Uitstalling Kube
Koen Vanmechelen
Couveuse
April 1st - June 26th, 2022
COUVEUSE
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Couveuse is an exhibition about unpredictability, coincidence and serendipity. The three guardians of the birth chamber of the unwritten story we call life. In a world that is becoming more and more unpredictable.
The most striking installation is an almost futuristic object. Seeds germinate under her. Beneath her grow extravagant, hybrid life forms. It concerns reptiles with a chicken head, and chickens with a reptile head.
The whole exhibition is incubating new life. Life forms that we don't really know what they are. They fascinate but also deter. The lamp is surrounded by videos showing a storm. It's about chicken semen, a fertility storm. This can give rise to enormously diverse, surprising creations. But that process can also go on and on. It might as well wipe out its creator, because it led to a proliferation of something monstrous.​
The exhibition is a puzzle of ingredients that lead to life. Natural reproduction, artificial insemination, hybridity, context, danger. Together they always lead to life provided the other key element is present: the unpredictable. A small factor that leads to the deviant, the extraordinary, the other. To new life, far from the dead end street.
Opening Night 'Couveuse' - Uitstalling Kube
Opening Night 'Couveuse' - Uitstalling Kube
Opening Night 'Couveuse' - Uitstalling Kube
Opening Night 'Couveuse' - Uitstalling Kube
KOEN VANMECHELEN
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An internationally renowned artist, working across a multitude of disciplines, Koen Vanmechelen (1965) is one of the most versatile thinkers of these times. He is situated at the confluence of art, science, philosophy and community.
As an eternal migrant, he travels the world looking for answers to fundamental questions that touch on issues which are both timeless and acutely relevant today: identity, diversity, globalisation and human rights. He weaves those answers – always works in progress – into enigmatic artworks and projects. His quests and interdisciplinary projects invite other migrants to work together and create an awareness and a movement of communities around the world. Together, they reflect on the global legacy of the human animal and explore the different ways we choose to live and evolve together.
In 2010, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hasselt and in 2013, he was awarded the prestigious Golden Nica Hybrid Art Award (Linz) and Global Artist's Award (Venice). So far, his work has been shown in more than 80 solo shows and 220 group exhibitions worldwide. As a speaker in high demand, he was invited to address the World Economic Forum (2008) and various TED conferences.
