On Thursday evening, the College of Design held a reception for the Portable Cow exhibition available for viewing in Gallery 181 until Feb. 27.
The exhibition, created by social sciences and humanities scholar Camille Bellet, artist and anthropologist Liz Hingley and designer Edwin Mingard, showcased the lived experiences of dairy cows while deepening the connection between farmers and their livestock.
“The idea is to encapsulate the changing relationship between cows and farmers in an increasingly digitalized environment,” Bellet said.
Bellet originally came across the idea of the Portable Cow when leading a project in the UK. From there, she spent a week on a dairy farm with Hingley, taking photos and analyzing CCTV camera footage from inside the barn.
“[The cameras are] an all-seeing eye in the barn,” Hingley said.
After that first week on the farm, 43 other farmers from across France and the UK contributed information to help grow the project.
The Portable Cow was born from their time studying farmer-cow interactions and CCTV footage. The cow, not much bigger than a quarter, intends to spark a dialogue between farmers, agriculture students and members of the general public.
“[We wanted] to start a dialogue,” Hingley said. “I am very very grateful to be here.”
The event offered food and beverages for attendees and featured photos of dairy cows throughout the gallery. The photos of intimately posed shots of cows’ anatomy and eyes were designed to make the observer view cows in a different way than they are typically depicted.
Ingrid Lilligren, a University Professor for the Department of Art and Visual Culture, attended the reception.
“I think what’s fascinating about the exhibition is the range of opportunity,” Lilligren said. “The viewer has to enter into a world that very few get to experience: to see through the eyes of livestock.”
During the reception, attendees were invited to speak to Bellet and Hingley to learn more about their creative process. The two could be seen wandering through the event, speaking to guests and admiring their work.
“I like being able to think about my place in the hierarchy of the animals in the world,” Lilligren said.
