Labin Art Express is pleased to announce the 5th Industrial Art Biennial, taking place from October 24 to November 30, 2025, across four locations in the Istrian region: Labin, Pula, Raša, and Vodnjan.
This edition, entitled The Vast Automaton (Ogroman automat), is curated by an international curator duo, Bani Brusadin, based in Barcelona and Madrid (Spain), and Giulia Colletti, currently based in Turin (Italy).
The Vast Automaton delves into the emergence of mega-structural landscapes, spanning energy infrastructure, mining regions, industrial automation and their far-reaching impact on both human and non-human life. Addressing the ongoing polycrisis rooted in 20th-century industrialization, The Vast Automaton opens space for alternative visions of the present. This edition investigates automation, extractivism, and critical technologies aiming to unveil unseen facets of contemporary industrialisation.
Spanning four clusters (Labin, Raša, Pula, Vodnjan), the programme brings together site-specific works, installations, and films to examine shifting power relations and reimagine our entanglement with technological systems, emerging subjectivities, and the planet. Activating a number of previously overlooked sites, the programme features a diverse group of artists from Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Cyprus, Russia, Belarus, Australia, South Korea, China, Cuba, Egypt, Sierra Leone, the USA, whose practices resonate with the region’s industrial and environmental legacies.
The Biennial also includes a collateral exhibition from the FLUX project at Gallery Novo in Pula, featuring works by female artists who have explored blockchain-based practices through an open and accessible training programme co-funded by the European Union.
Read more about the biennial and the curators here.