This year, for our online pandemic edition, we have partnered with Berlin-based initiative Streamback to develop a simple way to connect and interact during online events.

Streamback is a browser-based app that allows viewers to upload short videos to be shared at streamed events. During select CTM Discourse programme talks, we encourage you to send in your questions live. Your video will be played as part of the respective Q&A live stream. Speakers and panelists can then respond to your inquiries directly, enjoying a more lively Q&A period by being able to see and hear a part of their remote audience.

CTM 2021’s closing concert »Life is But a Stream« on Sunday 31st of January will provide a testing ground to explore new forms of interaction between viewers and artists in a live performance setting. Your uploaded clips will become a part of the VJ performance by Pfadfinderei, which will be displayed on screens directly behind the performers and thus visible in the live stream. The artists on stage will be able see your video reactions as well. Encourage them by sending-in clips of dancing, applause, or other shows of support. You can choose to send reactions to other viewers, start a collective choreography, and hopefully enjoy catching a glimpse of a familiar face that is watching from another location.

You might also notice greetings from friends of the festival, streamed during breaks throughout the festival programme. These have been pre-recorded using Streamback too, as part of our pandemic experiment. We hope you enjoy trying it out yourself!

To Use Streamback

Simply watch via the livestream page on CTM’s website and register with the »Join« button to participate. Limited personal data is required to register: a valid email address and your name. Your data will not be shared with third parties, but note that your uploads as part of the recording will remain visible as part of the livestream recording.

Streamback at CTM is funded by »dive in. Programme for Digital Interactions« of the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation), and by Initiative Musik with funding by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media through the »Neustart Kultur« programme.

Streamback was developed during the pandemic by: Timm Ringewaldt, Stefan Brunner, Alexandra Weltz-Rombach, Oliver Baurhenn, and many others.