Cosmopolitan Renaissance

We are in a revival, a cosmopolitan renaissance where we make the combination again between imagination and knowledge. We need art and science to make a connection. Out of this we can create new things for the future.

Koen Vanmechelen

Koen Vanmechelen positions himself and his work within the Cosmopolitan Renaissance. Today, for the first time in history, anyone can access all available knowledge. One genius is born every day; Beijing – a city with more than 9 million bicycles – is a city of 1,000 geniuses. The same applies to any metropolis. The obscurity of knowledge has been replaced by its transparency. Only, we have to want to know. Whoever does so, can link with the other side of the world tomorrow to interview a scientist, launch a project and gain knowledge.

 

We need to consult, assemble and encourage the immeasurably large, unknown potential of our brains to find solutions to the problems our planet faces.

We have to be brave to see the real role played by the human animal and to seek out solutions far beyond our familiar surroundings. In other cultures, on other continents, with other people. Diversity is a resource to be tapped on a global level; the local level has to get a global extenstion, and vice versa. For without the generosity of the local level, the global level shrivels. Renewal is generated by the connection between both.

Cosmopolitan Renaissance

three pillars artwork Koen Vanmechelen

LABIOMISTA’s unique studio and grounds simultaneously are a hotbed, a laboratory and a home base for Vanmechelen's ground-breaking oeuvre, which is situated far beyond mainstream art and which has tentacles extending deep into the world, and around it. Biological and cultural diversity are central to this multi-layered body of work. On these themes, the artist works with international scientists and experts from various disciplines. Like a latter-day uomo universale, he merges art, nature and knowledge, reaching out to everyone and everything that can help him and his journey to cross boundaries.
 

Vanmechelen translates the results of his experiments into every possible medium: from highly expressive paintings and drawings to photography, performances, sculptures, video, innovative 3D techniques, glassware and (living) installations to practical interventions in communities and science. In the midst of society, among the people, these works point the way to new insights: a cosmopolitan renaissance. Three fundamental pillars support Koen Vanmechelen’s work: the farm, the artwork and the community. Find out more about them below: