From mid-July to the end of October, the 2nd Industrial Art Biennale, titled ‘On the Shoulders of Fallen Giants’, will be held in the Istrian towns of Labin, Raša, Vodnjan, Pula, and Rijeka. This event was initiated in 2014 by Labin Art Express XXI with the aim of revitalizing the mines in the Labin area, which has been marked by decades of industrial decline and a growing dependence on tourism.
The Biennale will be organized in collaboration with Labin Art Express XXI, the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka, and the Archaeological Museum of Istria, as part of the Rijeka European Capital of Culture 2020 project, and will take place from July 20 to October 28.
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It is curated by members of the curatorial collective ‘What, How and for Whom/WHW’ – Sabina Sabolović, Nataša Ilić, Ana Dević, and Ivet Ćurin, who base their concept on the backdrop of the transitions between different epochs that have shaped the social and cultural landscape of the region, from the Greek and Roman empires, Venetian, Austro-Hungarian, French, and Italian authorities, to the history of socialism and the recent era of the long period of so-called transition.
The three-day opening begins on July 19 in Vodnjan, continues on July 20 in Pula, Raša, and Labin, and concludes on July 21 in Rijeka.
As announced, this year’s edition will feature the openings of exhibitions with a large number of works created specifically for the biennale, numerous performances, screenings, and expert tours.
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The title ‘On the Shoulders of Fallen Giants’ also refers to the living Istrian legends and folklore, such as the symbol of Istrian resistance, Veljo Joža. It also evokes the Istrian fantastic imagery in which the identification of Istria as a magical land (Terra Magica) is directed towards questioning the normalizing effects and social conditioning of the concepts of the magical, nature, and history, and deals with the mystifications of Istria that reflect the growing tourist exploitation of the region’s specificities.
At ten Istrian locations, works by 27 domestic and foreign artists and artistic collectives will be presented, including Oscar Murillo, Phil Collins, Nikolay Oleynikov, Laure Prouvost, Marko Tadić, Želimir Žilnik, Vlatka Horvat, Matija and Mauricio Ferlin, Božena Končić Badurina, the Škart collective, Focus group, and others.
Storytelling, history, poetry, tourism, magical thinking, rebellion, colonial implications of industrial production, marginalized identities, ethnic cleansing, extractivism, underground, sugar, fossil fuels, mushrooms, ruins, remnants, collections – are some of the key concepts arising from the local context, and in resonance with them, artists exhibit their works, many of which are new productions related to the local context, it was announced.
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With an emphasis on the intertwining of issues related to shaping modernity through the practice of art with stories that fight for identity advantage in understanding ‘regional’ particularities, from the mining past of Labin, the history of strikes and workers’ revolts, the abandonment of extractive energy sources and the development of ecological projects, through ancient and anti-fascist monuments, fascist architecture, felled oaks, to the development of tourism, exodus, and deindustrialization in recent decades, tolerance and cosmopolitanism, the Biennale presents not only artists but also some local monuments and other traces of past times.
The idea is to represent the local context as larger and broader than itself through a ‘polyphony of artistic voices’, attempting to uncover the ‘ideological’ surplus that exists in every specific location and connects it with other locations and other struggles around the world that strive to preserve the possibility of utopian thinking about the future.
The starting point is the mining site of Labin, but the Biennale extends to various locations in Istria and the Coast related to the ancient, industrial, and recent history of the region – KUC Lamparna in Labin, an abandoned cinema in Raša, MMSU in Rijeka, the Temple of Augustus, the Amphitheater Gallery – Arena, and SENSE – Center for Transitional Justice in Pula, the Apothecary – a space for contemporary art in Vodnjan, the National Museum and the City Library in Labin.
