From 25 May to 29 October 2017, FARAWAY, SO CLOSE will present seven site-specific interventions along with the exhibition, accompanied by Associated Projects with a lively program of events, exhibits and lectures that will animate the seven locations for the duration of the Biennial. The exhibition will be officially opened by guest of honor, Anton Peršak, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia. A talk with the curators of the biennial, Angela Rui and Maja Vardjan, and guests Renata Salecl, Simone Farresin, and James Westcott will be held before the official opening at 19.00 The talk will be moderated by James Taylor Foster.
Curated by Angela Rui and Maja Vardjan, and organised by the Museum of Architecture and Design in Ljubljana, 25th Biennial of Design FARAWAY, SO CLOSE responds to the observation that although the city remains the model within which the evolution of contemporary society is discussed and interpreted, we are recently witnessing a growing percentage of people that leave the city for other contexts and environments. The Biennial develops from the physical exploration of seven conditions all over Slovenia on which designers were invited to reflect. This is a contemporary phenomenon characteristic of our era: young, informed and emancipated people who have grown up within urban models bring their values into non-urban spaces.
The theoretical appropriation of the so-called Alter-urban within the context of BIO 25 has been made possible by the de-centralization of the biennial itself, together with the physical observation and response of the participants.
Translators and Profiles, together with selected participants, form seven teams or Episodes: UNDERGROUND RELEASE with Studio Formafantasma and Andrej Detela, set in the subterranean world of caves in the Mayor's Cave near Grosuplje; OCCUPYING WOODS with Matali Crasset and Matej Feguš Rožni studenec near Kočevje, edge of virgin forest; AFTER UTOPIA with Point Supreme and Iztok Kovač responds to former mining infrastructure in Trbovlje; BRAND NEW- COEXISTENCE with Didier Fiuza Faustino and Mojca Kumerdej explores the failure of modernity in the urban context of Ljubljana; COUNTRYSIDE RELOADED with Studio Mischer’Traxler and Klemen Košir researches a rural playground of Genterovci in the Lendava area; RESILIENCE OF THE PAST with Studio Folder and Renata Salecl explores a quiet Alpine setting near the Soča river that was once a raging battleground; and NEW HEROES with Odo Fioravanti and Marin Medak explores the theme of migration using the proximity of the sea off the Slovenian coast.