A journey through Slovenia’s present where not all of the experiments presented by designers and international research bodies work out
“It’s probably a form of design exhibition that a lot of visitors will not expect. But one that is very engaging once you start looking and start getting into the projects,” says Konstantin Grcic in the video accompanying the announcement of the Ljubljana Biennale intitled Bio 50 (until 7 December). Together with Alice Rawsthorn and Saša J. Mächtig, Grcic was part of the jury that awarded the exhibition’s highest honour, the Best Collaboration Award, to Nanotourism, a project to revitalize the Slovenian tourism industry by exploiting the disciplinary flexibility and collaborative platforms of design, starting with micro-scale rethinking of graphics, communication and services. The project draws together many designers mentored by Aljoša Dekleva and Tina Gregorič, who started working at this project in the classrooms at the AA of London. The echoes of that experience and of their artistic history – with Carsten Höller first and foremost – reverberate through the project.
The curator Jan Boelen has used the biennale as a laboratory of experimentation. He was flanked by Maja Vardjan and Cvetka Požar, who promoted engagement with the local context. Participation and exchange are the cornerstones of contemporary design and the central pillar of this exhibition. The foundations of the thinking of scholars such as Ezio Manzini, just to name one example, whose idea of sustainability has always been environmental, social and cultural, are proposed anew here in Ljubljana.
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“It’s probably a form of design exhibition that a lot of visitors will not expect. But one that is very engaging once you start looking and start getting into the projects,” says Konstantin Grcic in the video accompanying the announcement of the Ljubljana Biennale intitled Bio 50 (until 7 December). Together with Alice Rawsthorn and Saša J. Mächtig, Grcic was part of the jury that awarded the exhibition’s highest honour, the Best Collaboration Award, to Nanotourism, a project to revitalize the Slovenian tourism industry by exploiting the disciplinary flexibility and collaborative platforms of design, starting with micro-scale rethinking of graphics, communication and services. The project draws together many designers mentored by Aljoša Dekleva and Tina Gregorič, who started working at this project in the classrooms at the AA of London. The echoes of that experience and of their artistic history – with Carsten Höller first and foremost – reverberate through the project.
The curator Jan Boelen has used the biennale as a laboratory of experimentation. He was flanked by Maja Vardjan and Cvetka Požar, who promoted engagement with the local context. Participation and exchange are the cornerstones of contemporary design and the central pillar of this exhibition. The foundations of the thinking of scholars such as Ezio Manzini, just to name one example, whose idea of sustainability has always been environmental, social and cultural, are proposed anew here in Ljubljana.
︎read more
nanotourism.org 2020 ––––– impressum