Each year, LABIOMISTA develops its programme around an overarching theme. While Wild Gene explored the untamed element of our human nature as a driving force for creativity and change, Never Alone shifts the focus to what fundamentally connects us.
Artist Koen Vanmechelen explains: “This theme begins with a simple observation: nothing and no one exists in isolation. At LABIOMISTA, that is not an abstract idea, but a lived reality. With Never Alone, we continue to invest in shared responsibility — not by promising grand solutions, but by creating space for encounter, care, and vulnerability between species, people, and ideas. The campaign image embodies this literally: three graceful, hybrid bodies connected in a single gesture. Not a symbol of unity, but a reminder that life always emerges through relationship.”
Mayor Wim Dries adds: “Genk is built on diversity. People with dozens of backgrounds do not merely live side by side here, they live together with one another — in neighbourhoods, schools, and workplaces. Never Alone resonates seamlessly with that reality: connectedness is not a slogan, but something you create and sustain every day. LABIOMISTA gives shape to that story and shows how art can help a city embrace difference rather than push it away. If Genk can inspire others, it is through this everyday practice of living together.”
The new season invites visitors to reflect on the relationships between humans, animals, landscapes, and knowledge — and on the care and responsibility these relationships entail.
BREAKING THE CAGE
One of the new artworks is Breaking the Cage, a site-specific listening performance, guiding visitors from the entrance building, The Ark, to the marble Cosmogolem. Along a path of nine new sculptures titled De Kooi (The Cage), visitors encounter voices, music, and sounds exploring mental, social, and structural cages and cocoons. Breaking the Cage is a co-creation by Koen Vanmechelen, with poetry and vocals by Lisette Ma Neza and The Poetry Band. The work was developed in close collaboration with local youth, and a variety of contributors including educational partners like the metalworking programmes of the SyntraPXL dual learning track. The listening experience shifts the focus from the individual to the collective.
Goele Schoofs, Process Manager at Studio Koen Vanmechelen: "The project starts from an observation that Koen made as a boy: a chick breaking out of its egg. That image of growth and liberation first became a sculpture, then a book with author Gregie De Maeyer, and later an extensive philosophical and artistic school programme. Now it takes on a new form in Breaking the Cage: a de-performance, Koen calls it; a performative trajectory in which voices, music, poetry and sculpture come together. It speaks to young people about the boundaries and challenges they face, and raises questions: How are boundaries learned, passed on, and kept in place? And: What does it take for us to break them open together?"
Breaking the Cage thus becomes a metaphor for growth, emancipation, and the continuous reinvention of the self in relation to the other. During the Day of the Cosmogolem — this year on June 7 — the project will be developed further with a live performance.
REWILDING BABIES — NEVER ALONE
Never Alone also names LABIOMISTA’s new breeding and rewilding centre for storks. In this temporary learning environment within Protected Paradise, young black and white storks from the Black Stork Baby Project learn to fly and coexist. As migratory birds, storks connect continents and ecosystems, illustrating how freedom and survival depend on cooperation.
Koen Vanmechelen: “What visitors see is only a transitional phase. Once the storks are ready, they return to the world.”
This is symbolised by a new sculpture: a sturdy tree trunk rooted in the ground, branching into two stork’s nests, with neon letters spelling out Never Alone. "Sometimes, the travelling storks are here, sometimes they’re not. In either case, you can always sense the connection. Their presence – and absence – speaks of vulnerability and connectedness", Vanmechelen concludes.
THE CITY AS A STAGE — OMIRI
Within the OpUnDi Genk Learning Ecosystem, LABIOMISTA has been developing the participatory project OMIRI Genk since September 2025, in collaboration with Portuguese multi-instrumentalist Vasco Ribeiro Casais.
Petra Remans, Coordinator of OpUnDi Genk: “At Koen’s invitation, and over a period of eight to twelve months, OMIRI is gathering, transforming, and reinterpreting local stories, sounds, and talents into a living portrait of the city.”
The first presentation will take place in the heart of the Nieuwe Kempen neighbourhood, in co-creation with C-mine. The performance will later continue at C-mine, where it will reach a broader audience.
KNOWLEDGE HUB — ART & SCIENCE
LABIOMISTA continues to evolve as a laboratory for the future. Through the JCW Fusion Lab, a collaboration with JCW (Youth, Culture & Science), young teenagers explore connections between diversity, identity, and genetics.
In April, Studio Koen Vanmechelen/LABIOMISTA and Hasselt University will launch Farming Knowledge, a pilot programme integrating art and science for upper secondary students in scientific fields.
Petra Remans explains: “In Future Garden, young people work alongside experts such as Kim Pannemans (Hasselt University), Willem Ombelet (The Walking Egg), and Chido Govera (The Future of Hope) to explore how knowledge grows at the intersection of disciplines. Themes such as DNA, diversity, immunity, and fertility are linked to artistic thinking and societal questions. The project aims to inspire interdisciplinary thinking, critical reflection, and an understanding of the connections between biology, the environment, humanity, and society.”
INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK
The theme Never Alone will resonate far beyond Genk. In 2026, LABIOMISTA will serve as the conceptual starting point for several international projects, culminating in Koen’s solo exhibition We Thought We Were Alone at the Venice Biennale in Palazzo Rota Ivancich.
Vanmechelen is also expanding his studio practice with LABOVO, a new production space in a nearby industrial zone, where his work will be centralised and developed further.
Goele Schoofs: “With new technologies and additional workspace, we are investing in the future. Koen’s work continues to grow internationally, and this new facility creates an expanded platform to develop that story further — in image, material, and process.”
OPEN STUDIO | KOEN VANMECHELEN
As The Battery remains the original home of Studio Koen Vanmechelen, on Saturday, April 4, Vanmechelen will exceptionally open the doors of this studio to the public.
Visitors will gain a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the place where the artist and his team develop, explore and bring ideas to life. At The Battery, a wide range of materials and disciplines converge: taxidermy, bronze, glass, marble, drawings, and sculptures.
It is here that Vanmechelen and his team prepare international exhibitions, initiate new projects, and oversee the extensive activities of the artist’s various foundations. The studio reflects the multidisciplinarity of Vanmechelen’s practice and exemplifies how art, science and nature co-exist here in a continuous dialogue.
Open Studio marks the start of the new season and offers a unique opportunity to experience the creative process up close.
Places are limited. Tickets via www.labiomista.be/tickets.
