The Cosmopolitan Chicken:
“ FIRST BEAUTY “

Silver
Dimensions: 77mm x 30 mm
Series of 24

Koen VANMECHELEN

For this cooperation between D&A Lab and Koen Vanmechelen, it seemed obvious to create something
with a chicken ring. A chicken ring big enough for a human! This bracelet is a blow-up of the ring for the very first chicken in 1998 (two years before the project officially began). This creation is not purely a homage to Vanmechelen’s oeuvre but by means of technology, by scanning and resizing the original ring with all its scratches and irregularities, a bracelet that forms an integral part of The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project was obtained. This first crossing was a Poulet de Brest with a Mechelse Koekoek, which explains the insignia on the bracelet: 98 MB 1.
The bracelet is made of patinated silver and is one of 24 copies.

ABOUT

Born 1972 in Sint-Truiden
Lives and works in Gruitrode

Koen Vanmechelen makes iconoclastic sculpture, paintings, glasswork and installations. His daring
expeditions into contemporary science, philosophy and ethics have resulted into several internationally
acclaimed projects.
Most known is The Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (TCCP), a vast attempt to create and manipulate scores of chicken breeds from whole over the world into a new species, a universal chicken or Superbastard.
Four subprojects constitute the TCCP: Virtual crossing, Experimental crossing ,
The Walking Egg and The Accident, Chronicles of The Cosmopolitan Chicken .
More socially orientated is The Cosmogolem, a project that is swiftly spreading all over the planet.
This powerful, wooden sculpture is adopted around the world as a symbol for children's rights.
Crossbreeds clearly play an essential role in Vanmechelen's work, not only in chickens but also in materials and disciplines. Topical themes such as genetic manipulation, cloning, globalization and multiculturalness are found throughout his work.