abstract synths, heavy basslines and experimental soundscapes that fit somewhere in between IDM, electronica and ambient.

Paul St. Hilaire (aka Tikiman) has become one of dance music’s quietly legendary figures. Born and raised in the Caribbean island Dominica, he moved to Berlin in 1994 and has lent both his voice and his musicianship to some of the most iconic electronic music from the German capital – and beyond. He recently released his firrst solo album in 17 years on Richard Akingbehin’s Kynant Records. They both appear together for Atonal’s last (and long) OHM session.

TLF Trio is an experimental chamber music ensemble consisting of cellist Cæcilie Trier, pianist Jakob Littauer and guitarist M. K. Frøslev. Moving between written composition and improvisation they channel minimalism, free jazz and modes of Central-European Classical of the Late Renaissance and Early Baroque. The Danish trio, who is based in Berlin and Copenhagen, released their first collaborative album Sweet Harmony on the French electronic and experimental label Latency in 2022, introducing their de/re-constructive chamber music, that seems more sculptural than narrative and that fluidly shapeshifts between being an object in the room to being the room itself.

Ask any of the new wave of mercurial musical talent emerging from Manchester at the moment and its likely that you would hear the response “Tom Boogizm is the best DJ on the planet”. He has also developed a reputation for his unclassifiable productions under the Rat Heart moniker, but it is as an eclectic and eccentric DJ that he comes to Berlin for his debut appearance.

Tot Onyx + Yuko Kaseki, Metabolic Disruption

The duo takes on the troublesome role of disruptive force of Universal Metabolism, seeking a disorder in the alimentary canal of Kraftwerk. The abandonment of all prior distinctions of performance, play, happening or event for something unprecedented, a sudden error or mutation. Like a natural orgasm, whatever happens, should happen in its natural time in an organically chosen place in the building. Whether our intervention causes chaos or ends in harmony is the decision of the audience members.

Tot Onyx (Tommi from group A) and Kaseki started to work in 2021, when Kaseki mentored Onyx during Musikfonds Scholarship Program, in which Onyx studied Butoh in her quest to subvert the boundaries of live music performance. Their on-going project focuses on energy and frequency in terms of spirituality (TodAncestor, 2021-ongoing) and their latest project Anarcho Noise Butoh (2023-ongoing) explores the political side of the two radical art forms, noise and Butoh, addressing current political issues from a feminist perspective.

Orchestral Tools and Neumann together with Sennheiser present a pop-up track clinic session. Attendees can get personalised feedback on their compositions and guidance from our mentors: DJ, producer, and label owner Mor Elian and Boris Kummerer (Artist Relations) from Neumann.

Concrete Music Concrete Vision, 2023
Immersive durational audiovisual installation performance
Courtesy of the artists

The audio-visual constructions of Transistors of Mercy and their longtime collaborator Pixelflowers are always tentative, precarious constellations which are sustained only in and through the labour of them as artists at work and the electricity that courses through the circuits that they – more or less – control. Extended and unrepeatable, the artistic output of a Transistors of Mercy work is always about transformation. The transformation of first wild and then controlled electricity into sensible signal-based output whether audio or visual. The transformation of an open situation into one that is dictated by the emerging and disappearing circuits first built, then manipulated, then dissembled by the artists themselves. As long as the system is in place, it remains inseparable from the operators who handle and utilise it.

Ron Morelli (L.I.E.S. Records) and Traxx (Nation, Kode, DirtyBlends) have been collaborating for many years, and are both intertwined artistically with each other’s labels and outlets. Most importantly they build on concepts together with laser focus, preserving the heritage of dance music in a day and age when it has been conveniently brushed aside by the masses. For Berlin Atonal, Traxx and Morelli will present “The Definitive Articles of House” originally conceptualized as a series of music presentations mixed by Traxx displaying the lineage of original house music in its purest form. The duo will present music that encompasses the tracks that got us where we are today… from essential Paradise Garage productions, unreleased Hardy cuts, rare white labels, to cut and paste megamixes, proto rhythm productions composed on primitive drum machines, formative genre defining staples, unreleased rarities and everything in between. This will be an essential presentation like never heard before behind the cage over the massive Tresor soundsystem.

As electricity blossoms and leafs glisten, upsammy creates interpretative space, cleverly paradoxical in its concurrent comfort and desolation. With a keen ear for crystalline melody and intricate rhythm, her music sculpts a certain perpetuity and spatiality, sliding across tempo scales, while retaining an organic touch as a gentle hum of nature digitized. Often working together with visual artist Sjoerd Martens during their live show, the two create kaleidoscopic terrains built from micro textures and field recordings, fluidly mixing between inner and outer environments. Guided by an adventurous and narrative approach, this vividness is present in her DJ sets as well. The music she plays takes cues from trippy electronics, the more experimental side of DnB and oddball techno, but tries to avoid clear genres. As a multidisciplinary artist she researches these interactions through sound, photography and video, explorations which simultaneously influence her music production process.

URIN are a Berlin-based raw punk/d-beat/hardcore band with noise influences, active since 2018. URIN are radical, fast, blown-out and impress on stages with their almost endless energy, experimenting with sound and trying to push the boundaries of hardcore. As an international band with members from Poland, Sweden and Germany, their countless references, eclectic taste and vast experience from their past and other current projects turn the music into a pool of madness. They contribute to BA23 a rare DJ set.

Valentina Magaletti is a drummer, composer and percussionist whose goal is to strategically enrich a folkloristic and eclectic palette through endless listening and experimentation with new materials and sounds. She has performed and co-written with many artists including Nicolas Jaar, Jandek, Helm, Raime, Malcom Catto, Charles Hayward, Graham Lewis (Wire, Dome), Tightpaul Sandra (Coil, Spiritualized, Julian Cope), Thurston Moore, Bat for Lashes, Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals), including the project Holy Tongue which performs later on the opening night. She opens the festival however playing solo. Valentina was born in Bari, Italy, and is based in London.

VALIE EXPORT, Oh Lord, Don’t Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me

Pipes hang in the powerplant. The galvanized pipes of an organ dangle like stalactites, while others cast slender, pointed shadows on the glass walls. Smaller pipes made of lead can also be seen on the ground Kunsthaus Bregenz arrives in Berlin for the first time as part of Universal Metabolism and Berlin Atonal 2023. The sculpture is reminiscent of the dreaded rocket battery from World War II, the tubes pointing upwards ready to fire. The whistles are no longer sacred sounding bodies that bring about peace and salvation, but frightening projectiles that bring destruction and death.

For her Berlin Atonal debut, Venus Ex Machina delves into terra incognita; presenting a new live performance titled ‘Lemurian Tones’. Inspired by Lemuria – a sunken landmass beneath the Indian Ocean, of which there is no surviving recorded history. Wielding the combination of voice, protopian electronics and digital drum rhythms, Venus Ex Machina’s quest to decipher the mysterious radio signal emanating from these elusive depths is the crux of this performance. Conceived and developed while in residence at HQI in London, Venus Ex Machina probes the spatial fantasy of Lemuria, dismantling time and summoning ghosts to haunt the future.

In the daring sonic fiction of JP López, the Medellín artist collides in his productions and DJ sets Latin-influenced tribal techno, hyper-Electronica, carefully crafted IDM and cutting-edge perreo-bass technology with both intensity and precision. Verraco is also one of the heads behind of TraTraTrax and Insurgentes, labels that have become key platforms for Latinx sound explorers in recent years.

De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 2022
118 mins, video
Courtesy of the artists.

Five centuries ago, anatomist André Vésale opened up the human body to science for the first time in history. Today, De Humani Corporis Fabrica opens the human body to the cinema. It reveals that human flesh is an extraordinary landscape that exists only through the gaze and attention of others. As places of care, suffering and hope, hospitals are laboratories that connect everybody in the world.

Orchestral Tools presents a hands-on workshop with Alexander Hacke of the iconic avant-garde band Einstürzende Neubauten and hackedepicciotto. Alexander will take a deep dive into drone composition, talking about inspiration, the power of sound, and combining layers to create new soundscapes. Attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop and headphones and craft their own sounds with us.

Yasmin Sun, also known as YMSun is the owner of Berlin based independent record label Sonidos Del Arbol. As DJ and music producer, she explores the wide territories of experimental electronic music and Techno. Yasmin Sun expands her creative horizons by curating a podcast series and taking the lead in organising events focused on experimental, electronic and ambient music – offering an immersive experience that resonates with her exploration of sonic landscapes. YMSun’s DJ sets are sonic journeys, intertwining themes of space, nature, and organic transformation with hypnotic, reduced Techno.

Young Lychee is a Berlin-based Dj and Producer. He is as well-versed in the art of creating meticulous, eclectic high-energy DJ sets as he is in producing precise and heavy-hitting electronic club music. As a co-founder of Raiders Records, Young Lychee is engaged in shaping the identity of the collective, fostering a platform for diverse voices in the electronic music scene through collaborations with established and emerging artists. Having started out playing Boogie, House and Nigerian Disco pearls, he quickly pivoted to higher tempos and bigger basses: While the heritage of the sounds of Chicago, Detroit and Miami tend to form the core of his sets, the electronic music cultures of London, Jersey, Paris and Berlin also play a part in the extended Lycheeverse.

Versatility does not even come close to describing why the humble Japanese DJ ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U is considered to be one of the best in the world by many of his peers. Your favourite DJ’s favourite DJ is originally from Osaka – where he ran his Zone Unknown parties – but is now based in Tokyo. His legendary mastery of the CDJs provides mind-bending but seamless connections of every imaginable genre. The legend of his performances has only grown over the years, his sets have to be heard to be believed.

Coming in hard with the bass, yungfya has gained a fast following in Berlin’s clubs since placing herself behind the decks. Her diverse knowledge and passion for selecting is evident from her playfully dynamic, hard pushing sets – where her charismatic, positive energy feeds directly into the dance floor.

Zakia is a London-based radio host and DJ whose multifaceted musical taste includes free and spiritual jazz, folk, dub, reggae and pop, psychedelia and other celestial sounds from across the planet. Alongside audio production, Zakia is an enthusiastic and respected collector and sharer of music. Having spent several years working behind the counter at Honest Jons Records in West London, Zakia landed a now-weekly and widely popular show on NTS Radio, called Questing w/ Zakia, where she interviews guests and plays cosmic music from across the globe. She plays at OHM for the first time.

Zebra Katz, born Ojay Morgan, is a Jamaican-American multidisciplinary rapper, producer, songwriter and performing artist. His breakthrough hit Ima Read (2012) became a smash-hit due to its stark production, iconic vocals and oozing, libidinal energy. Genre-defying and self-made, the Zebra Katz character originally surfaced through Morgan’s thesis project at the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at the New School. Making music became an extension of Morgan’s interest in theatre and culture studies, identity obsession, and the lively New York City underground arts scene around him. Debut album LESS IS MOOR (2020) further proved his knack for combining experimental music and club bangers in a performative and eccentric mould. Finding inspiration in artists like James Baldwin, Grace Jones, Nina Simone, and Little Richard, the versatile LESS IS MOOR is a pop juggernaut that packs a heavy discursive punch. For this European premiere performance, Zebra Katz’s music translates to high energy weatherstorm that draws the audience into Morgan’s captivating persona.

Part of the Berlin Atonal festival family, Ziúr joins the artistic line-up of festival 2023 for a special DJ set in OHM. She is innovative musician who has carved out a unique niche in Berlin’s vibrant music scene. Crafting her pieces like a maestro scoring a television series, Ziúr weaves her sounds to depict specific moments, encapsulating their essence within the melodies. Her releases just as her DJ sets serve as auditory narratives guiding listeners across a spectrum of emotions.