.abeceda Institute

The .abeceda Institute was formally founded in 2020, as a platform for research and performance in the field of contemporary experimental and improvised music. It is headed by Dré A. Hočevar, a Slovenian percussionist, composer and music theorist based in Amsterdam. The institute is also incorporated in the Netherlands as Stichting .alfabet and is the successor institute to Zavod Ape.Parlour (2011–2020).

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.

61. Jazz festival Ljubljana, Mladi raziskovalci III– Tobija Hudnik/Young Researchers III – T. Hudnik by Cankarjev dom on YouTube

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.

Studio 8.1 _ Brina Kren _ kako živijo ljudje by Inštitut .abeceda on YouTube

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.

External links