Bien 2021

The Biennial of Textile Art BIEN21 publishes a call for project presentations in the Mergentaler Street Gallery and in the digital gallery on the website layer.si/bien.

Topic: Suffocation

You, us and the rest of the world are facing a new social reality in which there is a lack of space for social contacts, for free movement, for touch and closeness. We live in a time when there are so many limitations that it may no longer make sense to talk about what is all forbidden, but about what is actually even allowed at all.

How have you been breathing lately? What suffocates you?

We are not only suffocating individuals, ideas are also suffocating, movements are suffocating, the economy is suffocating, education is suffocating, cities are suffocating, the whole world is suffocating… What is left after suffocation? Can this empty space potentially mean an opportunity for something new? Is suffocation a natural process that requires new adaptation and finding new solutions?

The Bien 2021 textile biennial will host Kranj, the capital of Gorenjska, which before Slovenia’s independence from Yugoslavia was considered the leading textile region in Slovenia and in this part of Europe. After the suffocation of the industry, the change left a big void behind. Bien 2021 lays its foundations in this empty space, questioning tradition and new creative approaches.

We invite you to address the topic of the call in relation to your local environment and textile art. The call is open to individuals and groups working in the field of textile, visual, conceptual and / or performative arts. Selected projects will be exhibited in public in the form of 3 large posters and online.

How to apply?

The proposed project must be ready for publication online, so we accept your works in digital form (photographs, illustrations, animations, audio and video recordings, texts…). Each project must also contain 3 visual solutions for posters, which will be exhibited in a street gallery (dimensions 199×136 cm, Lenght x Hight). Individuals or groups must also attach their short CVs and a conceptual explanation of the project.

Each project will be exhibited in the public space in the period of one month from March to December 2021. The projects will also be presented in the form of a digital exhibition on the official website of the Biennale. A special catalog of all street exhibitions will be issued at the end of the year. In the case of selection, applicants agree that the organizer uses visual materials to promote your exhibition, cycle of street exhibitions and biennial.

Applications are accepted including 6th of March 2021.

Apply here: https://forms.gle/fwSityXxXcWq53Qs6