Artist Koen Vanmechelen and social entrepreneur Chido Govera are invited for a lecture at the 15th Havana Biennial - Shared Horizons, on 21st November 2024. Koen and Chido will give virtual talk on their shared philosophy, which focuses on sustainable, socially just, and integrated food production systems by linking art, science, farming, and social entrepreneurship. The event celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Biennial, a space for confrontation and reflection in the international art scene, contributing to the research, dissemination and recognition of the visual arts around the world.
Future Garden
Crossing art, science, farming, and social entrepreneurship in a laboratory for the future
Social entrepreneur Chido Govera from Zimbabwe and Belgian conceptual artist Koen Vanmechelen are invited for a virtual lecture at the 15th Havana Biennial and Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam. Chido Govera, mushroom specialist, who trained women in various countries, committed to provide access to sustainable livelihoods and a voice to the most vulnerable, and artist Koen Vanmechelen, who traveled the world for art-science initiatives and crossbred chickens for his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, came together through the concept of food and developed a shared vision based on the conviction that the global can only exist through the generosity of the local.
Their collaboration led to numerous workshops, exhibitions, plantations, initiatives, and gardens. Together they create a philosophical model that, combined with research and experimentation, leads to meaningful, and practical applications that invariably involve local communities. Either in an urban or non-urban context. The model focuses on sustainable, socially just, and integrated food production systems. By linking art, science, farming, and social entrepreneurship, Koen and Chido are able to reach a broader and more diverse public.
With the recent creation of Future Garden, the collaboration crystalized in a laboratory for the future, a unique hub for research, dialogue, and discovery at the intersection of humans, nature, and technology. The projects developed at Future Garden contribute to the transition toward a more symbiotic society that harmonizes culture and nature, a movement Vanmechelen terms the Cosmopolitan Renaissance.
15th Havana Biennial
Since its creation in 1983, the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam has made the Havana Biennial one of its main objectives. Our event has been defined as a space for confrontation and reflection of singular importance in the international art scene, with the essential purpose of contributing to the research, dissemination and recognition of the visual arts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean and to create new networks of communication and collaboration. The Biennials 15th edition is guided by the idea of weaving new networks of communication and collaboration that will enable us to continue growing, deepening and broadening our range of influences, in pursuit of achieving peace and a better coexistence between man and nature. Beyond all the differences, there is a space of knowledge, expectations and affects that most human beings share. Seeking these points of connection, these common areas that allow us to move forward together towards a more equitable and sustainable future.
General information
15th Havana Biennial - Shared Horizons
15 Nov – 28 Feb 2025
Virtual lecture Koen Vanmechelen & Chido Govera
21 Nov 2024
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam
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