Headlines, Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Latin America & the Caribbean

/ARTS WEEKLY/MEXICO: Special Cows for a Special Cause

Diego Cevallos

MEXICO CITY, Oct 4 2005 (IPS) - The streets of the Mexican capital are about to be invaded by a herd of roughly 250 life-sized fibreglass cows, each of them comprising a unique work of art.

Some bear the faces of famous actors, historical figures and Mexico’s beloved masked wrestlers, while others represent mythological creatures from the country’s indigenous cultures.

The cows will be displayed along busy streets and in parks in residential neighbourhoods throughout Mexico City from late October until February 2006,when they will be auctioned off to raise funds for local charities.

This unusual outdoor art exhibition is part of the international movement known as CowParade. The first exhibit was held in Switzerland in 1998, and has since been followed by dozens of others in cities around the globe.

The fibreglass cows are moulded in a number of different positions – standing, grazing, or reclining – and then used as “canvases” by the participating painters. Over a dozen artists, both Mexican and foreign, contributed their talents to the Mexico City show.

One of the cows pays homage to the Angel de la Independencia, the monument that towers over one of the city’s busiest thoroughfares as a tribute to the founding fathers of Mexican independence.

Others are painted in the likeness of legendary masked wrestlers and local celebrities like El Chavo del Ocho, the star of a classic children’s TV show with a huge following throughout Latin America.

International celebrities make an appearance as well, with U.S. actress and hotel heiress Paris Hilton’s face gracing one cow’s body, for instance.

Others are painted with motifs borrowed from Mexico’s various indigenous ethnic groups, include gods and goddesses from ancient Aztec and Mayan mythology.

CowParade is “the world’s biggest public art exhibition,” and the Mexico City edition will be seen by around 10 million people, said local entrepreneur Arturo Ocádiz, one of the people responsible for bringing this international phenomenon to Mexico.

In an interview with IPS, Ocádiz explained that the Mexican capital was granted authorisation to hold a CowParade through negotiations with the originators of the project, who include Swiss sculptor Pascal Knapp.

The city was selected as a CowParade venue because it successfully met a number of criteria: it has a large population (around 20 million in the entire metropolitan area), a “cosmopolitan” character, and highly developed visual arts traditions, said Ocádiz.

The first CowParade was organised in Zurich in 1998 as a way of drawing people to the downtown area and promoting artistic creativity.

According to the initiative’s creators, the cow was chosen for its inherent nobility: it provides milk and meat and the various products derived from them, while asking very little in return.

Since then, more than 4,000 painted cows have “grazed” the streets and parks of cities like Stockholm, Chicago, Johannesburg, New York, London, Prague and Tokyo.

Mexico City is the second venue chosen in Latin America. The region’s first CowParade exhibit opened Sept. 4 in the southern Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, and there is one scheduled for Mar. 2006 in Buenos Aires.

As in all of these exhibitions around the world, the cows in Mexico City will be placed on cement pedestals in open-air locations throughout the city, making them freely accessible to all passers-by.

Preparations began over a year ago, with an open call to artists and the general public to submit designs. According to the promoters, around 1,000 proposals were received, of which roughly 250 were chosen.

Mexican artists, along with a number from the United States and Europe, were given the task of painting the cows, which are now ready to be “put out to pasture” around the city.

The money raised by auctioning off these original artworks at the end of the exhibit will go to Very Special Arts Mexico, a non-profit organisation that provides opportunities for participation in the arts to people with disabilities, and the Michou and Mau Foundation, which assists children who have suffered severe burns.

Part of the proceeds will also be donated to the Mexican Confederation of Organisations for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and to Niñas de la Calle, which helps girls living on the streets.

The Mexican CowParade promoters announced that there are plans for similar exhibits to be held in the cities of Guadalajara and Tijuana in 2006 and in Cancún in 2007.