The 10th anniversary of the Festival offers CTM - FESTIVAL and DISK – Sound & Image Initiative a chance to reflect on its 10 years of commitment to and struggle for independence in music and media production.
 
The original edition of CTM - Festival in 1999 was conceived as a one-off special program for the transmediale, Berlin’s festival for art and digital culture, where it was intended to throw some light on the new and rapidly expanding spectrum of artistic projects that had emerged from the Techno movement and progressive digitalisation at the interface of media arts, electronic music and club culture. The idea fell on fertile ground – evidently CTM - Festival had struck a nerve at the right moment and correctly identified the needs of artists and the public.
 
Today, almost 10 years later, CTM - Festival has gained a unique profile and the reputation of being one of the most important international festivals both for state-of-the-art electronic digital and experimental music and for the manifold artistic activities that unfold in the context of sound and club culture. Together, the two festivals club transmediale and transmediale comprise one of the most comprehensive and relevant occasions in the world for reflection on digital culture and, moreover, one with a more comprehensive scope than any usual festival remit. The two parallel festivals attract a broad, diverse public yet at the same time offer artists, producers, agents and curators a lively platform for informed, thoughtful debate and opportunities to network across the globe. In doing so, they fathom and illuminate the minutely diversified grass-roots level of music and media arts production.

Both festivals do much more than simply present new trends and developments however. In their role as partners to the artists, as participants in on-going contemporary discourse, as active network facilitators, information resources, research bodies and disseminators of innovative work, they also make a vital contribution to the further development of critical, innovative music and media cultures.