Six projects commissioned for BIO 26

The 26th Biennial of Design, BIO 26 – Common Knowledge, curated by Austrian design curator and cultural producer Thomas Geisler together with assistant curator Aline Lara Rezende, is taking on one of the greatest challenges of our time: information.

For the Biennial of Design we are commissioning six projects. The projects were selected through a designathon process—a three-day intensive, hands-on, sprint event in which curious and motivated people, non-designers and designers alike, collaborated on design challenges.

Seventy-eight participants selected through the BIO 26 open call engaged in the second round of selection at Designathon #1, which took place in May in Ljubljana. Nominated in 18 teams, they had the opportunity to work with prominent designers and knowledge mentors from six different partnering institutions of knowledge production and knowledge transmission in Ljubljana—a library, museum, university, retirement home, botanical garden, and newspaper—to create innovative solutions for the challenges proposed in the designathon.

An international jury of prominent experts—renowned Slovenian innovation scholar Aleš Pustovrh,  curator at the Vitra Design Museum Amelie Klein, accomplished writer and director of the Design Museum in London Deyan Sudjic, professor of philosophy and fine art and a senior research tutor at the Royal College of Art in London Johnny Golding and curator at Museum of Architecture and Design in Ljubljana Maja Vardjan—selected the best projects by institution to progress to the next phase:

1. Library: The National and University Library
Group challenge: How can knowledge exchange between the National Library and external sites open access and add new value to the collection?
Participants: Thomas Hügin, Maja Kolar, Yuxi Liu, Alicia Lu Lin, Motong Yang, group manager Špela Pavli Perko
Design mentors: Commonplace Studio
Knowledge mentors: Žiga Cerkvenik, Irena Eiselt, Janko Klasinc

2. Museum: The Museum of Modern Art
Group challenge: How can visitors reconnect with the essential physicality of dance at the Temporary Slovene Dance Archive at MSUM?
Participants: Cyrus Clarke, Juliana Lewis, Monika Seyfried, group manager Matevž Straus
Design mentor: Paolo Patelli
Knowledge mentor: Ida Hiršenfelder

3. University: The University of Ljubljana
Group challenge: Can a new knowledge production program stimulate exchange between faculties and civic actors to negotiate hierarchies and to give value to the everyday life of students and professors?
Participants: Gențiana Dumitrașcu, Adrian Judt, Simon Platzgummer, Andreja Pogačar, group manager Janja Štorgelj
Design mentor: Apolonija Šušteršič
Knowledge mentor: Tomaž Deželan

4. Retirement Home: The Fužine Activity Center
Group challenge: How to rethink retirement
Participants: Guendalina Ballerini, Rebecca Carrai, Emilia Izquierdo, Natalia Skoczylas, group manager Barbara Peterca
Design mentor: Kathrina Dankl
Knowledge mentors: Monika Šparl, Matija Puškarič, Monika Vrhovnik Hribar

5. Botanical Garden: The Ljubljana Botanical Garden
Group challenge: How to create a living seed bank
Participants: Eliza Chojnacka, Kamila Kantek, Gabriela Szalanska, group manager Aleš Kobe
Design mentors: Futurefarmers
Knowledge mentors: Jože Bavcon, Blanka Ravnjak

6. Newspaper: Delo
Group challenge: How to use news archives as a new stakeholder in the media landscape to re-value news institutions
Participants: Maxime Benvenuto, Petra Matić, Aneta Pawlik, José Pérez, Zuzanna Zgierska, group manager Jurka Mihelin
Design mentors: Bureau d’études
Knowledge mentor: Ali Žerdin

The six winning teams listed above will participate in a second designathon—prototype to product—taking place from July 12 to 14 in Ljubljana. Their projects will receive funds to be developed further into validated prototypes, installations, services, or systems to be exhibited during the biennial.

From November 14, 2019 to February 9, 2020 in Ljubljana, the 26th Biennial of Design, BIO 26 – Common Knowledge, will present the outcomes of the exploratory work of the winning teams.