BIEN2023-web-150dpi-CALL
BIEN2023-web_mobilc-CALL

THE OPEN CALL IS CLOSED.
Thank you for your participation in the open call. We have received 251 applications and the jury’s decision will be announced between March 27-31, 2023. The selected works should be sent to us between April 10 and May 8, 2023, and the exhibition will take place from May 31 to August 10, 2023. The works will be returned to the authors by August 31, 2023.

 


THE JURY

Špela Gale is a curator, visual and textile artist and a graduate of the Academy of Visual Arts A.V.A. Ljubljana. She is the main curator of the BIEN 2023 Biennale of Textile Art Biennale invited artists exhibition program.

Koraljka Kovač is an associate professor at the Zagreb Faculty of Textile Technology, Department of Textile and Clothing Design. She graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts and works as an artist and mentor to students. In Croatia she has been awarded several times for her work.

Tanja Devetak is a Slovenian independent researcher, curator, artist and associate professor at the Faculty of Design. She has received several international awards for her work, including the Art Directors Club Award and Good Design Award in the USA and D&AD in Great Britain.

 


ABOUT THE CALL

Artists, designers and researchers who work mainly in the medium of textiles, the biennale of textile art BIEN invites you to respond to the public call for participation. BIEN 2023 will take place between May 31 and August 10 in Slovenian cities Kranj, Škofja Loka, Jesenice and in the digital space. The selected artworks will be exhibited in the Globus space in Kranj and at the open-air museum Castle Garden in Škofja Loka. The open call is open until March 1, 2023. The central theme of the call is “The Sun”.

The effect of the Sun on our daily lives is so great that various human cultures have always included it in their myths and legends, and many polytheistic religions around the world have understood the Sun to be one of the gods.  The Sun is so fundamental for survival, but at the same time a factor of danger. Living environments become too dry, there is a lack of food and water, and so the Sun becomes something we can fear, especially in summer.

With its programs of textile art and industrial design, Textile Art Biennial BIEN presents itself biennially with exhibitions and projects that reflect on heritage, conservation and sustainability. BIEN creates new contemporary expressions and encourages interdisciplinary artistic collaboration with projects and residencies. At the exhibition artworks by international and domestic artists are presented and special focus is given to the best works of current domestic and international student production. BIEN understands that the future of art is also in the public and digital space.

APPLICATION, BASIC INFORMATION

○ Artists or art groups from all over the world who submit one work not older than three years can participate.
○ Submitted works should approach the central theme: the Sun; works should be created primarily in the medium of textiles or a medium that imitates textiles in its material or technical context.
○ Submitted works should not weigh more than 20 kg (including assembly elements).
○ Fill in the application form in Slovene or English, it is available below.
○ The application deadline is March 1, 2023
○ Contact for additional information: bien@layer.si

More Information → layer.si/bien
Rules and conditions → shorturl.at/cmGWX
Press release → shorturl.at/eguGH 
Application Form [google form] → https://forms.gle/Jy8gi3cppgFcRzKM8
Application Form for non google users  → https://forms.gle/frMMQEMSuATknNqa7
FAQ → shorturl.at/lK167ent

THE SUN, ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The initial text and lectures serve as inspiration, which applicants use voluntarily.

INITIAL TEXT (author: Anja Radaljac, translation: Arven Šakti Kralj)

Meditation on the Sun → The Sun is a star. Stars are something quite different, though. We only see them at night, whereas the sun “makes the day” for us. The contradictory relationship with the Sun remains a constant. The Sun plays an essential role in the potential – and preservation – of life on Earth, but at the same time the Sun is indirectly a factor in the extinction of the species on Earth through the warming of the Earth’s atmosphere; we are currently in the midst of the sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history. The Sun is necessary for the formation of vitamin D (which is actually a hormone, not a vitamin) that is crucial for maintaining healthy bodily functions and is formed in skin exposed to sunlight (only 10% is derived from food), and it also means that skin exposed to sunlight has an increased risk of developing skin cancer. One of the main reasons for the warming of the atmosphere – apart from animal husbandry – is various sources of energy and the sun can help us provide clean climate-friendly energy.

The effect of the Sun on our daily lives is so great that various human cultures have always included it in their myths and legends, and many polytheistic religions around the world have understood the Sun to be one of the gods; it also appears as the “male principle” to the female “moon principle” and as an important factor in astrology. The Sun is the point where the practical, very tangible and earthly levels of existence have met throughout history since it plays a pivotal role in the production of food for instance, as well as the mental and spiritual level of human existence. Perhaps this is a point that has disappeared in modern, especially Western, capitalist societies; many ties and connections that not only linked the different levels of human existence, but also reminded us of and made us aware of the interdependence of our actions and their consequences for our planet (and beyond) have disappeared. We focus primarily on the use of resources – including solar energy – while the integrity and interconnectedness of everything, not only on our planet but also in the solar system (and beyond), eludes our awareness.

Therefore, the Sun, which is so fundamental for survival, becomes at the same time a factor of danger; humans and non-human animals are already forced to migrate in many places of the world, they become climate migrants because the environment becomes too dry, there is a lack of food and water, and so the Sun becomes something we can fear, especially in summer, even in our country; it brings heat waves, droughts destroy crops and cause many deaths, and our cities, concrete jungles, become more and more uninhabitable; we have driven the plants out of them, and the heat on the concrete becomes more and more unbearable. So our relationship with the Sun has been one of the most important relationships humanity has had with the factors/entities of its environment throughout history; perhaps the solution to the intensifying contradictions lies precisely in restoring that relationship and addressing the different aspects of how our species functions.

LECTURES
Lectures were conducted on October, 15 2022 for the students of textile art at two partner faculties, Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Ljubljana and the Faculty of Design, an independent higher education. institution

BIEN is an initiative of Carnica Institute from Kranj, Slovenia, which organizes the biennale together with the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Ljubljana and the Faculty of Design, an independent higher education institution. Co-financed by Slovenian Ministry of Culture and City Municipality Kranj.

layer.si/bien https://www.instagram.com/bienkranj/ https://www.facebook.com/bienkranj https://www.youtube.com/@bienbienale9756 https://carnicainstitute.org/