With the presentation of the Mechelse Silkie, the 14th generation in his worldwide Cosmopolitan Chicken Project, Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen honours the Chinese people at the Expo 2010 Shanghai.
上海2010年世博会期间，比利时艺术家坤•凡麦西尔林将携手其全球性“世界鸡繁殖计划” 的第14代杂交鸡 Mechelse Silkie与中国人民见面。
In 2000, artist Koen Vanmechelen launched his Cosmopolitan Chicken Project (CCP), which documents the crucial role of the chicken in his work. The artist started crossing breeds of chicken from different countries. The Silkie is the 14th species/country included in the project. Others are: Belgium, France, Germany, Thailand, Russia, The United States, England, Holland, Brasil, Turkey, Italy, Cuba and Mexico.
2000年，艺术家坤•凡麦西尔林开始从事“世界鸡繁殖计划”，以杂交繁殖鸡为中心进行艺术创作和记录。他使用来自不同国家的鸡种进行交配，现已成功孕育出第14代鸡种Silkie，包含了来自14个国家的基因（其他国家包括比利时、法国、德国、泰国、俄罗斯、美国、英国、荷兰、巴西、土耳其、意大利、古巴和墨西哥）。
For ten years, Koen Vanmechelen has been working single-mindedly on his project – the Cosmopolitan Project (CCP). In this project, art and science merge. His impressive artistic analysis tackles, in an innovative way, fundamental questions about humanity – What is life? What is our identity as a species and as an individual? Vanmechelen: ‘Needless to say that China must be a part of this project.’
在过去的10年间，凡麦西尔林一直专注于从事“世界鸡繁殖计划”。这是一个将艺术与科学融于一体的创作。通过独具匠心的方式，凡麦西尔林用艺术的分析来回应关于人性的基本问题—“什么是生命？”、“我们作为一个物种、作为一个个体的身份究竟是什么？”。凡麦西尔林认为：“毋庸置疑，中国必定是这个计划不可或缺的一部分”。
As an observer, researcher and artist, Koen Vanmechelen knows how to question his subject, to analyse it and always expand on it, presenting it in a new light. His project is a work “in progress”, always responding to these fundamental human questions. The egg –a symbol of life – is a perfect metaphor, but also a tool with which to develop his artistic/scientific work.
作为一个观察者、研究者和艺术工作者，坤•凡麦西尔林熟知如何对其艺术创作进行敲打、分析，并不断在现有的基础上进行扩展，用新的方式来进行展现。他的计划是一个“仍在进程中”的艺术创作，并始终紧贴这些基本的关于人性的问题。在他看来，鸡蛋是生命的象征、一个完美的暗喻，但同时也是他用来发展艺术/科学创作的工具。
