MECHELSE JÆR - CCP29, Kunsthall 3,14, Bergen (NO) 13 Sept - 8 Dec 2024

The new generation of Vanmechelen's Cosmopolitan Chicken Project will hatch this fall in Norway. The new hybrid emerging at Kunsthall 3,14 is a crossing between Norwegian Jærhøns, the only still existing locally adapted chicken breed in Norway, and the previous generation CCP28. Over the last 20 years, the project has been presented in renowned art institutions around the world. This fall it will land in Bergen to continue to explores the boundless potential hidden in biocultural diversity and the richness that springs from difference.

Mechelse Jær – CCP29

The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (CCP) by the Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen explores the boundless potential hidden in biological and cultural diversity. What started by crossbreeding a typical Belgian chicken; the Mechelse Koekoek and a Poulet de Bresse from France; has, over the past 25 years, evolved into a universal breeding project that challenges monoculture both metaphorically and in practice. Vanmechelen’s goal is a Cosmopolitan Chicken that carries the genes of all chicken breeds from all over the world. Each crossing might boost the health and resilience of chicken, a species among many others that has been inbred and exploited for human needs.

Could the project tell something about diversity and society among humans as well? In each country the CCP is presented, the project provokes discussions and ethical debates about animal welfare, globalisation, genetic manipulation, and more. In Bergen, the project continues with the 29th generation. The new hybrid emerging at Kunsthall 3,14 is a crossing between Norwegian Jærhøns, the only still existing indigenous domesticated chicken breed in Norway, and the previous generation with the genetic material of 28 other breeds from all over the world. In the exhibition space at Kunsthall 3,14, the visitor encounters a Jærhøns rooster, two generation CCP28 hens, along with eggs in an incubator. When the eggs hatch in the course of the exhibition, a new generation of the Cosmopolitan Chicken will come into being: Mechelse Jær – CCP29.

Opening expo

Kunsthall 3,14 proudly opens Cosmopolitan Chicken Project on the Culture Night 13 September in Bergen, in presence of the artist. During the annual Culture Night, the city's museums, galleries and other culture venues are open until midnight, and you can experience visual art, music and theater also in the parks and streets of Bergen.

More on Cosmopolitan Chicken Project

Book of Genomes and the hybrid of art and science

Chickens and humans might have more similarities than differences, as humans and chicken DNA are 75% similar. At Kunsthall 3,14, the visitor can explore the Book of Genomes, which presents the thousand pages long DNA code of one of the Cosmopolitan Chickens. But despite the physical interconnectedness and the species’ history as man’s most valuable companion – even sacred in some cultures – the chicken has become one of the most grotesquely exploited animals in the world.

Vanmechelen’s profound fascination in the chicken and its genetic identity started already in his childhood, when he kept pet chickens in his garden. He recognizes the farming machinery’s effect on chickens as a prime example of humanity’s prioritizing its own needs at the expense of all other species. As such, the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project is not only an artistic theoretical statement but also a practical intervention in contemporary farming practices. Art and science merge in the project, and just like the chickens, Vanmechelen’s oeuvre is a hybrid.

Panel discussion

Kunsthall 3,14 and University of Bergen organise in connection with the opening of “Cosmopolitan Chicken” exhibition a panel discussion on Saturday, 14 September, at 14:00 in the Tower Hall at the University Museum.

This conversation brings together Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen, paleontology professor Hanneke Meijer, and anthropologist Karin Lillevold from the University of Bergen. The conversation will be moderated by Gitte Sætre, debate editor at Kunsthall 3,14. The debate will explore how art can challenge and enrich our understanding of biological and cultural diversity.