The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project

Koen Vanmechelen will be bringing to ART LABOR, from March 26th to April 25th, this worldwide experimental and ongoing project with which the artist hopes to develop hybrid chickens. Just ahead of his solo exhibition in Venice during the 54th Biennale this Summer, he is kindly showing us images, both photographic and painted, of the latest generation on this 12-year quest. Photographs, paintings, installation and chickens.

Crossbreeds clearly play an essential role in Vanmechelen’s work, not only in chickens but also in materials and disciplines. Topical themes such as genetic manipulation, cloning, globalisation and multiculturalism are found throughout this fascinating work. Vanmechelen likes to describe his work in Hegelian terms: thesis, antithesis and synthesis. The chicken and the egg are a metaphor for the human race and art.