CTM Festival

CTM Festival is an annual display of thought-provoking, site-specific works, created in response to a chosen theme. The event has gained a reputation for championing adventurous art that questions the future and our current realities.

Chosen for: Innovation, Sustainability and Driving Diversity.

In 2022, CTM Festival’s chosen theme was Contact, and this year it’s Portals: looking at sound and music as gateways to other realities. In exploring a theme that is linked to the now, there’s a cultural relevance to CTM Festival that simultaneously feels future-facing.

CTM acknowledges the political roots of electronic music, and uses the event to fundraise for various communities. Last year, the festival stated it was committed to supporting Ukraine and hosted a fundraiser concert at Kraftwerk. It also raised money via its Plus 1 – refugees welcome initiative and supported the K41 community fund.

What’s more, CTM has been a place of many firsts in Berlin. They were the first event to host a ticketed event at Berghain, for example, but most importantly, CTM consistently premieres new works from artists outside of the West. One particular example is a debut performance from Kuwait’s Van Boom, listed on this year’s line-up. Artists who are already established in Europe have premiered new and unexpected works at CTM, such as Nene H who collaborated with the Bassiani Ensemble in 2020 on the piece Chela.

At CTM you can expect to hear music that demands you listen to it differently. As a festival, it expands the ways in which music and art can be. Its adventurous programming provides a contrast to some of the more rigid techno you can experience in the capital city, and gives artists from different backgrounds the freedom and platform to create.

CTM Festival takes place across various venues in Berlin from 27 January to 5 February 2023.