Exploring Stone Techno’s Newest Stage, Kokerei, The Listening Floor

One of the most significant additions to Stone Techno Festival 2026 wasn’t another dancefloor, but an entirely different way of experiencing electronic music.

Nestled within the industrial surroundings of Kokerei, the new Listening Floor invited audiences to temporarily step away from the constant momentum of the festival. Described by Stone Techno as “a place designed not for movement, but for another form of immersion, to sit, to breathe, and to get lost in the music,” the amphitheatre-like space placed the artists at its centre, surrounded by the audience in an environment where live performances, extended DJ sets and site-specific works blurred the boundaries between concert, installation and ritual.

It was an ambitious proposition. At a festival celebrated for its carefully curated dancefloors, Stone Techno chose to dedicate one of its new spaces to something far less immediate: attentive listening.

A Culture of Listening

Stone Techno did not simply add another stage to its growing festival. It introduced an environment that challenged audiences to engage with electronic music differently. In a scene often defined by intensity, movement and constant stimulation, the Listening Floor offered something increasingly rare, the opportunity to slow down, to remain present, and to discover that some of electronic music’s most powerful moments emerge not from the dancefloor, but from the simple act of listening.

The Listening Floor offered something rare, the opportunity to slow down, to remain present, and to discover that some of electronic music’s most powerful moments emerge not from the dancefloor, but from the simple act of listening.

Until recently, experiences of this kind were largely confined to “specialised” festivals and institutions dedicated to experimental sound art, contemporary composition or ambient music. Seeing this philosophy embraced by a techno festival signals a broader evolution in electronic music culture. As festival programmes continue to diversify, spaces devoted to attentive listening are no longer peripheral curiosities reserved for a niche audience, they are gradually becoming an integral part of the wider festival experience. Stone Techno’s Listening Floor suggests that audiences are increasingly willing to embrace that shift, proving that curiosity and contemplation can resonate just as strongly as the energy of a packed dancefloor.

Introducing a space dedicated to attentive listening inevitably comes with its own challenges. Positioned beside a wine bar and designed as an open environment, the Listening Floor occasionally became a place where visitors gathered to rest between performances. During certain daytime concerts, conversations sometimes competed with the music, making complete immersion more difficult than the artists perhaps deserved.Yet this felt less like a flaw in the concept than the natural process of establishing a new festival culture. As the weekend progressed, and particularly during evening performances such as Barker and Out Of Place Artefacts, the atmosphere shifted noticeably. The audience embraced the intention behind the space, replacing casual conversation with focused attention. Perhaps that is the Listening Floor’s greatest achievement. It gently encouraged audiences to slow down, take their time and rediscover the simple act of listening.

As with every edition of the festival, experiencing every performance remained impossible. Rather than attempting to document the programme in its entirety, the following selection highlights a number of performances that best revealed the identity of this new space.

Different Approaches to Listening

One of the Listening Floor’s greatest strengths was that it refused to reduce “deep listening” to a single musical language.

Barker demonstrated this beautifully. Long recognised for constantly reshaping the relationship between techno, ambient and contemporary composition, his live performance remained deeply melodic without abandoning rhythm altogether. Rather than inviting passive contemplation, the music encouraged multiple forms of engagement. Some visitors remained seated or lay on the concrete floor, fully absorbed by the evolving harmonies, while others responded instinctively through gentle movement. The Listening Floor was never conceived as an ambient room, it was a space where listening itself became the primary focus.

The same openness defined Ahmet Sisman extended opening session. Better known to many audiences through his techno-oriented appearances, including collaborations with VNNN, he approached the space from an entirely different perspective. Over more than four hours, his carefully curated selection travelled across ambient, experimental electronics and slowly evolving rhythms.

Curiosity naturally surrounded Kangding Ray’s live performance. Following his acclaimed soundtrack for Sirât, many wondered whether echoes of the film would find their way into the set. Instead, the Berlin-based French producer presented something entirely separate, a ninety-minute live performance rooted firmly in his own artistic language.

Positioned behind an extensive modular synthesiser and hardware setup, Kangding Ray delivered a technically captivating performances. Watching the live unfold was almost as compelling as hearing it. Every gesture felt deliberate, every adjustment serving a precise musical intention. While modular performances often embrace unpredictability, allowing systems to drift into moments of controlled chaos or spontaneous experimentation, Kangding Ray pursued an entirely different approach. His command of the instruments was strikingly meticulous, maintaining a clear compositional thread from beginning to end without ever sacrificing a sense of exploration.

Sonically, the performance balanced remarkable precision with emotional depth. Intricate textures, finely sculpted timbres and subtle shifts in dynamics created a sound world that felt constantly in motion yet never lost its coherence. Rather than showcasing the modular synthesiser as an unpredictable machine, Kangding Ray used it as an instrument of extraordinary control, perfectly fitting with his other machines, shaping every frequency with almost architectural attention to detail.

The performance ultimately confirmed Kanding Ray as one of the most complete artists working in electronic music today. Whether composing for the dancefloor, crafting immersive ambient works, exploring experimental sound design or scoring cinema, each project feels like part of the same artistic language rather than separate practices.

The programme continued through Taucetti’s elegant hybrid live performance and Carrier, whose appearance, following previous presentations of the same live set at Berlin Atonal, highlighted the Listening Floor’s interest in artists whose practice naturally transcends the boundaries between experimental performance and dancefloor culture.

The Listening Floor reached perhaps its most compelling expression during Out Of Place Artefacts, the collaborative live project of Rødhåd and .VRIL, joined throughout the performance by Peryl on live guitar.

Moving decisively away from dancefloor-oriented techno, expansive ambient passages, slowly unfolding melodies and Peryl’s organic guitar textures transformed the industrial hall into something that felt suspended outside conventional festival time. As .VRIL explained, the project required an extraordinary amount of preparation before reaching the stage, and that meticulous work was immediately evident throughout the performance.

What proved equally fascinating, however, was the audience itself.

While thousands of festival-goers gathered elsewhere for the closing DJ performances, those present at the Listening Floor had made a conscious decision to end their weekend differently. The atmosphere became remarkably attentive. Conversations faded, movement slowed, and the space briefly resembled a contemporary concert hall more than a festival stage. Even fellow artists, including Carrier, Taucetti and Lady Starlight, could be seen quietly listening among the audience.

In that moment, the Listening Floor fully revealed its purpose. It was no longer simply another stage within Stone Techno, it had become a destination in its own right.