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The opening event in Kranj began with a guided exhibition walk, followed by the presentation of the Eta Award, artist performances, and talks. Kranj remains the Biennale’s central hub, with Layer House at its heart, but this year BIEN is expanding significantly. Participating cities include Idrija, Jesenice, Škofja Loka, Nova Gorica, Gorizia, Solkan and Tržič, reflecting the event's vision of decentralizing contemporary art and revitalizing local spaces through textile practices. The opening in Nova Gorica will take place on Friday, June 20, and in Gorizia on Saturday, June 21.
Textile as Narrative, Space as Stage
The central theme, Air, intertwines with reflections on breathing, flow, freedom, pollution, political cartography, and absence. Ivančić emphasized spatial specificity, intuition, and aesthetics in his curation, placing artworks in dialogue with the exhibition spaces themselves – from the Lantieri Palace in Gorizia and the Rotunda of the Nova Gorica Theatre, to Jesenice’s market, mining facilities, and the renovated Mercury Smelting Plant in Idrija, the chapel at Škofja Loka Castle, and the Crobath family house welcoming visitors into Kranj’s old town. Hikers ascending Mount St. Jošt above Kranj can also encounter a textile installation.
“Textile creates atmosphere. People first feel the space – colors, light, air. It was important to me that this feeling is also guided by the artworks,” said the curator at the opening.
Among this edition’s standout artists is Marielle MacLeman (Ireland), who created handmade art paper from textile dust gathered at the Odeja factory and Rog Centre’s textile studio, infused with historical traces from Layer House. The Kreativnice collective (Slovenia) portrayed stories from the Idrija mine and its miners, while personal memories are woven into textile works by John K. Raustein (Norway), with a monumental monochrome sculpture, and Ellen Dynebrink (Sweden), who reconstructs forgotten textiles into patchworks with digital distortion.
MacLeman and Dynebrink exhibit their work in Kranj and will also present in Goriška. MacLeman is installing a fragmented pattern of traditional garments, cut from silk and Tyvek (a protective material used for museum artifacts), onto the windows of the GONG Gallery in Nova Gorica. Dynebrink will show her work in the Fresco Hall (Sala Affreschi) of Gorizia’s Lantieri Palace, alongside other artists such as Zixiang Zhang (China), who integrates mycelium into textile objects, Estefania Tarud (Chile), and Kristi Komel (Nova Gorica). The Fresco Hall will also feature Borjan Litovski (Slovenian-Macedonian), who presents his master’s thesis, for which he received the Eta Award and will embark on an artistic residency at Lottozero in Prato.
A true artistic highlight will be featured in the heart of the new cultural metropolis. The City Hall of Nova Gorica contains a stone atrium surrounded by a pergola – a space defined by the architectural shift from darkness to light, enclosure to freedom. This symbolic transition inspired a textile installation by artists Nika Batista, Mateja Golež, Lovro Ivančić, Marija Jenko, Maruša Kranjc, and Alenka More. The installation will be accompanied by a lecture by architect Janko Rožič titled “The Space of Freedom” on Monday, June 23, at 8 PM.
The Gorizia program unofficially begins in Upper Carniola: on Friday, June 20 at 11 AM, a train will depart from Jesenice to Nova Gorica, marking the start of a textile journey, according to the event's organizer, Zavod Carnica.
Friday, June 20
Saturday, June 21
Sunday, June 22
Monday, June 23
Tuesday, June 24
Saturday, June 21
Visitors are invited to explore the exhibitions until August 14, 2025.
BIEN 2025 remains committed to its mission: connecting contemporary textile art with rich local heritage while placing it in an international context. Discover it at diverse venues across Slovenia – each space tells its own story, and each textile breathes its own air.
Photo: Maša Pirc
