BIO 23

The Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) in Ljubljana will open on September 27th the 23rd Biennial of Design, one of the most comprehensive international exhibitions of contemporary design in Slovenia and Central Europe. 

This year’s renewed BIO 23 features fresh, surprising, innovative, and even revolutionary products, ideas, and concepts.

BIO 23 curators Margriet Vollenberg and Margo Konings have selected the works for the exhibition and devided them into four main thematic sets: tehnology, digitalisation, globalisation and products. The biennial will last until November 11th and, as usual, MAO organized many events. On saturdays the visitors will be able to learn “stories” of the individual exhibits and artists: what is hidden behind the appearance of every exhibit, what has prompted its making, what is the process of design like, and what are the advantages of each individual exhibit. On September 29th during Let’s make it in 3D! users are enabled to build a concept model. On October 4th will be shown Eames: The Architect & The Painter, a documentary on Charles and Ray Eames. On October 11th will be shown Citizen Architecture: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio, a documentary about the life of an artist, architect, teacher and founder of Rural Studio, Samuel Mockbee. The Studio is based on the idea that more can be done than just build. On October 14th (When letters come to life) the exhibition will feature a project of an open digital typeface and an installation of a typeface with a black tape. On November 4th a dusty chair will turn into a comfortable armchair, using a traditional weaving technique and different materials.

Some of the accompanying events are: Pop-up Home (an initiative of young Slovene designers who decided to present in an apartment in the centre of the city a range of their products of high level design and technological implementation); Design Nooks in the City (Guided tours extend an invitation to everybody interested to explore the city in terms of design and visit design studios and shops in the centre of Ljubljana).