What if you woke up one day with a herd of cows outside your front door?
On the 18th July, in the early hours of the morning, 5 cows, 5 calves, 3 stockmen and a milking parlour arrived in Toxteth, Liverpool and remained for 9 days. Over this period, aided by 5 ʻactorsʼ, the rituals of a dairy farm were performed within this new environment. From the base camp the cows were moved each day to one of four identified temporary grazing sites, each of which had been formerly built-upon and is now classified derelict”.
The COW the udder way project focused on Liverpool and effects of ‘shrinkage’ on the inner city areas of Toxteth. Through engagement with the public, the performance/event created a platform for debate on how derelict or neglected land could be used in the future, and suggested urban agriculture as one way of appropriating these spaces.
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dates:
2005 - commissioned by:
German Fedural Cultural Foundation - location:
Toxteth, Liverpool - team:
: Paul Cotter (film-maker), Gareth Morris (architect), Heidi Rustgaard (choreographer), Eike Sindlinger (architect), Ulrike Steven (architect), Susanne Thomas (choreographer, seven sisters group). Participating in the action in Liverpool were Mark Davis, Neil Pinguenet, Mark Saunders from Westcott Farm Devon.
- press:
27/06/05 BBC NW evening news ”Jersey by the Mersey
28/06/05 Liverpool Echo ”Amazing Graze”
30/06/05 BBC Radio Merseyside breakfast show
24/06/05 Farmers Guardian ”Jerseys take a city break”
02/07/05 Farmers Weekly ”Merseyside visit for DevonJerseys”
25/11/05 Leipziger Tageszeitung 25.11.2005 “Kühe inder Leerstelle”
01/2006 Green Futures “Move over Tracey”
09/10/05 Independent, The Sunday Review ‘Daisy’s Big Adventure”
01/2006 Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
2005 Archplus - publication:
2005 Shrinking Cities, Volume 2, Interventions (Hatje Cantz)
2008, Actions: What you can do with the city (Canadian Centre for Architecture) - exhibitions: