BERLIN ATONAL’S INFINITE NOW — A STUDY IN DURATION
words by THORE DAMWERTH
Berlin Atonal’s latest chapter in collaboration with Unsound, The Infinite Now, turned Kraftwerk Berlin into a thirty-hour experiment in sound, rest and exhibition. Unfolding continuously across night, dawn and day, the premise itself felt radical in a cultural moment built around speed and overstimulation. Audiences were free to settle into the space in their own way — drifting and absence became part of the experience.
The Infinite Now by Berlin Atonal and Unsound, Kraftwerk, May 16-18, 2026
photo credit: Karl Magee
The format drew from a lineage of durational works and previous Berlin Atonal projects such as The Long Now, reviving ideas around extended listening and shared time while pushing them into a new scale. Created together with Unsound, The Infinite Now blurred performance with everyday states of being. Beds and resting zones were integrated throughout Kraftwerk, turning listening itself into a slower and more physical act.
The Infinite Now by Berlin Atonal and Unsound, Kraftwerk, May 16-18, 2026
photo credit (left to right): Camille Blake, Karl Magee, Frankie Casillo, Joanna Chwilkowska
Across more than thirty artists and installations, the programme moved through shifting emotional and sonic states, from Caterina Barbieri and Kali Malone to Keiji Haino, Actress, Terrence Dixon and Marginal Consort. Rather than functioning through headline moments, the curation seemed to privilege accumulation – a gradual build of atmosphere, duration and presence over spectacle.
For Berlin Atonal, a platform long interested in sound beyond conventional club or concert structures, The Infinite Now felt like a continuation of a broader question: what happens when time itself becomes part of the composition? In a city increasingly defined by acceleration, perhaps one of the most radical gestures left is simply to slow down.
The Infinite Now by Berlin Atonal and Unsound, Kraftwerk, May 16-18, 2026
photo credit (left to right): Karl Magee, Joanna Chwilkowska
