Exberliner Issue 167, January 2018

WHAT’S ON — Transmediale/CTM
George E Lewis
some environmental and colonial considerations
to the discussion. Other hot topics to be
touched upon: sexism and racism in the tech
world (courtesy of gaming culture scholar Lisa
Nakamura); countercultures in polarised times
(a discussion between Irish Kill All Normies author
Angela Nagle and German media theorist
Florian Cramer); and “blaccelerationism”, or
the intersection of accelerationist philosophy
and black radical thought, as explored by Los
Angeles-based writer and artist Aria Dean.
Or maybe you’d rather just kick back with a
movie? The film programme is no less heady,
with highlights including the German premiere
of Disseminate and Hold, a short by Rosa
Barbra about Sao Paolo’s Minhocão highway;
and Eric Baudelaire’s documentary Also Known
as Jihadi, the story of a young French man’s
incarceration for allegedly joining ISIS.
Emily Peragine
CTM: TOTAL ENTERTAINMENT FOREVER
The former electronic music festival is broader
than ever this year, taking on the social and political
zeitgeist under the banner of “Turmoil”
with a clash of all disciplines from art to music
to science to dance.
Of course, you’ll still hear plenty of bleeps
and bloops – like when avant-garde jazz legends
George E. Lewis and Roscoe Mitchell take the
stage together with Voyager, an early interactive
computer invented by Lewis 30 years ago.
Also anticipating the rise of the machines is
Berlin’s Holly Herndon, whose performance
with her vocal ensemble promises to be a
highlight of a special AI-focused series that
culminates with a commissioned theatrical/
choral work by James Ferraro, the New York
producer/ conceptual artist who puts the
“scene” in “Anthropocene”. Over at Bethanien,
an exhibition running through April 2 willl
explore Uncanny Valleys of a Possible Future;
at the CTM opening concert (Jan 27), partipating
Polish artists Zorka Wollny and Andrzej
Wasilewski expanding on Wollny’s existing
artwork “Vox Populi” by triggering the highvoltage
sounds of a Tesla coil (think Björk’s
Biophilia) with two vocalists. Even more ambitious
is Dutchman Philip Vermeulen’s Physical
Rhythm Machine_Boem BOem, a massive
programmable drum machine that makes noise
by shooting balls into boxes.
The concerts featuring “real” instruments
tend to push their boundaries. If you think
you’ve heard all the sounds a cello can make,
check out Okkyung Lee; ditto with the percussion
played by Ugandan-British collaboration
Nihiloxica and Turkish artist Cevdet Erek. It’s
all about noise for veterans like Atari Teenage
Riot’s Hanin Elias and proto-techno punks DAF,
whereas if you prefer a gentler strain of concert
experience, Scott Kelly and John Judkins’
acoustic doom combo will suit you perfectly.
Dance plays a bigger part this year than in
the past. In a three-night programme at HAU2,
choreographer Christoph Winkler will tackle
the work of the late Ernest Berk with the help
of musicians groupA, Rashad Becker and Pan
Daijing. New York’s Rashaad Newsome turns
vogueing into a multidisciplinary performance
art piece in FIVE Berlin, while Berlin club fav
Lotic re-teams up with choreographer Roderick
George (following last year’s Fleshless
Beast) to exploring dance genres’ racial implications
in Embryogenesis.
Sick of watching other people dance?
Whether you want to get down to hometown
EDM rebel Boys Noize or determine whether
Jason Hou really is the Chinese equivalent of
early Skrillex, Berghain/Panorama Bar is the
place to be. Don’t miss February 2, which sees
a history lesson in gabber and hardcore featuring
Dutch turntable legend Darkraver while
Berlin’s Perel spins her house-techno blend
upstairs (see interview below).
For complete immersion, Christopher
Bauder and Kangding Ray’s light and sound
installation Skalar (opening Jan 27 at Kraftwerk)
looks to be one for the ‘grammers,
while a separate “Transcend the Turmoil”
programme at Funkhaus’ new surroundsound
space Monom will take you into an
auditory fourth dimension. Lastly, artist Teun
Vonk’s installation The Physical Mind (part of
the Bethanien exhibition) just wants to give
you a giant hug between two inflatable pillows.
After all that, you’ll need it. n
“It’s about love and freedom”
Part of CTM’s Panorama Bar lineup on February 2, Berlin-based
DJ Perel tells us about utilising her own personal turmoil to create
unity on the dance floor.
I grew up in Saxony, in a small town in the Erzgebirge. My family was part of the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. In East Germany, that alone was enough to feel different
from the rest. I never fit in, really, so I looked for an escape in music.
I actually didn’t know this year’s CTM motto. I was just surprised that it fit so
well with my new album, Hermetica (Apr 20, DFA Records). One of the big themes
throughout my album is overcoming fear; on a personal and a societal level.
When I wrote the lyrics to my single “Die Dimension”, Trump was elected, and
simultaneously right-wing populism rose in Germany with the AfD. I was so
taken aback. To this day, I can’t really comprehend it. I feel paralysed from everything
that’s going on, and music is a form of self-therapy, a need to let it all out
and process it. That’s how the lyrics about a borderless world came about – not
only physical borders, but mental ones, too. We can’t really express our emotions
freely anymore for fear of them being misunderstood.
In a club context, you can’t control how people will react, but the basic idea is definitely
a political one: everyone’s the same, it doesn’t matter where you come from and
who you are. As hippie-esque as it may sound, it’s above all about love and freedom.
JANUARY 2018
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