From May 2021, Koen Vanmechelen, Philip's Biscuits and Academie Merksem will start a Cosmogolem project together!

 

Philip's Biscuits, together with Academie Merksem, Belgium's first children's rights academy, are bringing Cosmogolem to Antwerp. By purchasing an item from our Cosmogolem range, you are helping to build a new wooden giant for Merksem!

Take part in our competition (see below) and win a meet and greet with Koen Vanmechelen.

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COSMOGOLEM - A WORLD PROJECT FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

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The Cosmogolem project wants to help children to find their own voice and identity. The project exudes hope and belief in the future. Through a hatch at the height of his heart, children in the giant can express their wishes and dreams.

Each Cosmogolem is made in collaboration with local organizations. Children always help build.

From India to Nicaragua, from Tanzania to Belgium: the Cosmogolem appears everywhere.
Sometimes it travels, sometimes it is made on the spot.

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He is unstoppably looking for new places to sow joy and bring hope.

Large feet for stability and movement, large hands for helpfulness. The open head stands for an open mind and the hatch for security. This allows children to entrust the Cosmogolem with their dreams and wishes; GIANT OF HOPE

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KOEN VAN MECHELEN

Fire, water, earth and air are the ingredients that make this gigantic open brain capture the dreams of the world. He watches over the communities and awakens when there is unrest. Only the child knows his direction and has the power to move his enormous body. The tearing of the earth can mean the birth of a new era.

 

As an internationally renowned, interdisciplinary artist, the Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen (1965) is one of the most versatile thinkers of his time. He is situated at the confluence of art, science, philosophy and community.

As an eternal migrant, he travels the world in search of answers to fundamental questions about timeless but hyper-topical themes such as identity, diversity, globalization and human rights. He weaves these answers, works-in-progress, into enigmatic works of art and projects. His quests and interdisciplinary projects invite other migrants to collaborate and create awareness and movement of communities around the world. Together they reflect on the global legacy of the human animal and explore the different ways we choose to live and evolve together.

In 2010 he received an honorary doctorate from Hasselt University and was awarded the prestigious Golden Nica Hybrid Art Award (Linz, 2013) and Global Artist's Award (Venice, 2013). His work has already been shown in more than 80 solo and 220 group exhibitions worldwide. As a much sought-after speaker, he was invited to the World Economic Forum (2008) and to several TED conferences.

 

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PHILIP'S BISCUITS

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Philip's Biscuits originated from the dream to elevate an honest artisan biscuit to something more than an ordinary biscuit. We wanted to show that you can vary a lot with flavors and textures in order to arrive at a delicious and honest cookie, without frills, but above all, very tasty.

Moreover, biscuits had to regain their place from the past, when Antwerp was still a real Koekenstad.

Philip's Biscuits is a tribute to the artisan biscuit. An ensemble of balanced flavors and textures to lick your fingers. All cookies are made fresh daily in our baking workshop according to tradition with carefully selected fresh ingredients and real butter. They subtly surprise with their unique flavors.

We, at Philip's Biscuits, are always willing to support a good cause by means of our delicious cookies and are therefore 100% behind the goal of Cosmogolem vzw.

 

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ACADEMY MERKSEM

 

First Academy of Children's Rights in Belgium

The Merksem Academy has embarked on a two-year process to become the first Children's Rights Academy in Belgium. “We want to be a school that listens to children and their parents and that, through art education, does everything we can to give all children the opportunity to develop in a safe environment, because we believe that the impact of“ awakening and developing "can be tremendous for a child's confidence, self-image, self-esteem."