May 2008
The international Selection Committee of the 21st Biennial of Industrial Design met 8–9 May 2008 at the Architecture Museum of Ljubljana at Fužine Castle in Ljubljana. For the first time in the history of the Biennial, the selection of works for the exhibition was made by an independent international Selection Committee. They applied a uniform set of criteria as they examined all the entries that had been received in response to the international Call for Entries for BIO 21. The seven respected experts who make up the international Selection Committee made a rigorous selection of the best in the areas of industrial design, visual communications, and design concepts.
All entrants applying to the international Call for Submissions will receive the results of the selection process for BIO 21 exhibition shortly. The selected works will be exhibited from 2 October to 2 November 2008 at the Architecture Museum of Ljubljana at Fužine Castle in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The BIO 21 Secretariat received 421 entries from 29 countries; this represents a record number of countries responding to the call for submissions. The Selection Committee judged the submissions on the basis of the criteria set out in the Rules for Participation in the 21st Biennial of Industrial Design: “At BIO 21 the focus will be on design projects that propose creative and innovative solutions to the problems of life today, are oriented toward sustainable development and social responsibility and address the special needs of various groups of users” (Paragraph 3). “The committee will judge the entries based on the following criteria: innovation, the quality of the work as a whole, pertinence, functionality, economy, social awareness and concern for sustainable development” (The chapter “Selection of BIO 21 Exhibits,” Paragraph 3). After reviewing the works, the committee members agreed that approximately one third of the submissions met the criteria.
The committee selected 126 works for the exhibition. They chose 47 works in Group A: PRODUCTS; 14 works in Group B: VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS; and 65 works in Group C: DESIGN CONCEPTS. The works to be exhibited come from eighteen countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Japan, Macedonia, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
The exhibition will emphasize the quality, innovation, and relevance of the works on display. With its 21st installment, and as a result of the work of the international Selection Committee, the Biennial of Industrial Design will present a coherent selection of exhibits and outline new directions that provide both domestic and foreign design with a space for international assessment.
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