-Dec 2021-
Super Vernaculars, BIO27’s central theme, explores a growing and ambitious movement that takes inspiration from vernacular and indigenous architecture and design traditions around the world to shape a radical vision for a more resilient and responsive future. During BIO27, Super Vernaculars, curated by London researcher and design curator Jane withers, will bring together designers and thinkers who are exploring alternative narratives as inspiration for 21st-century innovation.
The main event of BIO27, the Super Vernaculars exhibition, will display and encourage the consideration of new alternative approaches in design from all over the world, responding to current local and global environmental issues. The international selection also include the works of the three Slovenian production teams chosen after applying to our Open Call. The teams will collaborate with esteemed design and architecture mentors to develop new works for BIO27 responding to three themes – Grains for Brains, Communicating Modern Architecture, Water – Designing a Biovernacular.
Selected Transdisciplinary Teams:
ROBIDA +
Members: Janja Šušnjar, Vida Rucli, Elena Rucli, Dora Ciccone, Vid Srbinšek, Kaja
Žgajnar, Philipp Kolmann, Tadej Urh, Kim Lang and Elena Braida.
Mentor: Carolien Niebling
Topic: Grains for Brains
Born from the magazine Robida, Robida + is a project group created to collaborate on BIO 27 in comprehensively researching a phenomenon born from an essential need. The need for food.
“Food creates habits, rituals and traditions of eating together and causes the cultivation of the landscape and the design of the infrastructure, appliances and other accessories. It has been the crucial element of community, hospitality, belonging and care. The relationships between places and recipes are not coincidental.”
Robida + consists of ten young creatives with origins in the rural landscape of the Alpine region. Their diverse backgrounds and interests encourage them to learn about the old secrets of food-making from a broader perspective and complement one another with creative and original ideas. The collective bases its existence on the reflections and actions of inhabiting this very small place and of caring for it, from basic daily routines to public events such as workshops, reflections and theoretical explorations through the magazine, residencies, radio programmes … Their interests and values are based on exploring the relations among (wo)men, community and places in coexistence and growth with nature. With their professional skills as designers and architects, they aim to confront social, political, economic and ecological complexities through developing cooperative and imaginative alternatives on a local scale while responding to questions of the present, conceiving nature and culture in tandem and regarding the human within its environment as part of an ecological cycle.
In this year’s edition of BIO, the collective will contribute with a conceptual, environmental and aesthetic view on plants, fungi and microbes. They will combine their open research and understanding of the unique infrastructure that emerged from the need for food (architecture, appliances and dishes) with the community role of gathering, eating, storytelling, cooking and hosting and the knowledge of co-living with non-human actors of the ecosystem. Their vision is to elaborate the research with a contemporary and creative attitude towards the shared appreciation of the vernacular, common and innovative. The group’s focus is not only on the food itself but on the holistic act of cultivating, preparing and eating.
GARNITURA
Members: Maruša Mazej, Brina Steblovnik, Neža Lukančič, Lin Gerkman and Miha Gašperin, Sara Bezovšek and Eva Popit
Mentor: Adam Štěch
Topic: Communicating Modern Architecture
In July 2021, the works of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana became designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site under the citation “Human-Centred Urban Design”. The year 2022 also marks the 150th anniversary of Plečnik’s birth, offering an opportunity to update the thinking of Jože Plečnik and his legacy in a contemporary way, communicating his vision for human-centred urban design and championing the vernacular. Modern architecture is becoming increasingly popular worldwide, with new guidebooks, maps and social media inspiring niche tourism. But what are the values behind the visuals? With the UNESCO designation, Plečnik provides an
ideal case study to explore fresh ways to communicate modern architecture to broader audiences locally and across the globe.
The interdisciplinary Garnitura comprises seven creatives, united by their shared interest in design and architecture. Coming from a Slovenian cultural background, they have all been influenced by Jože Plečnik’s architectural legacy. Attending universities in Slovenia, Czechia, Slovakia and Norway gave them a unique perspective on the meaning of modern architecture in the context of today’s cultural ideals and goals. In the past, they have researched and intentionally used vernacular elements within their projects. Their competencies span expertise in art history, contemporary design approaches, such as critical and speculative design and traditional crafts, digital prototyping, various visual art techniques (photography, video) and practice in material crafts (wood, ceramics and glass).
Garnitura will explore Plečnik’s approach to creatively incorporating the vernacular into modern design, applying their findings to the context of future living.
PJORKKALA
Members: Žan Girandon, Pia Groleger, Luka Pleškovič, Jo Zornik, Ema Kapelj, Zala Križ
Mentor: Shneel Malik
Topic: Water – Designing a Biovernacular
Pjorkkala is a group of four students studying industrial and graphic design at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. As young creators united by an interest in environmental and social issues and potential solutions, they are aware that our generation holds a unique position, considering that the environmental damage has surpassed all limits. They see the solution not only in technological development but also in the connection between traditional and contemporary contexts, between localised and widespread solutions.
“As one of the most fundamental human behaviours, design is what enables us to shape our environments. By combining old principles and new outlooks and perspectives, we must design tools that not only equip and empower people with knowledge but also inspire them to have a positive impact on the environment, since every change on the small scale of the individual also affects the environment as a whole.”
The team members will employ their knowledge of and experience in resilient and regenerative design to find solutions to change the behaviours that have brought us to the harrowing scenarios of the future. They will consider integrating vernacular knowledge and patterns into contemporary contexts to create truly resilient and regenerative solutions.
“A reinstatement of our relationship with water is needed in our society. At the moment, it is something we take for granted. A reintroduction of a more personal relationship with water is something we hope to inspire.”