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Art,Music

WHERE SOUND AND SILENCE DANCE: OPENLESS BY BERLIN ATONAL

words: Alice Suppa & Vanessa Pinzoni

06.09

WHERE SOUND AND SILENCE DANCE: OPENLESS BY BERLIN ATONAL

WHERE SOUND AND SILENCE DANCE: OPENLESS BY BERLIN ATONAL

Kraftwerk Berlin stands as a silent witness to the city’s fractured past. Once pulsed with life, its turbines warming the cold nights of East Berlin. Abandoned in 1997, it became a vast, empty canvas in the city’s landscape. But Dimitri Hegemann, the visionary who brought West Berlin’s Atonal to life, saw beauty in its raw, industrial bones. In 2013, under the direction and curation of Laurens von Oswald with Harry Glass – he resurrected this space, a playground for those in search of something deeper—a place where the lines between past and present blur, and where every encounter can shift the very air around you.

ph. Helena Majewska

This year, Berlin Atonal becomes OPENLESS, a name that suggests infinite exploration. Over three nights, with one stage and a handful of performances, the experience is distilled to its essence. The atmosphere is electric, charged with anticipation. Outside, immense manifestos whisper secrets, inviting those waiting in the winding line to dive deeper into the unknown. Words and terms hang like stars in the night, their meaning only unfolding in the dark embrace of the venue, where sound and silence dance and the night stretches beyond its limits.

ph. Studio Mundt

First Act: The Less Deceived

Once inside after the queue, right on time, the opening act features Chris Watson (one half of Cabaret Voltaire) and Izabela Dłużyk. The space is plunged into darkness, with sounds recorded from natural environments diffused throughout the industrial setting. This welcome is tinged with a sense of romanticism. However, listeners must understand where these sounds originate, as the piece is titled Białowieża, referencing the untouched forest between Poland and Belarus, now a centre of humanitarian tragedy due to the passage of refugees from the Middle East and Africa attempting to enter the European Union. This opening is not merely a pure aesthetic experience; it is an invitation to engage with what follows.

ph. Frankie Casillo

A large screen makes its first appearance near the stage. The cinematic element during OPENLESS carries significant weight. A Forbidden Distance by Saint Abdullah, Eomac, and Rebecca Salvadori is a fragmented video that evokes a sense of displacement and self-exploration through images of Iranian children, elderly women, arid landscapes, and bittersweet dialogues. The music, which accompanies these visuals, nostalgically blends influences from the Middle East with old-school rave sounds. It feels like the reconstruction of a non-existent place, created through collage—a reminder of our own fragility.

ph. Helena Majewska

The large screen remains on stage, awaiting Bill Kouligas (PAN Records) in collaboration with Forensis (Forensic Architecture) and their project, The Drum and The Bird. This work stands out as one of the strongest pieces presented during OPENLESS, constructing a complex narrative path in the form of an investigative documentary. The intention is clear: they will discuss politics directly, without metaphors, by presenting case studies. They quickly capture the audience’s attention by recounting the story of the first genocide of the 20th century and the first concentration camp built by the Germans in 1905 on Shark Island, Namibia. This is a hidden history preceding the familiar narratives we know—a story of human violence and environmental damage wrought by colonialism, a term that dominates contemporary discourse.

Forensis’ research goes further, delving into the consequences for the former colony. The Drum and The Bird reaches its central moment when the focus shifts to the sonic influence of the turbine plant on the environment and how German technology transformed the Namibian landscape. At this point, the sounds become truly immersive. Using data and algorithms, Forensis demonstrates their approach to architecture: as a tool for understanding reality. Bill Kouligas intensifies this experience with his sound design, adding rhythm and depth

After the dense premise OPENLESS intentions are unveiled and we need to stop being stumbled onto personal existentialism and take a position.

Lord Spikeheart arrived to close the first night with a slam of energy. He jumps, screams and demands warmth. He’s electric, and it’s exactly what we need. This closing act is just a taste of the excitement to come with the African scene scheduled for Saturday.

Second Act: Transcriptions

Family N’Diane Rose is the name that appears alongside nearly every artist on the lineup for the second night, a common thread to follow from the first performance to the last—a frame through which to observe the canvas. The concept for Transcription is curated by Studio Labour, unfolding as a long, continuous performance where the audience is invited to listen, move, and become part of the space.

The first night was marked by high tension, which found release thanks to Lamin Fofana, who crafted a dreamy journey through ambient and soft sounds with rhythmic awakenings. We find ourselves relaxed on the floor, alternating between moments of meditation and shoulder-shaking. Movements are interspersed with glances seeking validation from others. We want to dance!

Members of N’Diane Rose take the stage, playing drums and creating a surprisingly warm atmosphere within Atonal‘s typically cold, cerebral environment. Analog sounds are disrupted by Labour’s intervention—a long line of models crossing the parterre, catwalking towards the back of the room, where they deliver a shouted and choral performance.

Nkisi gifted us with the most powerful peak of the night, presenting her Mythe Ou Réalité (Cheikh Anta Diop)—a deep sonic ritual woven from dark and electric frequencies. A slow progression of electronic drums blends cold logic with ancient mysteries, creating the perfect combination to fill the emptiness we sometimes feel inside.

When Holy Tongue and Shackleton take the stage, we finally experience a concert—a pure musical journey free from theoretical speculations and hidden meanings. As she plays, Valentina Magaletti radiates joy, drawing her audience along with her. Just move; there’s no time to lose.

It’s Saturday and Transcriptions pumped the mood up. You are in Berlin and the club night is waiting.

Third Act: The Clearing

As expected, Sunday is the hardest night to face, especially after two previous nights as intense as these. Unlike other festivals, OPENLESS is a continuous program where every moment is connected to the next—a speech without pauses, where it’s difficult to allow yourself a moment of distraction. There are no multiple stages to move between, as there’s only one, and leaving for a break means inevitably missing something.

The Clearing is returning to Atonal, where it’s okay to go with the flow and find your personal space in Kraftwerk Theatre, deciding what resonates with you and what doesn’t. CS + Kreme offers the sweetest acid opening. The worn-out faces from the night before find a serene expression as minds drift into electronic experiments and latch onto the clear bass lines. The two Australians guide us to open our breathing and reconnect with ourselves, the music, and those around us.

The highlight that brought us back to past editions and reminded us why Atonal is irreplaceable was during the show by Grand River and Abul Mogard. Inside Kraftwerk, it isn’t necessary to stay close to the stage for two main reasons: 1. the sound system spreads the music throughout the entire building, and 2. the interplay of lights, combined with the freedom to move far enough away to see everything transform. When their set began, we were both wandering around with no specific expectations. We hadn’t yet taken the time to fully appreciate the architecture, and as we moved away from the stage, an enormous beam of light cutting through the entire space, pulsating organically, came into view. The sounds grew deeper, and we settled on the wooden platforms in the side nave of this vast concrete cathedral. Lying next to others, the bass vibrations first enveloped our backs, then our entire bodies. If every Sunday were like this, one might even feel inclined to be religious.

Sara Persico and Mika Oki brought an audio-visual collaboration that felt like a dive into unexplored territory. Drawing inspiration from Persico’s recent album, their performance merged soundscapes and visuals into an unpredictable narrative. The piece incorporated field recordings captured within the experimental concrete theatre designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in Tripoli, Lebanon. This fusion of sounds and images, both haunting and mesmerising, unfolded like a story being told through architectural echoes and abstract forms, pulling us deeper into its resonant, mysterious core.

With an album in the works, Kelman Duran and Franziska Aigner spun a web of sound that felt both intimate and infinite. Their music unravelled like a delicate thread pulled through the fabric of time, each beat a pulse that bridged distant worlds and whispered secrets of the unknown. The room seemed to breathe with them, an echo chamber of memories and possibilities, where every note invited you deeper into a shared dreamscape, half-forgotten and yet achingly familiar.

Canzonieri take the stage. Their music is a physical experience—a theatrical performance that oscillates between the playful and the profound. Canzonieri evoke the majesty and mystery of a familiar tale: it feels like being haunted by glimpses of past lives and the foreboding shadows of the future. You follow the Pied Piper of Hamelin on a journey into the unknown, drawn into the story being told by these eerie cantastoria, while Lara Dâmaso trembles through the crowd, enacting an ecstatic procession. It all feels exaggerated, like a scene from Fellini, with painted faces and expressionist dread. Emiliano Maggi embodies chaos, covered in bells, compulsively moving and switching instruments to create noise like a child discovering sound for the first time, while Cosimo Damiano sustains the soundscape, giving echoes to the tale. Lord Spikeheart, the true enfant terrible of this edition, joins them on stage for a final noisy appearance, just before the thunderous applause.

The closing act by Demdike Stare is highly anticipated. The two hauntologists present their latest work, crafted from dirty and dusty tapes. There is a sense of nostalgia in this project—a lot of England in those drum ‘n’ bass moments that occasionally emerge from a stream of consciousness that is both sound and video. It’s a genuinely punk montage.

When you decide to put a full stop, you can do whatever you want.

This is OPENLESS.

PH. Courtesy of Berlin Atonal
©Frankie Casillo, Helena Majewska, Studio Mundt

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