The New Lexicon I.
Philosophy of Music Evolution [research group]
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RESIDENCY PROGRAMME FOR RESEARCHERS AND DEVELOPERS
[November 2026 – June 2027]
The New Lexicon is an international research residency devoted to the critical investigation, articulation, and advancement of philosophy of music research as a field of inquiry. It convenes researchers who approach inquiry into music not only as the application of established methods, but also as a practice through which musical objects, evidence, knowledge, interpretation, value, and responsibility are constituted, examined, contested, and reformulated.
Across four online seminars and a culminating public residency, participants will articulate the philosophical grounds of their research, develop projects through dialogue, and contribute to a plural vocabulary for thinking music research anew.
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PROGRAM AT A GLANCE
Program period: October 2026–June 2027
Format: Four online seminars followed by an on-site festival phase
On-site location: Bled, Slovenia (EU)
Public presentation: Seventh Bled Contemporary Music Week
Application deadline: September 30, 2026
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FORMAT
Stage I | Articulation and Presentation | November 2, 3, 2026
Two online seminars introduce participants’ practices, projects, and research questions, with attention to their histories, concepts, methods, systems of transmission, and mechanisms of change.
Stage II | Critical Inquiry and Development | February 3, 4, 2027
Two online seminars examine the models, methods, and consequences of philosophy of music evolution while establishing trajectories for research and development.
Stage III | Public Presentation and Exchange | June 14-25, 2027
Participants present their work through lectures, demonstrations, and discussions at the seventh Bled Contemporary Music Week in Bled, Slovenia.
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RESIDENCY OVERVIEW
The New Lexicon is an international research residency dedicated to advancing philosophy of music evolution as an interdisciplinary field. It convenes researchers and developers who investigate or shape how music emerges, changes, persists, migrates, hybridises, disappears, and returns across biological, cultural, technological, ecological, institutional, and artistic timescales.
The programme welcomes work from philosophy, musicology, anthropology, cognitive science, sound studies, science and technology studies, computer science, artificial intelligence, human–computer interaction, acoustics, archival research, digital humanities, instrument design, software and hardware development, artistic research, and related fields. “Development” may involve creating tools, models, methods, instruments, interfaces, datasets, platforms, infrastructures, or experimental systems through which musical practices are studied or transformed.
Across four online seminars and a residency, participants will articulate the premises of their practices, advance projects through critical dialogue, and contribute to a plural vocabulary for thinking musical change. The programme considers theories, methods, technical choices, and research objects not only in terms of accuracy, novelty, or functionality, but also in relation to the concepts, values, histories, and futures they enact.
The residency addresses projects whose questions cannot be exhausted by stylistic chronology or technical evaluation. They may concern the emergence of musical capacities; the transmission of practices; relations among biological, cultural, and technological change; the roles of bodies, communities, institutions, environments, and media; adaptive or generative systems; or the consequences of using evolutionary concepts to classify, predict, preserve, or produce music.
Participants need not endorse Darwinian, progressive, computational, or universalising accounts of musical evolution. What matters is a willingness to specify what is claimed to change, examine the mechanisms and evidence proposed to explain that change, and consider how research methods and developed systems intervene in the processes they describe.
The New Lexicon is neither a conventional academic conference nor a product-development accelerator. It is a research environment in which philosophy, empirical inquiry, historical critique, and technical development enter reciprocal relation. Philosophy clarifies concepts, tests analogies, distinguishes mechanisms, and examines values. Research provides evidence and models that challenge assumptions. Development turns ideas into operative systems whose affordances, exclusions, and consequences can be tested.
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MENTORS
Dr. Alastair White
Urban Megušar, Double M.Mus.
Dr. Niki Zohdi
Dr. Dré A. Hočevar
COORDINATOR
Brina Kren
DATES
MENTORS
PROGRAMME FORMAT
RESEARCH PREMISE
WHY THE NEW LEXICON?
CENTRAL QUESTIONS
WORKING METHOD
PARTICIPANT VALUE
WHO THE PROGRAMME ADDRESSES
TOWARDS MULTIPLE PHILOSOPHIES OF MUSIC EVOLUTION
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