Koen Vanmechelen

Koen Vanmechelen is a Belgian conceptual artist whose multimedia artworks—often created in collaboration with scientists—explore biodiversity, identity, community, and genetics. His Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (ongoing since 1999), mates chickens from around the world in order to study genetic diversity and breed globalized hybrid birds. Apart from the chickens themselves, the conceptual project includes sculptures, photographs, and videos. Vanmechelen has exhibited in several Venice Bienniales. His sculpture, Cosmopolitan Fossil (2014), constructed from marble and a taxidermied chicken, exceeded its estimate at a 2015 auction when it sold for £68,500. Since 2017, the artist has worked out of a studio called LABIOMISTA, that was designed by the Swiss architect Mario Botta and is located inside a former zoo in Genk, Belgium.