The New Lexicon I.
Philosophy of Musical Ideas [research group]
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WHY THE NEW LEXICON?
The title The New Lexicon names the need to reconsider the words through which musical thought describes, interprets, and evaluates itself. Terms such as idea, motive, theme, gesture, material, form, structure, expression, concept, process, intention, interpretation, originality, and meaning remain central to musical discourse. Yet their meanings cannot be assumed to be stable, self-evident, or equally adequate across practices.
These terms carry histories. They arise within particular aesthetic traditions, educational systems, analytical methods, technologies, and relations of authority. They enable certain distinctions and obscure others. A term may illuminate one repertoire while imposing an alien structure upon another. It may move between everyday, artistic, and academic uses without those differences being acknowledged. Contemporary practices involving improvisation, sound art, participatory work, ecological listening, distributed authorship, artificial intelligence, or unstable media continually test inherited vocabularies.
A new lexicon does not mean replacing older words with a definitive terminology. The programme does not seek novelty for its own sake or assume that ambiguity can be removed entirely. Its task is more exacting: to examine what existing terms allow us to perceive, what assumptions they carry, where they create confusion, and where new distinctions become necessary.
The programme treats vocabulary as a site of collective research. Participants will identify key terms within their projects, trace the assumptions attached to them, compare their uses across contexts, and formulate alternatives where necessary. The objective is not universal agreement. It is to increase conceptual precision while preserving the plurality of musical positions. A productive lexicon should make disagreement more intelligible, not eliminate it.
DATES
MENTORS
PROGRAMME FORMAT
RESEARCH PREMISE
WHY THE NEW LEXICON?
CENTRAL QUESTIONS
WORKING METHOD
PARTICIPANT VALUE
WHO THE PROGRAMME ADDRESSES
TOWARDS MULTIPLE PHILOSOPHIES OF MUSICAL IDEAS
APPLICATION
APPLICATION FORM AND
PARTICIPATION FEES
The New Lexicon program is produced by .abeceda Institute
.abeceda [Institute for Research in Art, Critical Thought and Philosophy], a public-benefit NGO and non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing contemporary artistic practices and critical inquiry. Through its innovative programmes, .abeceda has gained international recognition as one of the leading platforms for contemporary music and artistic research in the Adriatic region and across Europe: www.abeceda.io