Checkpoint

Alexandar Hadjiev

The next concert in the ›Checkpoint‹ series on March 25, 2023 features the bassoonist, performer and curator Alexandar Hadjiev. Ten years ago, he was a fellow of the International Ensemble Modern Academy; in 2013 he founded the festival ›180° – laboratory for innovative art‹ with three colleagues in his hometown of Sofia, Bulgaria. As an innovative musical thinker, he brings artists from different genres together, creating a space for experimentation. »A space where the artistic process takes precedence over the ›final product‹«, as he says himself. This artistic approach makes him a perfect fit for the ›Checkpoint‹ series, which is a space dedicated to aesthetic experimentation and the crossing of artistic boundaries.

»Besides the musicians from Ensemble Modern, the director Ksenia Ravvina, with whom I have been actively working for eight years in the context of theatre and performance, will also join us, as well as the scenographer and digital artist Mihaela Dobreva, with whom I work together on the artistic programme of the 180° Festival«, says Hadjiev. »Together, we will search for the artistic meaning of the fictional word ›existinct‹, a word composed of the antonyms ›exist‹ and ›extinct‹, raising issues of visibility and presence. We will try to combine acoustic and electronic elements with projections and light installations to immerse the audience in another dimension and give them an almost cosmic experience.«

Dietmar Wiesner, Ensemble Modern’s flutist, who has attended the 180° Festival in Sofia several times, is enthusiastic about the way in which Hadjiev includes »not only the artists and the audience, but also the spaces. It will be fascinating to see how the ›factory‹ space at Schwedlerstraße will be used during this ›Checkpoint‹ concert.«