Mechelse Wyandotte
CCP
The various phenotypes show characteristics of the twenty different chicken breeds that were crossed into this generation of the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project / recognisable traits from Belgium, France, Great Britain, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Mexico, Thailand, Brazil, Turkey, Cuba, Italy, Russia, China, Egypt, Senegal, Slovenia, Austria, Indonesia and Detroit.
Danske Landhøne
Denmark
Descended from the first chickens that arrived in Denmark 2500 years ago / one of the purest breeds in Europe / lively breed that likes to have some space / occurs in various colour varieties, the best known of which brown partridge / lays white eggs / there is also a dwarf variety of this breed - dwarf roosters weigh around 800 grams (normal specimen: 2 kg), dwarf hens 700 grams (normal specimen: 1.75 kg).
Expedition
Vanmechelen ordered specimens of the Danske in Denmark, the brother of the animal caretaker at Vanmechelen’s home farm went to get them.
Birthplace of the first chicks
Meeuwen-Gruitrode, on Koen Vanmechelen's home farm, right in the middle of a renewed outbreak of bird flu: re-exporting the Danske to Denmark (for the exposition) was a close-run thing…
First showing
Socle du Monde Biennale, HEART – Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning (DK), 2017
The unexpected, the appeal of the chicken
Serendipity at work...
The appearance of Scandinavia in the CCP story owes a lot to the presence of Finnish curators at the Havana Biennial in 2015. It was founded on the growing awareness on the topic of sustainability in the Nordic countries. Vanmechelen’s Planetary Community Chicken, exhibited in Havana, is a break with monoculture and symbolises a social narrative, which did not go unnoticed.