This year’s ICOM Slovenia Award, conferred by the Slovenian committee of the International Council of Museums ICOM, went to the Museum of Architecture and Design for the 25th Biennial of Design (BIO 25).

The Museum received the ICOM award for the 25th Biennial of Design (BIO 25) entitled Faraway, So Close that took place under the curatorial baton of Maja Vardjan and her Italian colleague Angela Rui between 25 May and 29 November 2017.

The 25th Biennial of Design, Faraway, So Close, is a production and exhibition project that over the course of two years brought together 55 partners (museums, cultural and educational institutions, ministries, government organisations, municipalities, companies, civil initiatives) and more than 80 participants. The Biennial was conceived as an international platform for new approaches in design, where interdisciplinary groups developed alternatives to the established systems of everyday life. With its original exhibition format, research and production process the most recent edition of the Biennial led the museum, both theoretically and in practice, into entirely new spheres of activity.

Seven thematic groups presented projects through two installations: at the museum exhibition and as open-air on-site interventions.

Decentralised and spread across seven locations around Slovenia, the Biennial addressed and activated an array of different audiences. The diversity of approaches employed were expressed through numerous projects – from a study trail set up within a landscape to spatial interventions for local communities, audio-visual experiential projects and critical commentaries in public spaces.

The ICOM Award is conferred upon individuals, groups or organisations that foster international dialogue at the international level through international and inter-institutional cooperation, participation and collaborative projects that promote the role and development of museums as institutions, contribute new ideas and raise awareness. This year’s award was conferred at the second congress of museum professionals that took place between 20 and 22 September in Brežice.

Both the congress and the award ceremony are organised by the Slovenian Museum Society, (SMD), the Slovenian Museum Association and the Slovenian committee of the International Council of Museums ICOM. The event was dedicated to the European Year of Cultural Heritage.

Justification:

Museum of Architecture and Design’s 25th Biennial of Design BIO 25, entitled Faraway, So Close, took place between 25 May and 29 October 2017. As a production and exhibition project it was based on collaboration between different actors from Slovenia and the wider European context, and included both individuals and institutions. The project connected 55 partners (museums, cultural and educational institutions, ministries, government organisations, municipalities, civil initiatives) with more than 80 international experts and authors. BIO is conceived as an international platform for new approaches in design, where interdisciplinary groups develop alternatives to the established systems of everyday life. BIO 25 is an international transdisciplinary lab, a classroom and a forum where its own powers are tested. The committee confers the award on the project Faraway, So Close, the 25th Biennial of Design (BIO 25), for its work promoting ICOM’s theme of the year: Hyperconnected museums: new approaches, new publics; for its principles fostering international transdisciplinary cooperation, international visibility, for establishing international dialogue, encouraging the rethinking of the role of the museum and developing a new format for the biennial, for promoting the natural and cultural diversity and visibility of ICOM values, and for facilitating creative considerations of the proposed theme through a exemplary model of cultural and social innovation, where heritage and local problems are employed as the means for the production of the new, as actualized by the project.

Organization

International Council of Museums
National Committee of Slovenia ICOM