For more than three thousand years, Medusa has been imagined in many different ways: as a monster, a victim, a protector, a symbol of power and, more recently, a figure of resistance and change. Her story has never remained fixed. Each generation has returned to her, reshaping her image to reflect its own fears, beliefs and ideas about power. What happens when we look at Medusa again, not simply as a monster to fear, but as a woman whose story deserves to be reclaimed?

4 October 2026. Sixty years ago, the Zwartberg coal mine closed. Today, part of the same site is home to LABIOMISTA, where artist Koen Vanmechelen, in collaboration with the City of Genk, brings art, nature, animals and people together. Between these two moments lies a history of profound change. The mine became a zoo, the zoo disappeared, and the site found a new purpose. What remained was the place itself, and everything that had unfolded there over time.

On 10 and 11 October 2026, LABIOMISTA – Studio Koen Vanmechelen welcomes fifteen museum leaders from Europe, the United States, Singapore and Togo for the fourth Museum Leadership House. Organised by Museum Booster, the international gathering explores how museums can navigate change while staying true to their purpose.

Koen Vanmechelen presents Cosmopolitan Chicken Project: Mechelse Cara Blanca (CCP31) at Galería Plaza del Gato. Following its predecessor LIMINA: CCP30 at the Chillida Leku Museum in the Basque Country, the journey of the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project continues deeper into Spain.