C2C XXIII edition, Turin, Italy, 30 Oct through 02 Nov 2025

On 16 October 2026, the press conference presenting the C2C Festival carried a beautiful ritual value of commemoration and tribute to the artistic director and co-founder Sergio Ricciardone, who passed away prematurely just a few months ago. As always, it served “to lock ourselves in a room and understand where we are,” as said by Guido Savini, who now leads the Festival.

I am going to summarise the figures of the C2C Festival: Club to Club, founded in 2002 by the Cultural Association Situazione Xplosiva, Roberto Spallacci, Giorgio Valletta and Sergio Ricciardone, began as a small underground event in Turin, and has since grown with great attention to the most advanced expressions of contemporary culture, maintaining a precious connection with the local area.

Within the prestigious international context of Turin’s Contemporary Art Week, the Festival will take place from 30 October to 2 November 2025, marking its 23rd edition.

41,000 tickets have been sold, half of them abroad, bringing a massive influx of international visitors to our city; half of the participants are under 30; the evenings are sold out.

This year, the various stages will host 68 artists from 21 countries, presenting 65 shows, 21 of which are Italian exclusives, and 7 debuts.

The festival will take place across several venues, including Lingotto Fiere, OGR Torino, Combo Torino (confirmed as the HQ – Headquarters), Teatro Regio and Fonderie Limone.

A positive new feature in the Food Area comes with Agricola Moderna, allowing the Festival audience to eat in a healthier and more sustainable way.

C2C is the only independent Italian festival. It fights every day for its survival. It is one of the leading international festivals of electronic and avant-pop music. It is an event of social interest that generates cross-national synergies. Its ability to attract an international audience and to collaborate with local and international cultural institutions demonstrates its fundamental role in the European and global cultural landscape. The importance of the C2C Festival goes beyond music: it is an event that promotes contemporary culture, experimentation and the encounter between different art forms. It is an important happening for a part of the community. It strengthens the three souls of Turin — baroque, post-industrial and contemporary.

The theme chosen for this 23rd edition is “per aspera ad astra” (through hardship to the stars), a tribute to the co-founder and director of the festival, Sergio Ricciardone.

The C2C Festival 2025 line-up is a kaleidoscope of sounds and styles. Among the main acts are Floating Points, Blawan, Barker, Blood Orange (Devonté Hynes), Four Tet, Ali Sethi & Nicolas Jaar, A. G. Cook, Ecco2k, Saya Gray, Smerz, billy woods, Maria Somerville, Model/Actriz, Annahstasia, Nourished By Time, Titanic (I. la Catolica & Mabe Fratti), Daniel Blumberg (now also awarded as composer of the beautiful score of The Brutalist by Brady Corbet), Djrum, Jenny Hval and Malibu. This variety of highly interesting artists reflects the festival’s eclectic approach, ranging from experimental electronic music to avant-pop, jazz, hip-hop and contemporary classical music.

The atmosphere of the festival is immersive: performances take place in reconverted industrial spaces, creating a dialogue between music, art and architecture.

Over the years, C2C has managed to grow and transform, becoming a point of reference for lovers of experimental music and professionals in the music industry.

This year, on 9 May, the first edition of C2C Festival NYC was also held, featuring an outstanding line-up at the Knockdown Center, a major independent art centre in Queens. The New York debut of C2C was accompanied by a study conducted in collaboration with the University of Turin, within the fields of neuroscience and ethnography. The research focused on the collective artistic experience and its ability to generate connection and emotional and social wellbeing, through emotional, physical and cognitive synchrony — fostering identity-building, both individual and collective, among participants, and countering social isolation.

At Teatro Regio, on 31 October, valuable workshops, free listening and discussion sessions with international professionals from the music and art sectors will be held.

The C2C Festival 2025 promises to be a memorable edition, combining musical innovation, artistic experimentation and a deeply felt tribute to Sergio Ricciardone. For lovers of sophisticated and contemporary music, it represents an unmissable opportunity to explore the sonic frontiers of our time.