The Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen (1965) is an internationally acclaimed conceptual artist. His work explores the importance of bio-cultural diversity, identity and community. He is best known for his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (CCP) in which he cross-breeds domesticated chickens from different countries as a statement about the way in which diversity can shape the global cultural and genetic mix.
The artist’s scientific collaborations around the project have earned him numerous awards including the Golden Nica Hybrid Art award in 2013. Vanmechelen has presented his work on almost every continent and is a regular contributor to the Venice Biennale.
From spring 2018, his headquarters will be a former public zoo in the Belgian city of Genk, where he is creating a wildlife park, an educational and research center, and an urban farm, alongside his studio.
Vanmechelen's oeuvre is characterised by diversity: a unique mix of paintings, drawings, photography, innovative 3D-techniques, video, installations and wooden sculptures. Discover a selection of works;
Discover some of Vanmechelen's crossbreeding projects and their supporting foundations; intersecting art, science, sociology and culture. It's the artist way of reflecting on the existential questions of individual identity and life, and it touches on contemporary issues regarding human rights, sustainability and multiculturalism.
4 masterclasses organised by The New Current for developing artists.
Subject for the 11th of January is Change, with key note speaker Koen Vanmechelen
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The Worth of life, solo exhibition, Teatro dell’architettura, Mendrisio-USI (CH)4 OCT - 2 FEB, 2020,
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