LA BIOMISTA Koen Vanmechelen PART I Koen Vanmechelen
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LA BIOMISTA Koen Vanmechelen PART I Koen Vanmechelen BIOGRAPHY THE COSMOPOLITAN CHICKEN PROJECT (CCP) BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY AND DUALISM PART II LA BIOMISTA COSMOPOLITAN VILLA / OPUNDI GENK FOUNDATIONS KOEN VANMECHELEN THE WALKING EGG (TWE) COSMOGOLEM COSMOPOLITAN CHICKEN RESEARCH PROJECT (CC®P) COMBAT COSMOPOLITAN STUDIO COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE PARK (CCPARK) CITY OF GENK OPUNDI IN PROGRESS OPUNDI DETROIT OPUNDI CUBA BIOGRAPHY Vanmechelen uses a plethora of artistic tools for his work, from painting and video to installations, innovative 3D-techniques, sculptures and glass. This diversity is also reflected in his various projects; the ‘Cosmopolitan Chicken Research Project’ (CC®P), the wooden statue ‘Cosmogolem’, the fertility project ‘Walking Egg’ and the WW1 remembrance project ‘Combat’. In 2011 their supporting foundations were grouped into a new institute entitled the ‘Open University of Diversity’. Vanmechelen has presented his work on almost every continent, from the U.S. to China and Iceland to Senegal. In Belgium his work was exhibited in many museums and other loci: the Verbeke Foundation, Watou, Museum M and Z33. Furthermore, he participated in solo and group exhibitions in among others The National Gallery London, Victoria and Albert Museum (London), Museum Kunst Palast (Düsseldorf), Venice Projects (Venice), Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ (Amsterdam), MAD Museum (NY) and © Florian Voggeneder Pushkin Museum (Moscow). Next to the Biennial of Venice, his work has been shown at the Biennials The Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen (1965) is an of Moscow, Havana, Dakar, Poznan and Manifesta internationally renowned, conceptual artist. His 9, at the World Expo Shanghai 2010, the Triennial of groundbreaking work deals with biocultural diversity Guangzhou, and at dOCUMENTA (13). and identity. Over the past decade Vanmechelen has collaborated with scientists from different disciplines. Vanmechelen lives in Meeuwen-Gruitrode, in the That earned him an honorary doctorate at the northeast of Belgium. He is an honorary citizen of University of Hasselt in 2010 and the Golden Nica his native town of Sint-Truiden. In 2011, he based Hybrid Art in 2013. his studio and headquarters in Hasselt. Koen Vanmechelen and his team are currently working on Just before the millennium year 2000, Koen the development of his new studio ‘La Biomista’ in the Vanmechelen launched his Cosmopolitan Chicken former zoo of Zwartberg, Genk. Project (CCP), a unique artistic project. Central to his work are the chicken (Gallus gallus) and the interbreeding of national chicken species into For more information ‘Cosmopolitan chickens’. He uses this animal as www.koenvanmechelen.com a metaphor for observations around ‘la condition and the included DVD humaine’. In 2014, the artist’s ongoing creation of a world-hybrid chicken reached, with the Mechelse Sulmtaler, its eighteenth generation; a royal breed, born in the castle of Chimay (BE) as a result between the Austrian Sulmtaler and the Mechelse Styrian. One year before, this Mechelse Styrian came into existence after a crossing between the Slovenian Styrian and the Mechelse Senegal. It was presented at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz (AT). To date, the hybrid consists of regional breeds of chickens in Belgium, France, England, U.S.A., Germany, The Netherlands, Mexico, Thailand, Brasil, Turkey, Cuba, Italy, Russia, China, Egypt, Senegal, Slovenia and Austria. THE COSMOPOLITAN CHICKEN PROJECT (CCP) BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY AND DUALISM Nothing is what it seems. That is but one of the many “I see the chicken as a metaphor for man and the egg - much more surprising - lessons of the Cosmopolitan both as a metaphor for the world and as the labora- Chicken Project (CCP), a worldwide crossbreed- tory of the future. The egg is a protected environment ing program involving national and regional chicken and a source of life. Yet it is also a cage, a restriction breeds that started in 1998 by visual artist Koen Van- from which we have to break free.” History teaches mechelen (b. 1965, Sint-Truiden, Belgium). us that progress is predicated on daring to let go of what we already have. The result of hybridisation is Vanmechelen found that each successive generation often uncertain. Do we dare expose ourselves to the of hybrids was more resilient than its purer-bred par- unexpected? Vanmechelen certainly does: “Fertilisa- ents. The chickens lived longer, were less susceptible tion, enrichment – they always come from outside. It’s to disease, and exhibited less aggressive behavior. precisely the unexpected things that are important Also, less unexpectedly, the morphological and to me. I take notice of apparent coincidences.” This phenotypical characteristics were blurred by selective is why the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project is also an breeding. The ultimate result of many generations of answer in progress, a work of art that will never be crossbreeding is a truly Cosmopolitan Chicken, car- complete. How the Cosmopolitan Chicken will turn out rying the genes of all the world’s chicken breeds. The or where the program will end, remain open ques- starting point for all these different breeds once was tions, just as what will come out of the egg is an open the Red Junglefowl - the original chicken. Its many question, every time around. descendant breeds are all man-made endpoints, sometimes literally so, in the sense that they are The diversity that characterises Vanmechelen’s work infertile. Vanmechelen wants to end all these breeds is not confined to the media he uses. The CCP in- by blending them into a new starting point, providing a volves a symbiosis of art, science, philosophy, politics chicken-breeding example of the principle of creative and ethics. It is Vanmechelen’s way of reflecting on destruction. But the CCP does not aim to reconstitute the existential questions of individual identity and life, the proto-chicken. It does not want to return to the and it touches on contemporary issues regarding glo- past. On the contrary, it symbolises the future. The balisations, racism, genetic modification and cloning. CCP is the starting point of a new form of evolution The project invites the onlooker to join in the debate. that will never end, a perpetuum mobile of genetic diversification and recombination. The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project: approach and state of progress Vanmechelen’s oeuvre is as diverse and as hybrid as the Cosmopolitan Chicken itself: it’s a unique mix The first generation hybrid, the Mechelse Bresse, of painting, drawing, photography, video, innovative resulted from crossbreeding the Belgian Mechelse 3D techniques, installations and wooden sculptures, Koekoek - the pride of Flemish chicken farmers - whose unifying theme is the chicken and the egg. with the top French chicken, the Poulet de Bresse. But, as mentioned before: nothing is what it seems. Each successive generation of hybrids comes from The core of the project is neither chicken nor egg, but crossbreeding the previous generation’s hybrid with crossbreeding and the diversity that comes from it. another pure breed. The Cosmopolitan Chicken holds up a mirror to us. In 2015, the artist’s ongoing creation of a world- Crossbreeding is a practical but also a philosophical hybrid chicken reached, with the Mechelse Sulmtaler, necessity, if not a moral duty. Today’s chicken breeds its eighteenth generation; a royal breed, born in the are failing; to prevent inbreeding and degeneration, castle of Chimay (BE) as a result between the Aus- new blood is needed. “Every organism needs some trian Sulmtaler and the Mechelse Styrian. One year other organism in order to survive,” says Vanmechel- before, this Mechelse Styrian came into existence en, “If there is one secret in life, maybe it’s that every- after a crossing between the Slovenian Styrian and thing is dual. Chicken and egg, cause and effect, good the Mechelse Senegal at the Ars Electronica Festival and bad, construction and destruction: everything in Linz (AT). To date, the hybrid consists of regional exists in relation to the Other. If you pursue this line breeds of chickens in Belgium, France, England, of reasoning, you might even conclude that there’s a U.S.A., Germany, The Netherlands, Mexico, Thailand, parallel solar system outside our own, ensuring our Brazil, Turkey, Cuba, Italy, Russia, China, Egypt, Sen- continued survival.” egal, Slovenia and Austria. THE COSMOPOLITAN CHICKEN PROJECT (CCP) 1999 — 2015 × × ♂ MECHELSE KOEKOEK POULET DE BRESSE ♀ ♀ MECHELSE DENIZLI CUBALAYA ♂ Belgium France CCP Cuba × × ♀ MECHELSE BRESSE ENGLISH REDCAP ♂ ♂ MECHELSE CUBALAYA ANCONA ♀ CCP England CCP Italy × × ♀ JERSEY GIANT MECHELSE REDCAP ♂ ♀ MECHELSE ANCONA ♂ U.S.A. CCP Russia CCP × × ♂ MECHELSE GIANT DRESDNER ♀ ♂ MECHELSE ♀ CCP Germany CCP China × × ♀ UILEBAARD MECHELSE DRESDNER ♂ ♀ MECHELSEM EEE ♂ The Netherlands CCP Egypt CCP × × ♂ MECHELSE UILEBAARD LOUISIANA ♀ ♂ MECHELSE POULET DE SENEGAL ♀ CCP Mexico CCP Senegal × × ♂ MECHELSE LOUISIANA ♀ ♂ STYRIAN MECHELSE SENEGAL ♀ Thailand CCP Slovenia CCP × × ♂ MECHELSE AURACANA ♀ ♀ MECHELSE STYRIAN SULMTALER ♂ CCP Brazil CCP Austria × × ♀ DENIZLI HOROZU MECHELSE AURACANA ♂ ♂ AYAM CEMANI MECHELSE SULMTALER ♀ Turkey CCP Indonesia CCP LA BIOMISTA Studio Koen Vanmechelen From 2017 onwards, La Biomista is the globally unpar- La Biomista’s inspiration sets a conceptual framework alleled site of Belgian’s most acclaimed conceptual for similar projects in Detroit and Havana, hybrid cities artist Koen Vanmechelen. It is situated in the Belgian with a problematic past formed through monolithic city of Genk and accommodates Vanmechelen’s first policies. Both cities have the potential for a renewed Open University of Diversity and the four foundations vitality in their economies from the growth of the arts and subprojects of his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project and art-related enterprises. Both can set an exam- or CCP. That is the vast multidisciplinary project ple for innovation in a fast growing and transforming Vanmechelen started at the end of the 1990’s. In the world. first place, La Biomista will be a biocultural temple, and a disseminator of active and living art and the The La Biomista site is open to the public and philosophical ideas in which Vanmechelen’s art is consists of 24 hectares.