December 31st 2020

A WALK IN MY LIBRARY:
DECEMBER 31, 2020
JASON BUTLER'S EXHIBITION
Meyer Schapiro, “Theory and Philosophy of Art: Style, Artist and Society

December 18th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
LIOR GALL, BRUSSELS, 2020

December 11th 2020

HIGHLIGHT:
LOVE LETTERS
A new participative project by artist Koen Vanmechelen

December 4th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
LINDA KARSHAN AND THE BROOKLYN RAIL

November 27th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
NOVEMBER 2020, LINDA KARSHAN
The Covid Conversation, A New Film

November 6th 2020

A WALK IN MY LIBRARY:
PARIS, NOV. 6, 2020
ABËTËI by Ishmael Fiifi Annobil

October 20th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
MATHILDE BRETILLOT
Designs new offices for Parfums de Marly, Paris

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October 12th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
BERLIN STUDIO VISIT - LUKAS HOFFMANN

October 7th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
BERLIN

September 24th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
GALERIE NÄCHST ST. STEPHAN ROSEMARIE SCHWARZWÄLDER, VIENNA
Friederike Mayröcker, Curator Hans Ulrich Obrist - until 10 Oct
Schutzgeister/Guardian Spirits

September 9th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
JSVCPROJECTS AND KOEN VANMECHELEN
The Battery Channel Podcast

September 1st 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
ARTISTS IN THE STUDIO, JERSEY

August 25th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
MANIFEST OF THE TRUE

August 18th 2020

A WALK IN MY LIBRARY:
3 LOVE POEMS IN THE SUMMER

August 11th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
SUMMER NEWS

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August 4th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
ROD MENGHAM,
Awarded the Cholmondeley Award for Poets

July 28th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
JILL SILVERMAN VAN COENEGRACHTS RECOMMENDS

July 21st 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
LINDA KARSHAN
Studio visit

July 14th 2020

BEHIND THE SCENES:
STEFANO CIGADA,
"Frammenti" at the Museo di Roma in Trastevere

January 2nd 2020

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020!

all posts title image
Koen Vanmechelen, IT’S AOUT TIME, Installation view at Serlachius Museum Gösta, Mänttä, Finland

BEHIND THE SCENES:
KOEN VANMECHELEN
“It’s About Time”

July 25th 2018

PART I

Koen Vanmechelen opens “IT’S AOUT TIME”, Serlachius Museum Gösta, Mänttä Finland.

Produced in collaboration with JSVCprojects/London. Curated by Timo Valjakka.
Until September 9, 2018.
Serlachius Museum Gösta, Mänttä, Finland.

PART II

Good Summer reading!

“IT’S ABOUT TIME”…
ART AND POPULATION HEALTH AT A CROSSROADS

LinkedIn original overview of Koen Vanmechelen’s unique artistic practice from the perspective of scientific engagement.

By Adam Silverman, Vice President, Population Health,
Saint Francis Healthcare Partners, Hartford, CT, USA:

When art and science mix, great things happen. And that is what happens when Koen Vanmechelen gets in your head. Koen is a Belgian artist known for the Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (CCP) – http://wassermanprojects.com/cosmopolitan-chicken/#1475108318857-94863590-382f

I had the opportunity to meet with him during his newest opening at the Serlachius Museum in Mantta, Finland in May.

The CCP is an experience and a philosophy of life that uses the chicken as the metaphor of the amalgamation of human interaction with our natural environment, the dependency that exists among species, as well as role that art and science have in mutually re-enforcing the other. The CCP depicts life as art but also provides us solutions to some vexing problems.

The fates of humankind and the chicken have been intertwined for millennia. As a reliable source of nutrition, early human settlements gravitated to the chicken as a renewable food source. As a social construct, the chicken has been a part of every major human settlement. Koen’s work recognizes this interdependence and highlights the importance of “place” in determining who we are and who we can become.

By raising awareness of the importance of genetic heterogeneity in species’ survival, the artist’s work reminds us that our current culture of hyper-specialization and genetic homogeneity presents survival risks. By placing importance on select genetic qualities, our industrial agricultural mono-culture has created a food supply that is inherently vulnerable to disease and has removed a key element of health and well-being from our local communities.

As population health is really about preventing preventable illness, enabling our communities to provide basic human needs in a reliable and safe way, the CCP reminds us that while we believe our modern societies have the ability to provide superior health and well-being, we actually are building on a shaky foundation. In particular, the industrialization of our food supply leaves it vulnerable to epidemic, promotes human disease through rearing practices that are dependent on antibiotic over-use, and promotes food insecurity to our most vulnerable populations by financially and geographically limiting access to nutrition.

By crossbreeding national chicken breeds to create new hybrids, Koen’s art has created a scientifically more resilient chicken. A chicken that can be re-introduced into a “cosmopolitan” environment and thrive, therefore promoting the notion of local stewardship over food production. From a population health perspective, this gets about as far upstream into a community as one could imagine. If well-being is defined in terms of the ability of a community to provide for itself, then the CCP gives us a roadmap to get there.

Adam Silverman MD, FACP
Chief Medical Officer at Syllable
Article published on LinkedIn