BREAKING THE CAGE C.C.P. ,Ikob, International Art Centre East Belgium

The Red, the Green and the Yellow or Sri Lankan Junglefowl, each of them rummaging in its own cage. The installation ‘Breaking the Cage’ presents three of the four bird species that make out the pheasant family, the genus Gallus. The animals are separated by a maze of chicken wire and wood, through which the visitor finds his way. Above them heat lamps are projecting their red, throbbing light on the cages. The silence bears sounds. The scene stands in stark contrast with the Shangri La the wild animals normally live in: scrub habitats and woods (Yellow JF), lush, Southeast Asian jungles (Red JF) and coastal island areas (Green JF).
The largest cage frames the Red Junglefowl, the original or proto-‘chicken’ from which all domestic chickens are descended. This species of Junglefowl has been living for aeons at the edge of the forest. More than 8.000 years ago it left the sanctuary of the Thai jungles and became domesticated. A relatively recent event in human history. While the wild Red Junglefowl remained in the woods, his domesticated cousins travelled the world and were substantially transformed by doing that. The domesticated chicken became less active and social, less aggressive and likely to go looking for foreign food sources. Humans have spurred the evolution of chickens from wild ancestors to domesticated birds specialized for meat production and egg laying. The phenotype of the animal was changed dramatically. Nowadays, the domestic chicken is the most important and cost-effective source of animal protein worldwide.
Was it mankind that captured the protochicken and manipulated it to his liking? Or was it the animal that went looking for man? And what was the impetus? The installation ‘Breaking the cage’ suggests that it must have been a mutual longing: hunters-gatherers finding their way through the labyrinthian jungles of Southeast Asia. The protochicken breaking through the millennia old natural cages that protected and imprisoned it. Random mutation was the start of this symbiotic relationship between two animal species. Some Red Junglefowl became less wary of humans, started scavenging for food in their garbage dumps. Every organism needs another organism to survive.
More mutation was also the result of the collaboration. Both species shaped each other, man taking the chicken all over the planet and transforming its genetic architecture. The animal became a part of man’s cultural and religious experiences, his diet, science and way of life. The domesticated chicken, 10.000 years ago, meant the start of the development of agriculture for the human species. Unlike the Red Junglefowl, the Green and Yellow Junglefowl fared differently. They stranded and became island species that have evolved side by side with their predators.
Since the first contact between human-animal and chicken, both species have done very well. Maybe too well. The existence of the Red, Green and Yellow Junglefowl are threatened by genetic pollution, a result of breeding with domesticated species. Their habitats are under human threat. The domesticated chicken, once a holy animal, has become a product, a farmed object and even a threat for mankind. In breaking the cage the wild animals represent the past, needing protecting and being under threat of extinction, and the future. Do we need to keep them in reservations, zoos and our memory as living proof of evolution? Must we save their genetic material for the future. Burying their DNA in ice? Or is this the way of the world and implies the genetic pollution the possible start of a new mutation? Do these wild animals need our cages? So that they can break them down themselves? After mutation.
Koen Vanmechelen, 2011