Couveuse is an exhibition about unpredictability, chance and serendipity. The three guardians of the chamber of the womb of the unwritten story we call life. In a world that is becoming more and more unpredictable.
The most striking installation is an almost futuristic object. It looks like a time capsule or even a UFO, but it is in fact a large incubator that hums with nurturing warmth. Beneath it seeds germinate. Underneath it grow extravagant, hybrid life forms. They are reptiles with chicken heads, and chickens with reptile heads.
The whole exhibition incubates new life. Life forms we don't quite recognise. They fascinate but equally frighten. The lamp is surrounded by videos showing a storm. It is chicken semen, a storm of fertility. It can give rise to enormously diverse, surprising creations. But that process can also explode. It can just as easily wipe out its creator, if it leads to something monstrous.
The watchful eye, immer present, transforms from a human eye into a chicken eye. They, we see and are. In vitro, the unthinkable awaits. This also becomes clear in the paintings and drawings. They too represent a kind of hybrid reproduction. Painting is the direct flow of energy. The flowing blood that churns and boils to push something upward. Volcanic expressiveness. Uninhibited, not directed. The movement is twisting, leaping in all directions and is continuous. The result is always a gift, a surprise. To paint is to wonder. The exhibition is a puzzle of ingredients that leads to new life. Natural reproduction, artificial insemination, hybridity, the right context, danger. Together they always create life provided the other key element is present: the unpredictable. A small factor that leads to the abnormal, the extra-normal, the other. To new life, far from the dead end.
Algorithms lead to results only through anomalies, far from the hoped-for stability. This is embodied in this expo by a tiny green leaf, from which life comes to life.
Exhibition Facts Koen Vanmechelen Couveuse April 1st - June 25th, 2022
KUBE Gallery by Uitstalling The Gallery Marcel Habetslaan 26, 3600 Genk, Belgium T: +32(0)475 32 28 26 | www.uitstalling.com Opening hours: Wed - Sun, 1-5 PM Or by appointment: +32(0)475 32 28 26
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