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This ADE 2025, Nxt Museum hosted a three-day programme tracing techno’s many voices and futures. The programme brought together uncompromising pioneers of industrial and minimal techno like Planetary Assault Systems and Sandwell District, innovators in modular and ambient electronics including Colin Benders and Nadia Struiwigh, and new generations exploring cinematic, narrative-driven, and club-rooted sounds such TYGAPAW, SALOME, and Ellen Allien.

With a lineup that merged established names with up-and-coming artists, and bringing the visual front and centre, Nxt’s ADE programme created a living survey of electronic culture: how it remembers, resists, and reinvents itself.

Wednesday

This evening was anchored by the world premiere of KERNEL – an AV performance from Chlär, founder of the Berlin-based techno label Primal Instinct, developed in collaboration with French/Parisian artists Théo Rocquancourt and Femur. Unreleased hard groove techno was paired with custom and complex AI systems, generating immersive visuals and creating an audiovisual exorcism of the modern condition. 

The programme unfolded with a modular live show by Dutch icon Colin Benders, with opening and closing sets from Valody and I-RO. 

Nxt artist-in-residence Jillis Pieters created and live-mixed visuals to the event, using motion capture to project his own dancing form – as well as that of the sound artists and the crowd – onto the stage, and thus “bringing the dance side of ADE into the visual part of Nxt.”

Thursday

A radical act of resistance and reinvention unfolded as Nxt Museum hosted the debut of a new concept by Luke Slater, Regis (Karl O’Connor) and Function (Dave Summer) – a groundbreaking showcase premiering at Nxt that reimagines the club experience through extended live performances and immersive visual storytelling.

Planetary Assault Systems and Sandwell District, alongside Nadia Struiwigh, local Amsterdam talent, came together for a night of live electronic music creation. Added to that were visuals live-mixed by Nxt artist-in-residence Sophia Bulgakova, who brought her mix of analogue and digital methods to Nxt Stage and Boris Acket’s artwork ‘Duration’. Also mixed by her were visuals by the late Silent Servant: an homage to this techno legend during Sandwell District’s set. 

Friday

The Friday programme was two-fold, with an early lineup curated by London’s pioneering sound and immersive experience studio, Mastery, and later a bold finale curated by Junction 2, one of London’s leading electronic festivals.

The programme opened on Friday with a sound bath before Jennifer Loveless’s expansive ambient set and Ruthlss’s live piano performance. Mor Elian then guided listeners into hypnotic terrain, leading into Actress’s AV show. The sets weaved together into a journey of resonance and experimentation, exploring sound as a psychedelic and the transcendental power of live electronic music.

The series concluded with a bold finale. TYGAPAW presented C.L.U.B ( Choose Love Uphold Benevolence) – a techno soundscape of the diaspora, interlaced with ancestral riddims. Paris-born Quelza and Spain’s BLANKA delivered an extended back-to-back, blending cinematic storytelling with high-energy propulsion. Closing the night, SALOME joined Ellen Allien for a Berlin-meets-Berlin acid techno finale.

Watch the ‘Visual Frequencies’ aftermovie:

A big thank you to Amsterdam Dance Event, and our sponsors and partners: Brouwerij ‘t Ij, Het Klassiek, Sir Hotels, Stelz, tmag.