Berlin Atonal presents Openless 2024

Our exclusive report from Berlin Atonal: Openness, August 23-25, 2024.

OPENLESS: Berlin Atonal’s 2024 edition, unfolded over three days at the Kraftwerk complex, blending experimental music with profound thematic explorations. Each night presented a unique narrative, from confronting the legacies of colonialism to celebrating cross-continental artistic fusion, culminating in an immersive sonic experience that resonated with the festival’s tradition of cultural dialogue and renewal. Exclusive photography by Sergey Skip, words by Walter Wolfgang.

Berlin Atonal, founded in 1982 by Dimitri Hegemann, established Berlin as a pivotal hub for experimental music. Launched in a divided city still scarred by WWII, the festival’s first iteration took place at SO36, a crucible for alternative music. Atonal ran until 1990, when Hegemann shifted focus to Tresor, a club that became central to the emerging Techno scene. Housed in the ruins of the Wertheim department store, Tresor carried a poignant history, having been abandoned after WWII. Hegemann’s connections brought Detroit Techno pioneers like Jeff Mills, Robert Hood, and Underground Resistance to Berlin, merging their sound with the city’s experimental scene. The direction and curation since 2013 has been taken over by Laurens von Oswald with Harry Glass and after Tresor’s original location closed in 2005, it moved to the Kraftwerk complex, which now hosts the revived Berlin Atonal. The 2024 iteration, OPENLESS, spanned three days at Kraftwerk, with afterparties in the connected Tresor, Globus, and OHM. Each night of OPENLESS revolved around a thematic core, blending past and present issues with a celebration of cultural exchange and renewal.

“…a narrative that simultaneously grapples with important issues of the past and present, while also celebrating cultural exchange and renewal.”

THE LESS DECEIVED
Day one of OPENLESS, titled “THE LESS DECEIVED” confronted the viewer with a variety of current and past atrocities; the plight of immigrants, and the profound and abiding ramifications of Western colonialism.
Beginning with “BIAŁOWIEZA” a commissioned project by field recordists Chris Watson, and Izabela Dluzyk. The project consisted of recent recordings taken in the Białowieża Forest, which sits on the border of Poland and Belarus. A recent crackdown on immigration and the creation of an exclusion zone by Polish authorities has left waves of immigrants from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia tragically trapped in the dangerous forest wilderness.
“A Forbidden Distance”, produced by Iranian-Canadian brothers Mohammad and Mehdi (Saint Abdullah), Irish sound-designer Ian McDonnell (Eomac), and filmmaker Rebecca Salvadori, confronted the viewer with stories, sounds and visuals contemplating on the nature of fragmented experiences. The presentation consisted of original soundtracks, composed of a variety of raw testimonials from immigrant families and individuals. The world premiere of “The Drum and The Bird” followed, a major new project by Forensis (Forensic Architecture) in collaboration with Bill Kouligas of PAN. Forensic Architecture (FA) is a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London. Their mandate is to develop, employ, and disseminate new techniques, methods, and concepts for investigating state and corporate violence. “The Drum and The Bird” examined the genocide perpetrated by the German colonial army against the Ovaherero and Nama people, and the environmental ramifications that continue until today. Shark Island, a remote piece of land south-west of the territory which today is Namibia, was used by the German colonial from 1905 until 1907 army as a labor and extermination camp for prisoners captured during Germany’s genocidal campaign against the Herero and Nama peoples in the early twentieth century. The project also examined the geological damage inflicted by said colonialism especially, the destruction of local grasslands vital to the existence of the native populations. In confronting the viewer with the raw unfiltered reality of western civilization, and the tragedy of western colonialism, OPENLESS begins a dialog that weaves a thread throughout the remaining days of programming.

“The music of Tresor reunited the fractured communities of East and West Berlin and through dance, to heal those dark chapters of German history.”

TRANSCRIPTIONS
In a powerful tone shift, the second day of OPENLESS titled, “TRANSCRIPTIONS” celebrated the musical legacy of Senegalese drummer, composer and band leader Doudou Ndiaye Rose. Drawing on the rich history of traditional Senegalese percussion, Rose innovated and expanded the artform, inventing original complex rhythms, and grew the artform into an internationally recognized movement. Rose went on to tour Europe and Africa, spreading his signature sound, and collaborating with some of the most influential artists of the century, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gilespie and the Rolling Stones. For “TRANSCRIPTIONS”, the project assembled a sixteen-member ensemble at the mystical Lac Rose just outside of Dakar, Senegal to record the hundreds of original drum patterns created by Doudou Rose over his lifetime. Following the presentation, “TRANSCRIPTIONS” was a concert by family members of N’diaye Rose as well as luminaries of the electronic music world who take the percussive grammar of this tradition as a meaningful starting point for their own experimentations in sound. As a contrast to the candid realities of “THE LESS DECEIVED”, “TRANSCRIPTIONS” celebrates the artistic possibilities of cross-continent fusion, where traditional forms of African art can influence contemporary, experimental genres across the world. This juxtaposition induces comparisons to the original Tresor building, its ancient basement simultaneously bearing testimony to the brutal confiscation of Jewish property, yet at the same time, generations later, platforming a generation of techno artists to reclaim the space. The music of Tresor reunited the fractured communities of East and West Berlin and through dance, to heal those dark chapters of German history.

THE CLEARING
For the third and final night of OPENLESS, the vast Kraftwerk space interior became an amalgamation of sonic exploration and transformative experiences. “BASELINES”, a project by Manchester based by DJ Sean Canty and producer Miles Whittaker, explored the relationship between physical tapes, and our experiences listening, carrying and treasuring them. Ambient composers and collaborators Grand River and Abul Mogard performed a live rendition of their recent release “IN UNO SPAZIO IMMENSO”. According to the artists, “IN UNO SPAZIO IMMENSO” balances on a knife-edge between booming, operatic grandeur and soft-focus simplicity, casting as much light on the subtle outlines and illusory rhythms as it does its dense, almost overpowering textures.

Berlin Atonal: OPENNESS

Credits:

Event: Berlin Atonal / @berlinatonal
Words: Walter Wolfgang/ @wolfthephotographer
Photo: Sergey Skip / @sergeyskip
Editor: Anca Macavei / @ancamacavei

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