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Dinner with the cows / Middag med korna
artist Kultivator
year 2005
language(s) None
location  SWEDEN, Öland
region 5 Offshore (Offshore)
index no. 11.5.01
media DVD
about the media The DVD shows people having dinner at a table, silently, with cows at the other end. Duration: 10 minutes.
 
Preparing
Preparing
 
about the project The film ‘Dinner with the cows - or food for those we love’ shows people setting a table on a misty night. The table is long, covered with tablecloths. A man and a woman fill the plates: one side of the table with salad, the other side with forage. A tractor arrives with a chandelier on top. The driver places the chandelier above the table and turns on the light.
 
Then the people arrive. They take a seat at the salad side of the table, start eating and take a glass of milk. At the other end cows arrive, digging in their forage on the plates. A curious interaction between cows and people takes place.
 
The film was shot Friday evening the 30th of September 2005 during Öland’s Skördefest, the harvest feast of the island. During the open event visitors were invited to join in. The dairy cows from Dyestad eko gård performed the other part.
 
The harvest feast attracts thousands of visitors to the island every year. People travel from farm markets to exhibitions (foremost of landscape paintings) all night. ‘Dinner with the cows’ was set up by Kultivator to actually make people participate in something instead of being just viewers. On the website of Kultivator (see below) the film can be watched.
 
about artist and participants Kultivator is an experimental cooperation of organic farming (Dyestad eko gård) and visual art practice (Art initiative 16:2), situated in the rural village of Dyestad, on the island Öland off the South East coast of Sweden.
 
By installing certain functions in abandoned farm facilities, near to the active agriculture community, Kultivator provides a meeting and working space that points out the parallels between provision production and art practice, between concrete and abstract processes for survival. Kultivator started building up late autumn 2005, and will be under construction until the summer of 2007.
 
Already open is the ‘Agriculture shop’ with products from sustainable/organic farming, fair trade, art and information about the surrounding nature; ‘In - site’ with the Kultivator archive and premises for meetings, seminars, screenings, etc.; ‘Out - site’ with outdoor spaces in old forest and grazing land for permanent or temporary installations/activities, and ‘The white cube made out of cow dung’ for exhibitions and gatherings. Still under construction is the ‘Guest atelier/project room’, where artists and others can work.
 
organisations Kultivator
 
sponsors Reaktor Sydost (financial support and advice)
 
links www.kultivator.org          
 
The guests arrive
Unusual company
 
 
up
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