CMKK.
Playing the room together.
Four voices from CMKK on open structures, adapted instruments and the art of leaving space for one another.
In conversation with Carmen Pomet, Anton Stuk, Lars Tuchel and Mattia Benedetti
A toy car moves through a gallery, sounds arrive from different directions, and improvisation opens up between fixed-media passages. At CMKKosmos on 10 October 2026 at Graz’s esc medien kunst labor, the room itself became part of the shared performance. After appearing at ORF musikprotokoll im steirischen herbst, Carmen Pomet, Anton Stuk, Lars Tuchel and Mattia Benedetti discuss organising and making music without a fixed hierarchy, and how very different contributions become a collective project.
CMKK stands for Computer Music and Sound Art. Rooted in the IEM community, the open Graz collective organises concerts, club nights and workshops. This conversation took place by email and in a shared text document. The answers have been lightly edited and translated, with each speaker named. The photographs show the CMKKosmos concert and workshop at ORF musikprotokoll im steirischen herbst 2026.
The gallery becomes an instrument.
CMKKosmos was announced for 10 October at esc medien kunst labor. How did it go for you? Was there a moment while playing together that surprised you, something you couldn’t have planned?
Lars Tuchel: We played in a gallery, rather than a conventional concert venue. In situations without a standard stage setup, it’s always exciting to explore the space in person and decide where to position the loudspeakers, musicians and so on for that particular situation.
Anton Stuk: For me, it went unexpectedly well. My part came after a collective improvisation, so there were no surprises for me.
Carmen Pomet: We’re a community that shares more than creative interests. We also share the aim of organising a variety of live electronic music situations. We developed our own instruments and played them on stage, but we also organised the materials, prepared the space and decided how to play and arrange our positions. We do many things at once: curatorial, artistic and technical work. That makes everyone’s different perspectives and energies especially valuable.
A structure with room for chaos.
You describe CMKK as a community without a fixed hierarchy. How do you work out where the music should go when rehearsing or performing? Can you describe a situation where several different ideas had to come together?
Mattia Benedetti: I think there’s also an element of welcoming chaos and personal idiosyncrasies inside each project, rather than having a top-down curated event.
Carmen Pomet: Every project is different, and the musicians change, too. Each project is open to the entire CMKK community. We meet regularly to present projects and discuss organisational matters. Usually there’s an initial idea and a concept. This time we formed different groups according to people’s interests. That produced a structure moving between fixed media and improvisation.
The sequence was: diary duo → Hamid → improvisation → Lars → improvisation → cars.
Anton Stuk: We have to coordinate all of this together. Our ideas about what we should do almost always differ considerably. So we find agreement on the basis of what is available to us at that moment.
Lars Tuchel: Any object that makes a sound can, in a sense, become part of the music.
When a toy car makes music.
The description of CMKKosmos puts percussion, electric guitar and a laptop alongside a toy car. How does an object like that become part of the piece? What has to intrigue you about a sound for you to keep working with it?
Anton Stuk: Our performances bring together everything that can coexist harmoniously. For me personally, it was important at this event to try out different sonic effects produced by moving the sound source. There was more space at esc than in an ordinary concert hall.
Lars Tuchel: In electronic music in general, including its commercial side, I think you see an incredibly exciting approach to sounds of all kinds. As long as you put things together in the right way, any object that makes a sound can, in a sense, become part of the music.
Carmen Pomet: We knew there would be a workshop before the CMKKosmos concert at musikprotokoll. So we focused on the idea of everyone playing a single instrument they had adapted themselves. Everyone brought something different to the improvisations. We wanted a collective, heterogeneous sound to emerge from those sounds.
Come with an idea.
Your events are also open to people without experience of electronic music or sound art. If someone comes along for the first time and wants to take part, how might they begin? Perhaps you remember an encounter that later grew into something more.
Lars Tuchel: We’ve also had members who didn’t make music themselves at first and were mainly involved in organising. Over time, though, they kept feeling the urge to try something themselves. I think that’s the best thing we can achieve. In academia, which we all come from to some extent, there’s still quite a high barrier to entry that electronic music doesn’t really need, or shouldn’t have.
Carmen Pomet: The lineups of our events are never restricted to the community; they’re also open to friends and acquaintances. CMKKosmos included artists who don’t live in Graz but were keen to take part. Our code of conduct and accessibility are also very important to us. Both are set out in a clearly worded manifesto.
Anton Stuk: You could simply come to us and present your idea. Everything is then discussed at the next plenary meeting.
Listening from many directions.
You move between exhibitions, concerts and club nights. How does each place change the way you play and listen to one another? And what kind of setting would you like to try together next?
Carmen Pomet: Spaces determine how the interaction with the audience takes place. A clearly defined stage separates the audience from the musicians. We also work with changing loudspeaker setups, never conventionally with a stereo pair. Instead, we play in multiple channels to extend the space. Because sounds come from many directions and spaces, the audience is invited to explore where they are.
Anton Stuk: I simply think about what could happen in each situation and/or what would be most surprising. There will be a desk concert at Café Wolf in November. There will be more experiments as well as new DJ sets.
CMKK
Interview by email · Editorial and image art direction: SCENE:ID. © ORF musikprotokoll/Martin Gross · SCENE:ID Bildgestaltung · © ORF musikprotokoll/Martin Gross · SCENE:ID Farbgestaltung