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The Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) is pleased to announce the appointment of Alexandra Midal as the curator for the 28th edition of the Biennial of Design (BIO), Europe’s longest-standing design biennial. BIO, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2024, is organized by MAO in cooperation with the Centre for Creativity (CzK). BIO28, titled Double Agent, will be held between November 2024 and April 2025 in Ljubljana.
Alexandra Midal is a professor at the University of Art and Design HEAD in Geneva and Head of the Department of Critical Thinking at Ensci-Les Ateliers in Paris. A distinguished art and design historian, she combines practice and theory-based research as an artist-curator, theoretician and film essayist. Her research explores the blind spots and grey areas of design history, as evident in her two latest books, The Murder Factory (Sternberg Press, 2023) and Design by Accident: For a New History of Design (Sternberg Press, 2019). She studied literature, architecture and art history at Princeton University (New Jersey) and in Paris, completing her doctoral thesis at Paris Sorbonne while a Rome Prize recipient in architecture at Villa Medici. She has curated a number of international exhibitions about visual culture, design, and politics, such as Top Secret: Cinema and Espionage and Tomorrow Now—When Design Meets Science Fiction. Her films, including Mind's Eyes, Possessed, and Heaven is a State of Mind, have been screened in museums across the globe.
“I am thrilled to work with the BIO team for the next edition of the Ljubljana Design Biennial. This event provides a unique opportunity to engage in a dialogue on historical and contemporary design issues. My commitment is to illuminate alternative design perspectives and the diverse voices within the field from an international standpoint. I am deeply interested in reevaluating the concept of a Double Agent, which will uncover itself as a narrative linking a seemingly mundane flower to its hidden, cryptic, and secretive role in shaping identities and politics. I am excited to showcase that BIO is not just an exhibition but also a platform, a laboratory for exploration, and a crossroads for research and societal engagement throughout its entire duration.” —Alexandra Midal, curator of BIO28.
In addition, Emma Pflieger has been selected as the assistant curator. She is a French designer and co-founder of the innovative design studio Studio Pflieger-Foeglé, which employs a research-driven cross-disciplinary approach to craft spaces, installations, and graphic design.
“Since its inception at the height of the modernist movement in Slovenia, BIO has witnessed numerous shifts and developments within the discipline of design. By breaking away from the narrow and strictly disciplinary concept of design, the last four editions of BIO have promoted extensive investigations of various interdisciplinary intersections. Through her groundbreaking research and projects, Alexandra Midal is an uncompromising curator who excels at establishing and maintaining such intersections. Therefore, we are thrilled to have her as the curator of BIO28, scheduled for November 2024.” —Maja Vardjan, the newly appointed acting director of MAO.
The unveiling of the BIO28 curatorial framework is scheduled for December 2023, which will coincide with the launch of an open call inviting designers, creatives, and spatial practitioners, as well as a special call for video and filmmakers to participate in BIO28 Design Film Festival.
About BIO
BIO—The Biennial of Design in Ljubljana is organized by the Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO) in cooperation with the Centre for Creativity (CzK) and serves as an international platform for innovative approaches to design. Founded in 1963, BIO holds the distinction of being the first design biennial in Europe. Today, BIO operates as a long-term collaborative process in which teams of designers and multidisciplinary agents develop alternatives to established systems. It functions as a testing ground where design is a tool that encompasses various multidisciplinary approaches that intersect with systems, production, services, scientific research, and more.
Press contact: press.bio@mao.si.
More at bio.si.
