Berlin Atonal's Metabolic Rift transforms Kraftwerk with installations and performances

Berlin Atonal, an interdisciplinary festival emphasizing sound, returned to Kraftwerk in Berlin for its 2021 edition from September 25 to October 30. The event featured Metabolic Rift, an art parcours described as a ghost train, guiding audiences through the vast, unrefurbished former East German power station. Works by 28 artists were included, with installations in concrete chambers and open-plan turbine halls stripped of turbines. Highlights included Cyprien Gaillard and Hieroglyphic Being's Visitant (No Dancing) (2020–21), a large vaulted space with a wind-dancer figure and techno music, and Tino Sehgal's untitled performance involving a woman ascending a stairwell. Other notable pieces were Rigobert Nimi's kinetic sculpture Explorer 5 (2021), Lillian Schwartz's video collage set to Hyph11E's breakbeats, and Adameyko Lab with Sasu Ripatti's video octet. The festival, established in 1982, had a 23-year hiatus after 1990 while founder Dimitri Hegemann focused on Tresor, a legendary techno club that also used Kraftwerk as its main home. Since early 2020, Tresor has been closed, but Berlin Atonal reopened the venue for this event, which included a month of performances. The show evoked themes of growth and futurity against the industrial backdrop, with installations like a control room lit with colored light and dry ice. Some artworks, such as a Ballardian installation of crashed cars, had unclear authorship, reflecting an experiential approach akin to club culture.