The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project
Koen Vanmechelen
13.9.–8.12.2024
The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (CCP) by the Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen explores the boundless potential hidden in biological and cultural diversity. What started by crossbreeding a typical Belgian chicken; the Mechelse Koekoek and a Poulet de Bresse from France; has, over the past 25 years, evolved into a universal breeding project that challenges monoculture both metaphorically and in practice. Vanmechelen’s goal is a Cosmopolitan Chicken that carries the genes of all chicken breeds from all over the world. Each crossing might boost the health and resilience of chicken, a species among many others that has been inbred and exploited for human needs. Could the project tell something about diversity and society among humans as well? In each country the CCP is presented, the project provokes discussions and ethical debates about animal welfare, globalisation, genetic manipulation, and more.
In Bergen, the project takes a new chapter with the generation #29. The new hybrid emerging at Kunsthall 3,14 is a crossing between Norwegian Jærhøns, the only still existing domesticated chicken breed in Norway, and the previous generation with the genetic material of 28 other breeds from all over the world. In the exhibition space at Kunsthall 3,14, the visitor encounters a Jærhøns rooster, two 28th generation CCP chickens, and eggs in an incubator. When the eggs hatch on the course of the exhibition, a new generation of the Cosmopolitan Chicken will come into being: Mechelse Jær.
Koen Vanmechelen (b. 1965) is an internationally renowned artist, working across a multitude of disciplines. He is situated at the confluence of art, science, philosophy and community. Key themes are biocultural diversity, fertility and the perpetuum movement for balance. In 2010, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hasselt and was awarded with the Golden Nica Hybrid Art (Linz, 2013) and Global Artist's Award (Venice, 2013). Besides making regular appearances at the Venice Biennale, his work has been shown at a.o. the Uffizi Gallery (IT), V&A Museum (UK) and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana (CU). Worldwide, over 90 solo exhibitions have taken place and his work has been included in over 250 group shows. Vanmechelen has also performed at the World Economic Forum (2008) and in various TED-conferences. Since 2017, he is based in Genk (BE) where he creates LABIOMISTA; a 24hectare park where among great architecture and natural landscape installations, artworks and animals of the most disparate species live together. LABIOMISTA is the embodiment of Vanmechelen's artistic and philosophical vision, created on the belief in art as a driver of mutual understanding and as a guide in the search for answers to the major challenges of the 21st century, the relationship between nature and culture and in particular the development of sustainable communities.
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