CTM 2020 welcomes a number of Canadian artists for a series of special performances. 

Several special projects specifically explore various aspects of our relationship and (un)ease with technology, including the festival’s launch with a two-night showing of “Frontera” at the Hebbel am Ufer (HAU1) theatre. In an era of aggressive nationalism and corporate mass surveillance, the human body has never been rendered so visible. Subjected to increasingly invasive forms of industrial-scale oversight and processing, bodies are perpetually monitored, defined, and captured. In “Frontera,” by Animals of Distinction with choreography by Dana Gingras, nine dancers navigate spaces of inclusion and exclusion—their bodies mapped in high resolution, their destinies unresolved. “Frontera” considers surveillance technologies and the advancing frontiers of knowledge and control that they represent. As borders organise and orchestrate the passage of bodies through the world, and as public and private realms are obscured by monitoring technologies, what space remains for the unruly, ungovernable body? Featuring light-based scenography by United Visual Artists (UVA), live music by Fly Pan Am, and field recordings by Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s Dave Bryant, “Frontera” offers a dynamic commentary on our messy entanglements with corporate technologies and the complexities of our present moment.

In a dark take on technology and control, Louis-Philippe Demers and Bill Vorn create an experience of hell, punishment, and demons via their “Inferno” participatory robotic performance. Addressing many persistent anxieties around the relationships between humans and technologies, and the shifting boundaries between them, “Inferno” envisions infinite punishment as endless automation and subordination to the machine, as participants are drawn to the spectacles and thrills of submission. Mirroring our contemporary entanglements and fascinations with various technologies and power imbalances, the participatory installation will run over three days, allowing select members of the public to participate in surrendering agency to a cyborgian robotic entity. 

Rounding out this year's presence, the club programme welcomes the likes of noise artist Thegn and producer/DJ Aquarian, and the CTM 2020 Interstitial Spaces exhibition features a video artwork by Krista Belle Stewart and and immersive film by Dana Gingras.

“Inferno” and "Frontera" are part of the culture programme related to Canada’s Guest of Honour presentation at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2020. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Government of Canada.With additional support from the Embassy of Canada and the Québec Government Office in Berlin.