In Photos: C2C Festival 2022

The 20th anniversary edition of C2C was always going to be special. Across the span of two decades, the Turin festival has become established as an essential hub, showcase and incubator for artists and DJs, both homegrown and international, whose gaze rests unstintingly on the future.

The standard was set on the opening night, staged at Turin’s cathedral-like OGR. Here, aya’s blending of wiggy breaks, high-energy remixes of Space Afrika and a general air of irreverence – “we simp for breaks!” she declared, at one point – set the scene for a revelatory headline set from festival regular Arca. From then on, highlights were many and diverse: London duo Jockstrap proved why their 2022 album, I Love You Jennifer B, is among the year’s most talked about, with a shape shifting set that walked the line between fey and euphoric; Manchester’s Blackhaine stalked the expansive stage at Lingotto Fiere with a dread that more than matched his excoriating noise-drill salvos; Jeff Mills gripped with a live set that traced the most exciting contours of techno and acid, functioning as both history lesson and bellwether; and Nu Genea delighted an impeccable and deep-digging dive into Italo disco that commanded one of the biggest crowds of the entire event.

Here’s to twenty years tracking the most exciting developments in music and art, then. They make it look so easy.