Koen Vanmechelen presents We Thought We Were Alone, his first solo sculptural exhibition in Venice, now open to the public at Palazzo Rota Ivancich, coinciding with the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. Curated by James Putnam, the exhibition unfolds across three floors, bringing together more than 40 new works that explore relationships between living organisms and the inorganic environment, where transformation and coexistence emerge beyond fixed

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.

With Kunst aan de Maas: een reisverslag, Z33 brings together the full trajectory of the large-scale initiative that brought art into the Maas Valley, tracing its evolution from initial ideas and temporary interventions to the permanent works now embedded in the landscape. Developed in close dialogue with the shifting environment of the Meuse Valley, the project invited five artists to engage with a territory shaped by change — from flood cycles and ecological transformation

Since May 2026, a new permanent sculpture by Koen Vanmechelen has been installed in Dilsen-Stokkem: Future Fossil, created as part of Kunst aan de Maas. Situated along the Meuse, the work enters into direct dialogue with the river, its history and the communities that have lived alongside it for generations. Future Fossil begins with the place itself. Its base is formed from old sandbags, once used in moments of urgency to hold back the force of the water. Over time, they h

Koen Vanmechelen joins GLASSTRESS, one of the most internationally influential collateral events of the Venice Biennale, for its grand debut at the Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum. The exhibition, "GLASSTRESS: The Flowing Carnival of Venice," opens on July 18, 2026, marking the first comprehensive presentation of this landmark international art project in Shanghai. Housed in a century-old historic building at the core of the Bund, the exhibition stages an artistic dialogue that tr

Glass is never innocent. It seduces, glints, cuts, shatters, preserves. What happens when artists stop treating this fragile material as decoration and start using it to carry tension, metamorphosis, loss? GLASSTRESS 2026 returns to Venice and Murano. Founded in 2009 by Adriano Berengo as a collateral event of the Venice Biennale, GLASSTRESS brings together more than fifty artists this year, all working alongside the master glassmakers of Murano. Curated by Adriano Berengo, J

On 2 April, the Belgian Embassy in Beijing inaugurated Cosmopolitan Fossil, a temporary bronze sculpture (220 cm) presented as part of the Embassy’s cultural programme. The installation introduces Chinese audiences to Vanmechelen’s exploration of biocultural diversity, hybridity, and humanity’s relationship with life and nature. Max Recollecte, Public Diplomacy Counsellor, states: “The Belgian Embassy is pleased to welcome Koen Vanmechelen for the inauguration of Cosmopolitan

Intimacy is the space where we come closest to another and where we are most exposed. Why does nearness draw us in and unsettle us at the same time? What do we surrender when we let someone in, and what do we keep behind the door? Intiem (Intimate), the summer exhibition at Villa Les Zéphyrs, is curated by guest curator Jan Leysen as a meditation on closeness. Leysen, a criminal defence lawyer and a collector of contemporary art since the age of seventeen, drew together eight