As world leaders gather in Antalya to discuss the planet's future, Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen is inviting visitors to reconsider humanity's place in the natural world through two sculptures displayed at COP31.
Working at the crossroads of art, science and community, Koen Vanmechelen explores the relationship between humans and other forms of life through his art.
Vanmechelen’s two sculptures “We Thought We Were Alone” and “Cosmopolitan Fossil” traveled to Antalya from his current solo exhibition in Venice, running alongside the 61st Venice Biennale, which welcomed more than 15,000 visitors.
“Both sculptures question humanity’s claim to power and control over other forms of life,” Vanmechelen said. “Now that question arrives in the place where our shared future is being negotiated.”
The remaining 38 works will stay on display in Venice until Nov. 22.
Standing nearly 3 meters (9.8 feet) tall, “We Thought We Were Alone” depicts an ape standing on a mirrored sphere balanced on a human thumb. The sphere reflects the
viewer, drawing them into the work, while the ape takes the highest ground. The precarious composition makes the fragility of that balance tangible: the world rests on a single point.
A similar tension unfolds in "Cosmopolitan Fossil," where a child holds an iguana in place of the rooster in “Bambino con Gallo” ("Child with Rooster"), a work by 19th-century Florentine sculptor Adriano Cecioni. Vanmechelen reinterprets the original bronze, which was displayed alongside his Cosmopolitan Fossil series at the Uffizi Galleries in Florence in 2022. “I replace the domesticated bird with a wild animal,” he said. “The child struggles to hold it.” In that simple gesture lies a larger question: Where does human control over nature end?
Beyond the negotiating rooms, COP31 is opening up space for a different kind of climate dialogue, one shaped by artistic expression, cultural exchange and new perspectives on the natural world.
At the heart of COPArt is a simple but urgent message: It is not too late to make a difference. Titled "Still Possible” (“Hâlâ Mümkün”), the exhibition takes its name from the idea that the future remains shaped by the choices and care we show today. “The survival of a forest or a species, the passing on of a craft, a work of art that reaches new generations: it all depends on the care we show today,” says Nagihan Özel, the exhibition's director and curator.
Vanmechelen sees art as a way to expose the contradictions underlying humanity's relationship with nature. “The climate crisis exposes a contradiction: we depend on the very life we keep trying to control,” he says. “Artists can make that dependence visible. I am bringing these works to Antalya because decisions about the planet begin with how we understand our place within it.”
He is also scheduled to speak on Nov. 18, during COP31's Human and Social Development thematic day, which includes discussions on cultural heritage and traditional and local knowledge. The artist previously gave a lecture on the sidelines of COP15 in Copenhagen in 2009.
