Exhibitions

During the 58th Venice Biennale, Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen heralded the birth of the Human Rights Pavilion, an evolving artwork that will take shape over the course of two years, as it travels the world, visiting almost every continent on earth. In 2021, Vanmechelen will present his completed OPUS at the next Venice Biennale, as an appeal to the world, and possibly as the start of a recurring international human rights pavilion.

At the 58th Venice Biennale, GLASSTRESS will present an impressive array of glass art by top artists from all over the world. Honouring ten years of GLASSTRESS and thirty years of Berengo Studio, curators Koen Vanmechelen and Vik Muniz have selected more than fifty delicate artworks.

The exhibition FOOD: Bigger than the Plate investigates the bigger story behind our food, from compost to table. By zooming in on stories of innovative individuals, societies and organisations, the exhibition aims to focus on a radically new way of eating. Attention is given not just to producing food, but also to the way we experience food on a personal level.

Vanmechelen presents a new series of bronze sculptures; Golden Cord are hybrid works of phantasmagorical, neo-mythological animals. They carry the umbilical cord of a connection with the rest of the world. The cord is an antenna, a horn, a connection referencing both past and future.

An extensive review over more than sixty-five works by the artist Koen Vanmechelen: sculptures, paintings, neon, lambda prints and installations set up outside and in the three floors of the Teatro dell’architettura Mendrisio, the new campus building designed by architect Mario Botta. Curated by Didi Bozzini.

BUILDINGBOX is dedicating the 2019-2020 season to contemporary glass art with the project Dalla sabbia, opere in vetro (From sand, works in glass). The second series of exhibitions in BUILDINGBOX – spread over 12 monthly appointments – presents the works Under Pressure and Open Secret by the Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen.