The final artistic acts for the most spectacular edition of Berlin Atonal in its history have now been added. The result is two weekends of concert and club nights stacked with world premieres, one-off shows and surprising appearances from some of the most interesting artists working in the multidisciplinary world(s) of adventurous, boundary-pushing culture today. In between these concert weekends is a unique exhibition and concert program entitled Universal Metabolism that reconfigures the festival into a series of performative interventions that are also part of Berlin Art Week. Spread across two weekends and a bridging exhibition in the week in its gargantuan home of the Kraftwerk, this year’s edition will invent an entirely new type of festival-going experience.
Festival passes have now sold out. Passes for each of the 3-day Weekend concert and club night programmes are available here, as are individual day tickets and tickets to the Universal Metabolism exhibition and concerts.
WEEKEND 1
Thursday 07.09 – Saturday 09.09
New additions include: world premiere uniting Pär Grindvir and Peder Mannerfelt’s Aasthma with Sara Parkman, Nkisi’s world premiere of NTI-MA, a new live show from Loraine James and afterparties across OHM, Tresor/Globus and Stage Null featuring the European premiere of Zebra Katz’s Less is Moor, Chicago house luminary TRAXX plus L.I.E.S Records boss Ron Morelli, Apeiron Crew aka Solid Blake, Smokey and Mama Snake & more.
EXHIBITION – Universal Metabolism
Monday 11.09 – Thursday 14.09
Works by Romeo Castellucci, Bridget Polk, Rabon Aibo, Mire Lee, VALIE EXPORT, Actress and more with accompanying daily closing concerts by Robin Fox, KLEIN, and Billy Bultheel
EXHIBITION – Concerts
Each night of the exhibition leads to a concert-based end point after the final showing of Castellucci’s The Third Reich. Tuesday sees Robin Fox present his polysensory laser work Triptych, Wednesday hosts a performance by transdisciplinary UK artist Klein and Thursday culminates in a performance for multiple instrumentalists orchestrated by Billy Bultheel entitled The Thief’s Journal.
Tuesday 12.09
20:00 Romeo Castellucci, The Third Reich
21:00 Robin Fox, Tryptich
Wednesday 13.09
20:00 Romeo Castellucci, The Third Reich
21:00 KLEIN, DJ Drop
Thursday 14.09
20:00 Romeo Castellucci, The Third Reich
21:00 Billy Bultheel, The Thief’s Journal
EXHIBITION – Afterparties
Wednesday 13.09
The first Universal Metabolism afterparty sees Ash Luk, CCL, Chloe Lula, Ireen Amnes, Nadia Struiwigh, Nandele, Orson b2b DJ Hops and Kiernan Laveaux take over Tresor and Globus for a massive mid-week rave.
Thursday 14.09
Tresor hosts Anthony Linell + Jessie Granqvist, Arthur, E‐Saggila, Evigt Mörker, Fadi Mohem, Lundin Oil, Struktur and Vallmo on Thursday 14. September for a stacked mid-week afterparty.
WORKSHOPS
Join us at OHM on 12th and 13th September for workshop sessions in partnership with Loop Session by Ableton, Neumann & Sennheiser, Orchestral Tools, Hearing Berlin and Your Mom’s Agency. The workshops are free but registration via DICE is required to reserve a spot as space is limited.
Tuesday 12.09 6-9PM
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.
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 Artist Relations Director Boris Kümmerer from Neumann.
Wednesday 13.09 6-10PM
Loop Session is a series of events by Ableton. Bringing together artists, technologists, educators and creative thinkers from around the world, Loop connects a global music-making community with new ideas and inspiration for their creative practice. Loop invites Shapednoise to talk about hearing health, and then have a guided listening session with Perila. Attendees can share thoughts with the stage guests and discover new music on a club sound system. Thanks to the partnership with Loop, it will also be possible to pre-book a spot to receive discounted custom-made moulded ear protection from Hearing Berlin, specialists in hearing protection for all forms of noise cancellation and reduction.
WEEKEND 2
Friday 15.09 – Sunday 17.09
New Additions include: Thessaloniki’s Christian Love Forum’s blend of durational hillbilly trance, Byzantine newbeat & acid-rock’n’roll, a brand new performance by Emptyset drawing on the project’s roots in structural percussion and Elvin Brandhi + KMRU debuting a new project called A|||oy, with an aftershow programmes across OHM & Globus/Tresor with Huerco S, Kode9, Mister Water Wet, Pontiac Streator, Upsammy, Mia Koden and more.
