Industrial Art Biennial Labin
Pilot Edition
September, 19 – October 4, 2014
Labin, Istria, Croatria
Director: Dean Zahtila
Selector & Curator: Branko Franceschi
Artistic Director: Sanja Švrljuga Milić
Organized by Labin Art Express XXI
Industrial Art Biennial (IAB) is a new art festival project of Labin Art Express XXI (L.A.E. XXI), which will be held first as a pilot-project in 2014 in Labin, and from 2015 biennially, i.e. every two years, in Labin as well as at some other industrial locations in Istria (Raša, Pula, Rovinj,…), while from 2019 it should take place also under the ground, in the former coalmine 160 m below ground level, where L.A.E. XXI is developing its fundamental project Underground City XXI (www.undergroundcityxxi.com) whose construction is planned to start in 2016.
Industrial topography of the wider Labin area, the shipyard in Pula, the future in situ “Museum of Mining and Industry of Istria” in the former Raša (Arsia) coalmine, and many other industrial sites in Istria, together with the complex economic and socio-politic background of the regional cultural heritage closely linked to its industrial development – entails a need for the cultural event related to the broader concept of “industrial” in all art disciplines (music, visual, new media, performing arts,..). At the Biennale would be in various forms exhibited, performed, presented and explored the ambiguity meaning of art & industry coupling, as well as the context of the interconnection between art, science and technology.
Considering this type of manifestation to be unique in Croatia and the wider Central European region, it would upgrade the current local and regional cultural tourism offer, in the same time representing an important contribution to the strengthening of identity of Istria by improving visibility of its industrial heritage as very significant in the European framework. The first pilot project will be implemented in September 19th – October 4th 2014, with about 15-16 international participants,as a preparation for the first regular Industrial Art Biennial in 2015. From thereon, the festival would be subsequently held every two years, lasting from 45-60 days, in September and October, in parallel with the Venice Biennale.
Various forms of presentational forms will be implemented, from traditional (exhibitions, performances, installations, interventions, projections,..) to new-media (actions, ambiental art&architecture interventions, interactive mixed-media installations,…), thus enabling anoverview through thecurrent state ofone – both locally and globally – insufficientlyexploredsegmentof art, with a tendency ofturning it intonew, globally distinctive artistic & cultural product (brand).
Beside the presentation of the artworks a series of accompanying thematic programs is envisioned (didactic workshops, expert panels, lectures, international conference “The Mines of Culture”, exhibitions of art and architecture students,..), which will stimulate and intensify mobility of cultural workers, but also increase interest of the audience, with the final goal of intensifying cultural exchangeandcooperation betweenartists and cultural workersfrom thewider international community.
All exhibiting and other presentational activities would be accompanied by the Biennale catalogue and properly documented (audio-video-photo) in order to create a digital database, but also an archive of art works, purchased and donated, which would become a part of the future collection of the Museum of Industrial Art in the Underground City XXI.
Participating artists:
- Laibach (SI)
- Kata Mijatović (CRO)
- Zlatko Kopljar (CRO)
- Dario Šolman (CRO)
- Damir Žižić & Kristian Kožul (CRO)
- Zoran Todorović (SRB)
- Želimir Žilnik (SRB)
- Autopsia (SRB/CZ)
- Mladen Miljanović (BiH)
- Carl Michael von Hausswollf & Thomas Nordanstad (SE)
- Anne Spalter (USA)
- Jeremy Deller (GB)
- Atsuhiro Ito (J)