As the pandemic changes our means and understanding of connection, CTM 2021 Transformation aims to respond to some of the challenges facing arts and culture in these exceptional times. Taking place during an intensified winter lockdown period, this 100% online edition is an attempt to experiment with new digital formats, see how CTM can continue to support ongoing artistic work, and find moments of interaction and togetherness as a remote music community and audience.
The 22nd edition comprises two virtual club nights, each of which approach the challenges of filling the void of listening to music and partying together in different ways. A series of trans/local commissions task artists with envisioning new ways of creating and performing remotely, be this through new technological innovation, narrative solutions, or other explorations. Further performances are shot with special 360° HD cameras that allow for experimentation with staging and scenography, and multiple online apps and tools that allow engagement with artists an each other can be tested throughout the programme. Previously announced, the CTM Cyberia virtual environment and online exhibition hall allows for multiplayer exploration, and the MusicMakers Hacklab seeks solutions to online collaboration throughout the festival week. We hope that opening our digital doors allows for more distributed access that can only strengthen our sense of community. Let’s chart the unknown and find togetherness in transformation.
Transformation
CTM 2021 Theme
If there is one thing the past year has shown, it is that the grotesque inequalities on this planet –whether social, ecological, or political – cannot be sustained. What seemingly began as a health emergency is rather an intertwining of environmental, social, economic, and political crises – and part of a global crisis of equity and of care. Our global interdependence and individual fragility dissolve the narrative of independence that we have grown accustomed to believing in. Can we seize this critical opportunity in order to make some necessary changes?
Art and music provide a laboratory in which we can imagine new practices, models, and worlds. They have always aimed at transformation, reshaping forms, experiences, practices, identities, and collectivity. Yet, music and art worlds must also ask themselves how exploitation is inscribed in their own structures. How can structural inequalities be challenged in our scenes? How can we make meaningful contributions to climate protection while still bringing people from different parts of the world together – and how is this possible amidst a world predicated on infinite growth? How can we work towards a music scene in which opportunities and earning are fairly distributed? How can we approach the non-neutrality of technologies to shape them as tools of empowerment rather than of manipulation and homogeneity? How can we recognise our differences and develop new ways of being together, despite many existing injuries and divides CTM 2021 explores our collective response / ability in a festival edition that will diverge significantly from its previous iterations. Amidst fragmented narratives and realities, how might we envision a different future?
How to Connect and Interact During this Online Edition
This year, performing artists, participating speakers, and the CTM team will be present on the CTM Discord chat server. Discord is a browser-based chat app that lets you interact with chats over multiple themed channels. The CTM Discord will be open from 19 January to 14 February 2021. Meet and chat with artists, participants, and other attendees as you explore the online festival. The CTM team will be posting updates and will also be available for questions and feedback.