La Biomista in Genk unites art, biodiversity, and heritage, with animals, layered landscapes, and a unique creative experience
La Biomista Genk
La Biomista Genk
At the intersection of heritage, art, and nature, a unique art park has grown in Genk on the former Zwartberg mining site. La Biomista brings the layered history of the site back to life with a design that respects and enhances the special soil, biodiversity, and artistic vision of Koen Vanmechelen.
La Biomista is a 24-hectare art park that spans the former Zwartberg mining site, which also hosted Genk’s well-known zoo for many years.
Today, the site serves as the creative laboratory of artist Koen Vanmechelen, whose work explores the intersection of art, biocultural diversity, and human identity. The park is structured in three layers: nature, cultural history, and the art that connects these layers.
The landscape design literally adds a new layer over the existing ground: a floating concrete slab cuts through the landscape, offering visitors a unique perspective of the terrain. This intervention respects the unique spontaneous vegetation that developed on the former mining soil, with species that occur nowhere else in this form. Biodiversity was a key starting point for the design.
Throughout the site, animals live as an integral part of Vanmechelen’s work, including llamas, zebras, camels, ostriches, and eagles. The animals are not attractions but actors in the ever-evolving artwork that is La Biomista. Their presence makes themes such as domestication, identity, and genetic diversity tangible and perceptible. The close collaboration with Koen Vanmechelen has resulted in a park that not only tells a visual story but also maps a philosophical and ecological journey.