Live museum hatching: Vanmechelen brings his chickens to Bergen's Kunsthall 3.14

At Kunsthall 3.14 in Bergen, a contemporary art institution in Norway, Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen (Sint-Truiden, 1965) presented the 29th generation of his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (CCP), with the live hatching of nine chicks during his solo exhibition. The new generation, CCP29, represents a hybrid between the Norwegian Jærhøns species and the Mechelse Aseel. The exhibition entitled Mechelse Jaer - CCP29 opened on September 13 at Kunsthall 3.14. Visitors have the opportunity to observe the hatching process in real time until December 8, 2024. Now, 21 days after the opening, the first chicks have hatched. The new generation follows the previous one, Mechelse Aseel - CCP28, hatched last year in Bangladesh, and marks another step in Vanmechelen’s work.

The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (CCP), begun by Vanmechelen in the late 1990s, has become a globally recognized exploration of life, identity, and diversity to the extent that it has been exhibited in prestigious international museums, including the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Cuba, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Uffizi in Florence, and the National Museum of Zimbabwe. The project involves the crossbreeding of native chicken breeds from different parts of the world, with each generation becoming a symbol of cross-cultural and biological fusion. Vanmechelen reflects on his work this way, “I follow the chicken because it represents life. With each generation, the project teaches me something new.”

Inside Kunsthall 3.14, a historic building that once housed a national bank, visitors can follow the various stages of the growth of the new generation of cosmopolitan chickens. In the first cage, two Mechelse Aseel hens cohabit with a Jærhøns rooster, the only domestic chicken breed native to Norway. Their eggs hatch in the incubator called Breaking the Cage. Next, the newly hatched chicks grow in the coop, while a third cage, currently empty, is ready to house them once they are grown. The central cage, with eggs, fans and breeding lamps, symbolizes the very idea of the incubator, creating the perfect conditions for new life to develop. On display next to the old safe in Kunsthall 3.14 is Open Secret, a leather-bound book containing the DNA sequence of one of Vanmechelen’s cosmopolitan chickens. The book is an integral part of the exhibition, and the accompanying DECODE video adds another layer of meaning. At the conclusion of the exhibition, two neon works catch the eye. The first, CCPCC, recalls the artist’s crossover projects, while the second carries a quote that encapsulates the deeper meaning of Vanmechelen’s work “Fertility comes from without.”

“Kunsthall 3,14 is a nonprofit contemporary art institution that engages politically, socially and culturally. Our goal is to present groundbreaking exhibitions that challenge social norms and stimulate dialogue,” explains Malin Barth, director of Kunsthall 3,14. “Koen Vanmechelen’s Cosmopolitan Chicken project perfectly represents our exhibition vision. We want to show works that generate ripple effects, influencing and transforming over time and across spaces. Koen’s work does just that: it creates a wave of change that alters the way we perceive and experience the world. It is exciting to see how this exhibition captures the audience with its deep exploration of the interconnectedness of life,” the director concludes. “We invite everyone to immerse themselves in this living and evolving work, which combines art and science and embodies the complexity and potential of hybrid life.”

“The project has outgrown me. It continues to evolve and I follow it, not only as a creator, but increasingly as an observer, to better understand the global legacy of being human and to explore the different ways in which we choose to live and evolve together,” Vanmechelen says. “These works address deep themes such as freedom, identity and the artificial boundaries we draw. The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project raises existential questions: why chickens? How do we relate to new life? What does it mean to cage life and how does this reflect society? Norway, with its dramatic beauty and ancient heritage, provides the perfect setting to reflect on the intricate relationship between humans and their environment,” Vanmechelen says. “In Bergen, my exhibition reflects our endless search for balance: between the local and the global, between culture and nature, between exploration and rootedness,” Vanmechelen explains. “With the 30th generation approaching in 2025, this journey is not just about chickens, but about all of us. It is a reflection on the richness that comes from diversity, a constant testimony to the ever-evolving nature of both human beings and nature itself.”

Live museum hatching: Vanmechelen brings his chickens to Bergen's Kunsthall 3.14

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