CTM 2021 – Transformation Discourse Series

The CTM Discourse talk series focuses on multiple threads related to the 2021 festival's theme »Transformation.« Against the backdrop of Covid-19, queer and gender studies scholar Ben Trott and history of science researcher Edna Bonhomme draw on Berlin as a site of multiple communities and cultures as they consider queer, club, and African diasporic practices of care. Carla J. Maier, meLê yamomo, and AM Kanngieser with Zoe Todd suggest how we might transform our ways of listening as our political, environmental, economic, and cultural climates continue to change. Sébastien Darchen, Damien Charrieras, and John Willsteed introduce their forthcoming publication »Electronic Cities: Music, Policies and Space« in the 21st Century and in discussion with case study contributors Leila Adu-Gilmore, Sara Ross, Stéphane Sadoux and Ruxandra Trandafoiu explore the historical development, gentrification, and current pandemic-stricken states of dance music scenes in cities across Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia. Creators, musicians, writers, and researchers Cherie Hu, Jean-Hugues Kabuiku, Trevor McFedries, Caroline Busta and Lil Internet think through the chronic inequality and unsustainability embedded in creative industries’ technological and infrastructural frameworks. Longtime AI scholars, researchers, artists, and activists Jason Edward Lewis (Initiative for Indigenous Futures), data ethics researcher Maya Indira Ganesh (Leuphana University), and Ubuntu ethics proponent Sabelo Mhlambi (Bantucracy) converse with Tiara Roxanne on the political and relational entanglements of humans and AI. Featured artist talks are: Riar Rizaldi, premiering his Radio Lab commission; an exchange between DeForrest Brown, Jr. and Alexander G Weheliye on how Black music and cultures have responded to and grown within contrasting colonial legacies of Europe and the USA; a panel discussion with Khyam Allami, Deena Abdelwahed, Counterpoint, and Matana Roberts on cultural biases inherent in music software and education; and Poland’s queer club collective Oramics and Ewa Majewska in conversation on the state of female, non-binary, and queer music communities in Poland. Explore more critical perspectives on contemporary music via CTM Festival's online magazine: www.ctm-festival.de/magazine