Zwartberg, sixty years later
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.
The Zwartberg mine opened in 1925 and went on to become an important part of life in Limburg. Thousands of people worked there, attracting workers to Genk from different parts of Europe. The mine brought people together and transformed the surrounding area. New neighbourhoods, shops and associations emerged, along with a social life closely tied to the work underground.
Life in the mine was also hard and dangerous. Its closure in 1966 was far more than an ordinary economic change. It sparked fierce protests, and two people lost their lives during the confrontations surrounding the closure. On 7 October 1966, the last wagon of coal was brought to the surface.
After the Mine
Following the closure, much of the industrial infrastructure disappeared. The director’s villa remained. In 1970, it entered an entirely new chapter as part of the Limburg Zoo, which operated on the site until 1997. Two years later, the City of Genk purchased the grounds of the former mine and zoo. Although its original purpose was gone, the site remained part of public life in Zwartberg.
The site’s history was not a straightforward succession of projects, each replacing the last. Every new purpose left something behind. For decades, the mine shaped life in the neighbourhood. The zoo gave the site a new public role. And after the zoo closed, people in the neighbourhood began calling for a new future for the area. Residents continued to draw attention to the site and contribute ideas about what it could become.
A different kind of future
It was against this backdrop that LABIOMISTA began to take shape. In 2014, Koen Vanmechelen and the City of Genk began exploring the idea together. A year later, the concept took form. In 2017, Koen moved his studio to The Battery, and work on the park began. LABIOMISTA opened to the public in 2019.
LABIOMISTA was neither a museum about the mine nor an attempt to rebuild what had disappeared. It became a new layer in a place that had already lived many lives. Today, its 24 hectares bring together a park, artworks, animals, Koen Vanmechelen’s studio, Villa OpUnDi and spaces for research, education and encounters. The former director’s villa has once again taken on a public role, continuing to tell part of the site’s story.
The neighbourhood is part of the story
From the earliest stages of LABIOMISTA’s development, its relationship with the local community has been important. Nomadland was created together with neighbourhood residents and grew into a place for encounters, activities and local initiatives. Today, LABIOMISTA’s work extends beyond the boundaries of the park. Through LaVieBreede, Vanmechelen’s artistic vision for neighbourhood development, and a range of projects, new opportunities are created for people to meet, work together and share knowledge.
Perhaps this is one of the most striking changes the site has undergone. Where mining once shaped much of the community’s social life, new connections are now forming around other things: art, nature, animals, learning, entrepreneurship, food and making things together.
LaVieBreede, Nieuwe Kempen, Genk (BE), photo by Kris Vervaeke, 2024 NOMADLAND, LABIOMISTA © Koen Vanmechelen, photo by Boumediene Belbachir
Zwartberg, sixty years later
Over the past sixty years, the site has changed profoundly. From mine to zoo, from a closed industrial site to a public park. And yet, something has endured. Zwartberg has always been a place where different people and stories come together.
LABIOMISTA does not erase this history. It adds a new layer to it. The mine is gone and the zoo is no longer there, but the site continues to bring people together. Today, it does so in a different way, around different questions.
Perhaps that is what makes a place like this so interesting. It does not have to hold on to a single meaning. It can change without losing its history.
Sixty years after the mine closed, life is breathing new life into Zwartberg, no longer through what is extracted from the ground, but through what grows.