In Birds, the thirteenth exhibition at Het Kunstenhuis, curator and artist Klaus Verscheure invites us to reflect on the bird in art. This group exhibition brings together contemporary works in which the bird appears as messenger, metaphor, and mirror—a symbol of beauty and freedom, but also of fragility and loss.
In recent years, birds have been appearing more frequently in contemporary art. Why do artists today return so often to the image of the bird? Is it a revival of our centuries-old fascination with their beauty, elegance, and symbolism? Or does it point to a deeper concern with our changing relationship to nature, and the alarming decline of bird populations worldwide?
Also invited is Koen Vanmechelen, an artist for whom the chicken has long been a lifelong muse: the most domesticated creature on earth, yet at the same time a vivid mirror of humankind. Through his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, the artist crossbreeds chickens from all over the world, creating hybrids that embody genetic, cultural, and social diversity.
In this group exhibition, featuring works by Cindy Wright, Luc Tuymans, Hans Vandekerkchove, among others, Vanmechelen’s iconic chickens are presented in dialogue with glass—a material that, like the birds themselves, embodies both fragility and resilience, transparency and durability. Alongside these hybrid sculptures, the portraits of the Red Jungle Fowl—the original bird from which all modern chickens descend—trace a line back to origins and evolution. The works unfold as reflections on diversity, hybridity, and transformation. Glass becomes both medium and metaphor, revealing the delicate balance between strength and vulnerability, nature and culture, past and future.
Ultimately, Birds is not only about looking, but about recognition: how every wing, every egg, every body reminds us of who we are, where we come from, and to whom we are connected.
EXHIBITION FACTS
Kunstenhuis Harelbeke
Marktstraat 100
8530 Harelbeke
14 September – 17 November 2025
Opening hours:
Open on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
More info: www.kunstenhuis.be