Berlin Atonal at Kraftwerk / 28.08.-01.09.2019

The celebrated Berlin Atonal festival returns this August for its 2019 edition, beginning on Wednesday 28. August and ending on Sunday 1. September. The festival spans five days and over a hundred performances and art projects, including the usual heady supply of specially commissioned audio-visual shows and world premieres in sound, video and performance. All events and activities will be held within the container of the Kraftwerk in the centre of Berlin.

The opening Wednesday of the festival sees a performance by Liz Harris aka Grouper under her more solemn, hymnal, Nivhek alias. Joining her on stage are composer and violist UCC Harlo and Russian electronic auteur Pavel Milyakov. Cult Australian group HTRK also play a rare live show while legendary producer dBridge debuts a new project entitled Black Electric. Underground hero Mixmaster Morris prepares a longform set for OHM while the mina collective from Lisbon’s queer underground takes over Tresor en masse.

Thursday’s programme is building around three world premiere audio-visual performances. Nkisi prepares a new disorientating A/V show entitled Initiation, Arizonan collective Marshstepper unite sound, movement and drama for an operatic performance called Deceivers of the Moments Presence, while the dexterous producer Shapednoise and Portuguese visual artist Pedro Maia collectively synthesise their new project Aesthesis for the first time. OHM also plays host to two world premieres, with Oliver Ho presenting his new project as Slow White Fall, while Violet plays her first live show ever.

Friday hosts two ambitious new projects from festival favourites. Alessandro Cortini returns to the cavernous main hall for the first time since his unforgettable festival-closing performance in 2016 to present a new project entitled Volume Massimo, while Shackleton assembles an open-ended musical project encompassing unorthodox time-signatures and an idiosyncratic form of ritualistic-trance-music under the rubric Tunes of Negation. Seminal Finnish producer Vladislav Delay performs live for the first time in years to unveil a new audio-visual project with German artist AGF called Rakka. Other highlights include a new show from Nene H. entitled RAU // REUE and the premiere performance of a new group uniting Iranian vocalist Hani Mojtahedi and computer musician HATAM designated Mi†ra. Also set for Friday are live shows from Lee Gamble, Terrence Dixon, E-Saggila and MY DISCO.

French artist Cyprien Gaillard debuts his new video and performance work Ocean II Ocean on Saturday night at the festival. Audio-visual shows from Objekt (with Ezra Miller) and Amnesia Scanner also take place while Félicia Atkinson presents a new work based on the oeuvre of American abstract expressionist painter Helen Frankenthaler. The explosive collaboration between Samuel Kerridge and Taylor Burch of DVA Damas sees its world premiere live realisation while Huerco S. takes the opportunity to curate a programme based around his West Mineral Ltd. family and friends.