.abeceda Institute
Concept
In its own words, the institute's activities are aimed at combining the potentials of contemporary artistic and social practice to generate a new creative space between the fields of artistic practice, theory and research. As such, it is designed to attract young musicians into a research environment into which they can feed their own individual and collective work, and to generate infrastructural models capable of fostering self-reflection and performance. One such model is that of the artist-in-residence.
The institution's work centres on four areas: education, composition, performance and publication.
Education
The overarching educational programme at .abeceda is the centre for research in .meta, which includes weekly lectures and one-to-one consultations led by Hočevar and aimed at young musicians and composers.
Moderated by Hočevar and supported by the Slovenian Embassy in The Hague, precept.concept.percept is an international interactive and virtual workshop that aims to produce new infrastructural frameworks via solo compositions submitted by participants. These compositions are then documented and performed by members of the institute's chamber ensemble, among others.
Composition
The .abeceda new music ensemble is a creative unit, led by composer-in-residence Neža Zupanc in 2020, that meets virtually to develop compositions. The first of these was Hočevar's Σ [ ] _ composition for .meta (2020).
Performance
Mladi raziskovalci (Young Researchers) originally sprang from the accompanying programme of the Jazz Cerkno festival in 2018 and is a cycle of residencies and concerts aimed at bringing a selected young musician into a professional performance and research infrastructure. The artist-in-residence in 2020 was guitarist and multimedia artist Tobija Hudnik.
Forum is the next step up from the Young Researchers programme, and provides infrastructural support to the development and performance of the artist-in-residence. In 2020 this was double-bassist and composer Gašper Livk.
The Studio 8.1 concert cycle is a musician-led platform for the performance of new work, and also provides a space in which the .abeceda community as a whole can gather. It was curated in 2020 by saxophonist Brina Kren.
Publication
Verso Doxa is the institute's publication programme of texts on art theory, critical reflection and philosophy.
Festivals
Despite the disruption to cultural life occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, some performances of .abeceda-affiliated work were possible in 2020, most notably at Ljubljana Jazz Festival, which presented three concerts in its Alphabet series: Gaj Bostič (Eris), Brina Kren (Rišem si bogove) and Young Researchers alumnus Tobija Hudnik.
Hudnik also showcased his Equilibrium as insta_bility project at Cirkulacija 2 as part of the 2020 edition of the A dela? (Is It Working?) festival, which was organised by Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory.
See also
- Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in The Hague
- Ljubljana Jazz Festival
- Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory
- Cirkulacija 2
External links
- .abeceda website
- Dré Hočevar bio
- Report on Young Researchers II (2019), Sigic, January 2020
- Ljubljana Jazz Festival 2020 programme
- Preview of Equilibrium as insta_bility at Cirkulacija 2, August 2020
- Equilibrium as insta_bility Bandcamp page
- Radio Študent broadcast of Equilibrium as insta_bility, December 2020