Ljubljana - Capital of Contemporary Design - BIO Press Visit

This year, Ljubljana is celebrating for many reasons. Besides the 2000th anniversary of the establishment of Emona, its Roman-era predecessor, Ljubljana is celebrating the 50th anniversary of BIO Biennial. The Biennial of Design, organised by the Museum of Architecture and Design of Ljubljana, is considered one of the oldest in the world. The BIO 50 exhibition that represents the work of eleven multidisciplinary teams that worked on a range of local and global topics will open on 18 September and will be accompanied by an exhibition of the Biennial`s 50-year history. The jubilee edition of the Biennial, entitled BIO 50, is something special and a real experiment, putting the international collaboration of designers from different spheres into the forefront of activity, and employing design as a tool to rethink everyday life. Feel Slovenia as the centre of contemporary design! The Museum of Architecture and Design kindly invites all interested journalists who wish to report on the Biennial to attend the Bio Press Visit (18 September – 20 September 2014). For more information contact: infobio@mao.si.

This year`s jubilee edition entitled BIO 50 will take place from 18 September to 7 December in the Museum of Architecture and Design, the Museum of Modern Art, and Jakopič Gallery. Ljubljana will mark the 50th anniversary of one of the oldest biennials in the world, which has been exploring contemporary design ever since 1964. BIO has seen design transition from its birth at the crossroads of industrialization and modernism towards a place of dialogue on design that penetrates all layers of everyday life. This year, therefore, the traditional BIO awards give precedence to awarding collaboration and outcomes of the creative work of multidisciplinary teams. The Biennial`s organizer has entrusted the curation of the jubilee edition to the renowned Belgian critic and curator Jan Boelen, director of Z33 House for Contemporary Art and head of the Master Department Social Design at the Design Academy Eindhoven.

BIO 50 is groundbreaking! Its message is a breakthrough. A chair is no longer just a chair, and the designer is just one of the elements in a network of collaboration and influence, as explains curator Jan Boelen. The 50th Biennial of Design of Ljubljana is therefore strengthening local and international design networks, searching for alternatives to implemented systems, and creating bases for resilient structures that can develop over time, beyond the duration of the Biennial.

Among the 593 designers from 56 countries who applied to the international call for applications curator Jan Boelen, co-curators Maja Vardjan and Cvetka Požar, and mentors of individual BIO 50 teams have chosen 11 multidisciplinary teams from 20 countries. Since February, these teams have tackled the following themes: Affordable Living, Knowing Food, Public Water Public Space, Walking the City, Hidden Crafts, The Fashion System, Hacking Households, Nanotourism, Engine Blocks, Observing Space, and Designing Life. The international jury consisting of an industrial designer Konstantin Grcic, design commentator Alice Rawsthorn, and designer and professor Saša J. Mächtig will for the first time in the history, on the evening of the opening of BIO 50 on 18 September, grant an Award for Best Collaboration.

The Museum of Architecture and Design of Ljubljana, where the Biennial takes place, holds works of prominent architects and designers of the 20th and 21st centuries. The main exhibition is thus accompanied by an exhibition of the Biennial`s 50-year history, which highlights the significant social changes and shifts in half a century, especially in everyday life and, consequently, design. In addition to addressing visions of the future and thinking about the past during the Biennial, Ljubljana will also host the lively NOW program, a program of parallel events, exhibits, and lectures. Here you can find information on all other interesting exhibitions and events in Ljubljana.

Back to news