LABIOMISTA opens new building where humans, nature and science merge

On the foundations of the mining past and the old zoo of Zwartberg (Genk), Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen has been building his life's work since 2019: LABIOMISTA, an evolving artwork about the mix of life. ​ ​
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​LABIOMISTA is a 60 acres park that not only houses an open-air exhibition with numerous (living) artworks and installations, but is also a place where universal social issues such as diversity, ecology and human rights become tangible and discussable. ​
​In this unique collaboration between artist Koen Vanmechelen and the City of Genk, a shared vision on the potential of identity & diversity takes shape in different ways. As a permanent and evolving work of art, LABIOMISTA is an incubator for numerous new ideas, creations, projects and collaborations. And it constitutes a meeting place for all species in this world.
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​LABIOMISTA's sixth season bears the theme 'Future Garden', after the new complex of the same name, which is currently being built in the front part of the park. The building, which will be opened to the press on 22 August, acts as a lever for further developments in the neighbourhood as it is part of LaVieBreede, Vanmechelen's artistic and conceptual vision that aims to integrate, relaunch and strengthen the environment around LABIOMISTA.
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"In Future Garden, humans, nature and science merge. As we struggle with ourselves and our environment, a possible revolution germinates in our gardens - the cradle of our future."
​— Koen Vanmechelen

Future Garden, designed by the artist with architectural firm BURO B and Thys Bouwprojecten, is an ecological statement. It consists of a tapir habitat, a research laboratory set up in collaboration with the university of Hasselt, among others, and a studio. A bridge leads to the roof of the building. Visitors are invited to explore and be inspired by a space where visions of the future become reality.
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​The rest of the park also underwent a metamorphosis during the annual winter break with three newly installed monumental sculptures: Caduceus, See Me and Domesticated Giant. Together with new residents including Darwin Nandu, white ear pheasant, and mini zebu, they depict how 'cross-pollination' is LABIOMISTA's modus operandi; nature and culture, local and global, art - science and community.

Save the Date
​22 August, 11am
​Press launch Future Garden
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​LABIOMISTA
​Marcel Habetslaan 50, ​
​3600 Genk

Images here

Day of the Cosmogolem: 19 May
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​The Cosmogolem is the giant that symbolises children's rights. Koen Vanmechelen created the huge anthropoid wooden sculpture when he was 17. Meanwhile, the four-metre-tall sculpture has become a global symbol of hope and evolution. LABIOMISTA also houses the first and, for the time being, only stone specimen: a ten-metre-high sculpture of the Cosmogolem's head, constructed from twenty-five marble blocks that together weigh more than four hundred tonnes. An open head; here your thoughts may be free, here is room for a critical mind.
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​The Cosmogolem project aims to help children develop their own voice and identity. More than forty Cosmogolems have now been built worldwide, always in collaboration with local organisations. From Zimbabwe to Belgium, from India to Ecuador, the Cosmogolem gives children's rights a face. ​
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​On Sunday 19 May, LABIOMISTA organises 'Cosmogolem Day', a family day celebrating the power of children and youth and highlighting the global importance of children's rights. The theme of this edition is 'dream garden'. Various activities will be organised in the afternoon for children between +/- 4 and 14 years old. The highlight will undoubtedly be the puppet show created by Vanmechelen in cooperation with theatre FroeFroe and some musicians especially for this day.
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​All activities are free.
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​Puppetry rehearsals will take place on 6 and 7 May at LABIOMISTA in the presence of Koen Vanmechelen and Marc Maillard (artistic director Froefroe). If you would like to attend a rehearsal, please contact Albane Paret: albane@clubparadis.be / + 32 (0)476 57 37 82.

Mixed Menu Wallpaper

With as leverage Future Garden, 'Mixed Menu Wallpaper' is being launched this year in Genk's Koning Boudewijnlaan; a participatory project that starts from the rich and diverse culinary traditions that characterise the neighbourhood. "Mixed Menu Wallpaper, like a menu, brings a range of diverse ingredients: colourful neighbourhood recipes on façades and flags in the street, façade benches or 'tile swipes'. This is how the gardens of the future germinate in our neighbourhoods too," says Vanmechelen. Together with residents and local traders, we use these ingredients to build a clear identity that depicts the diversity of residents and encourage the further flow of visitors to the neighbourhood. "So more greenery, colour and meeting space in the street, building on LABIOMISTA as a catalyst," says Mayor Wim Dries.

About LABIOMISTA

Since its opening in 2019, LABIOMISTA is evolving as a park and meeting place strongly content embedded in the community. Half of the 60 acres area consists of free nature. LABIOMISTA also houses the studio and headquarters of the Vanmechelen operation (The Battery), the restored director's house of the former mine and later zoo of Zwartberg, transformed into Villa OpUnDi and an eye-catching gatehouse (The Ark). Besides an open-air exhibition with numerous living artworks and installations, it also includes an amphitheatre (LabOvo). Renowned Swiss architect Mario Botta designed The Ark and The Battery. Together with Botta, Vanmechelen created an extraordinary greenhouse (The Looking glass) and a huge condor cage as part of his studio.

The park area contains three animal compartments of over 9,000 m², three ponds, a walkway more than a kilometre long with several bridges. The animals in the park play an essential role in Vanmechelen's work; in addition to his well-known chicken species, you can also see llamas, emus, dromedaries, zebras, miniature boas and storks, among others. ​ 

About KOEN VANMECHELEN

An internationally renowned, interdisciplinary artist, Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen (b. 1965) is one of the most versatile thinkers of his time. In his work, he explores the boundaries between art, science, philosophy and community.

An eternal migrant, he travels the world searching for answers to fundamental questions on timeless yet hyper-actual themes such as identity, diversity, globalisation and human rights. He weaves these answers, works-in-progress, into enigmatic artworks and projects. His quests and interdisciplinary projects invite others to collaborate and create an awareness and 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.

Vanmechelen received an honorary doctorate from Hasselt University (2010) and was awarded the prestigious Golden Nica Hybrid Art Award (Linz, 2013) and Global Artist's Award (Venice, 2013). His work has already been exhibited on almost all continents, including at the Uffizi Gallery (Florence), V&A Museum (London), ZKM (Karlsruhe) and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana (Cuba). Apart from the Venice Biennale, he has been a guest at the Moscow, Dakar, Havana and Poznan Biennials, the Shanghai 2010 World Expo, the Guangzhou Triennial, Manifesta 9 and dOCUMENTA (13). A sought-after speaker, he was invited to the World Economic Forum (2008) and several TED conferences.

He is currently exhibiting with his project 'Looking for the Ark' at the 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia.