Alja Petric

The Božidar Jakac Gallery is housed in the surroundings and premises of the former Cistercian monastery Fons Beatae Mariae, in the immediate vicinity of Kostanjevica na Krki. It offers ideal conditions for cultural activities and events, and the 13th-century monastery church, with its beautiful acoustics, allows for a fusion of music and space, of the musician and the environment.

Alja Petric has devoted her life to researching the art of music, the frequencies of voice and sound, and their influence on human beings. Her musical pursuits range from interpreting the musical traditions of diverse cultures to projects of musical poetry, jazz and contemporary experimental sound performance.

She finds inspiration for her artistic work in the soundscapes of nature and of everyday urban life in the capital. This spatial duality has a wide range of interactions – from cooperation, overlapping and crossing over to opposition and conflict. Within this field, she explores the emergence and existence of sound, word and melody, and the function of their message.

Spaces is a collection of in-situ sound and music recordings guided by a simple premise – one performer, one instrument, one space – capturing the synergy between the musician, the space and the music that emerges in acoustically compelling places. Each session unfolds live over a day or two, with no audience and no studio overdubs. By relying on location field recorders and a minimal microphone setup, we bring studio-grade capture into remote, off-grid locations – leaving the sound honest, unprocessed and defined by the space itself.