At its core, the Main Stage inside Kraftwerk offers an immense, echoing space that feels both industrial and sacred. It is perfectly suited for large-scale performances that demand attention and reverberate with intensity.

This year, the festival presents extraordinary collaborations that push the boundaries of sound and experience. Merzbow, the pioneering noise artist, joins forces with Igor Cavalera, the legendary percussionist known for his primal rhythms, and Eraldo Bernocchi, a master of sonic texture. The trio unites for the first time in a performance that explores chaos and control, where noise and rhythm collide in visceral ways.

Lord Spikeheart and NMR present REIGN, a project born from the spirit of Kenyan resistance. Their performance manifests as a sonic assault, raw, defiant, and deeply political. Amnesia Scanner unveils S.L.O.T.H., a sensory overload that incorporates the experimental edge of Freeka.tet, challenging listeners with shifting layers of sound and intensity.

Billy Bultheel channels the haunting energy of medieval collapse into Fugue State, blending historical echoes with contemporary dissonance. emptyset and MFO dissolve form in dissever, a collaboration that rebuilds sound into fractured landscapes. Lee Ranaldo, Yonatan Gat, and Peder Mannerfeld form a new trio, weaving intricate improvisations that balance chaos with harmony.

Djrum sculpts silence itself, crafting sound with custom-built instruments that transform emptiness into presence. GRIEND, the collaborative project of Rainy Miller and Puce Mary, drags catharsis from ruin with raw emotional intensity. Bendik Giske and Barker stretch the breath between the organic and the mechanical, blending saxophone with electronics in a seamless dance of tension and release.

The installation program, Third Surface, occupies the in-between spaces of Kraftwerk. It transforms neglected corners into zones of discovery and treats nightlife as archive and ritual.

Joanna Rajkowska’s trance-lit Emergency Light bathes the space in an otherworldly glow. Ran Zhang’s graffiti-marked skin scans capture identity etched onto flesh and concrete. Mouneer Al Shaarani’s 1977-era Syrian poster series revives political voices through visual fragments. Kristoffer Akselbo’s UV glow in Barracuda, Tanja Al Kayyali’s embroidered monument, and Tot Onyx’s surveillance performance We Are Numbers each reframe textile, architecture, and movement as sites of rebellion.

Live interventions blur form and affect. John T. Gast’s Petrols loops dread into hypnosis. Moin deconstructs rock to its raw nerves. YHWH Nailgun delivers rupture as ritual. DJ E invokes Andean cosmology through sonic grief, weaving ancestral stories into contemporary soundscapes.

In the control room, PAN curates ENTOPIA, a series of narrative listening sessions that reimagine soundtracks as immersive stories. Cyprien Gaillard’s Retinal Rivalry, Anne Imhof’s WYWG, Jenna Sutela’s Pond Brain, and Jeremy Shaw’s Phase Shifting Index fold time and perception into surreal landscapes. Mohamed Bourouissa’s LILA conjures voice, healing, and fracture, drawing listeners into a space of emotional resonance and reflection.

As night deepens, Berlin Atonal spreads across Tresor, OHM, and Globus. The club program threads experimental electronics with global rhythms and sharp-edged hybrids. B2B sets reshape energy: Vlada and Skee Mask merge atmospheric textures with rolling beats. re:ni and Mia Koden spin dense, hypnotic grooves. Anthony Linell, DJ Red, and Neel build layered soundscapes with precise control.

Sets from Nawaz, Baby Sy, NVST, Katatonic Silentio, and Triš bring urgency and innovation. Rrose, Pinch, Moritz von Oswald, Calibre, and Martyn ground the nights with deep-time continuity, connecting past and future through their rhythmic fluency.

Each night closes with Projektionsfläche, the film series that expands the festival’s sensorial scope. Kamal Aljafari’s A Fidai Film reconstructs erased Palestinian reels. Basma Al-Sharif’s O, Persecuted performs cinematic exorcism. Nelson Makengo’s Rising Up At Night captures the pulse of Kinshasa. Noor Abed’s dual works trace folklore into new mythologies. Ben Russell and Guillaume Cailleau’s Direct Action documents French ZAD resistance in striking detail.

Berlin Atonal 2025 presents a continuous space of collapse, discomfort, and presence. Through sound, image, and movement, it opens up a ritual of transformation. Art carries histories, ruptures, and hopes, unfolding them across bodies and architecture. The result is a collective rhythm that does not aim to resolve, but to resonate.