As the first biennial dedicated to design disciplines and one of the longest-running biennials in the world since 1964, BIO (Biennial of (formerly, Industrial) Design) has consistently maintained an evolving character and a sui generis ecosystem. During the Yugoslavian period, BIO functioned as a buffer zone, and a bridge between the design cultures of East and West Europe, arranging (inter)national selections of cutting-edge design products in each edition. With its shift to a curated format in 2012, BIO has transformed into a laboratory and testing ground for contemporary political and social issues on a glocal scale.

The latest edition, BIO28, curated by Alexandra Midal and Emma Pflieger under the theme “Double Agent: Do You Speak Flower?”, aligns with the biennial’s legacy of contextual and performative dualities—revealing criticism and practices of resistance through encrypted messages and the metaphorical floral language. Ljubljana’s Museum of Architecture and Design (MAO), the main exhibition venue and organizer since 1972, is serving as a suburban seedbed for the biennial’s curated selections and collaborative research-based outputs (installations or posters from the BIO28: Production Platforms). Additionally, a satellite venue, ISIS Gallery, was introduced to extend the biennial’s reach into the urban fabric—a strategy that created a sense of dichotomy rather than an integrated experience. 

Studio Sadar designed the exhibition with horizontal flower fields-like stages and vertical foldable planes to display floriography-based artworks. Encountering speculative and provocative works through nature-inspired, exuberant, and seemingly untamed installations—whether loosely arranged across planes, suspended, or woven into reed-like compositions—offered a more organic and compelling aesthetic than conventional, florist-like presentations against pristine white backgrounds.

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