I found more cows!  The ones taken at night are at Larcomar, and the other ones are from Barranco.

Le mucche da design hanno invaso decine di città in tutto il mondo tra cui Firenze nel 2005 e Milano nel 2007… dal 12 aprile al 12 giugno 2010 andrà in scena Cow Parade a Roma. Al termine dell’esposizione si svolgerà un’asta pubblica battuta da Sotheby’s il cui ricavato verrà devoluto in beneficenza ad Ageing Society.

Per chi non ha incrociato queste mucche colorati e divertenti in qualche città, ecco una breve sintesi. Cow Parade è la grande mostra a tema di arte contemporanea che dal 1998, da un’idea del famoso scultore svizzero Pascal Knapp, invade tutti gli anni le vie delle metropoli del mondo portando la creatività degli artisti in mezzo alla gente.

Fino ad oggi cowparade è stata in scena in oltre 40 capitali nel mondo (New York, Chicago, Sidney, Londra, Parigi, San Paolo, Tokyo, ecc.) e città italiane (Firenze 2005, Milano 2007) coinvolgendo centinai di creativi, attirando in media per ciascuna edizione oltre un milione di visitatori.

Ora la mucca “Cow Parade” approda nelle case degli italiani con una collezione di tappeti moderni a cui è abbinato in omaggio la mucca che lo ha ispirato per vestire e arredare con un oggetto di design. I tappeti Cow Parade sono dei tappeti moderni economici ispirati al design di precise mucche provenienti da varie esposizioni nel mondo, accomunate da attenzione per i dettagli e qualità.

Questi tappeti moderni di prezzo economico e di design pregiato possono essere acquistati direttamente on-line sul sito leader nella vendita di tappeti www.tappeti.it dove è disponibile il catalogo pdf oppure per coloro che preferisco ancora i canali di vendita tradizionali presso Persian House in Via Nirone 2 angolo Corso Magenta a Milano.

La collezione di tappeti prevede 13 design ispirate a precise mucche, infatti gni tappeto Cow Parade è accompagnato da una mucca in omaggio (cm.18×28) ispiratore del design. I tappeti sono realizzati a mano nell’unica dimensione cm.230×160 in materiale acrilico anallergico e accompagnati dal certificato di garanzia Cow Parade.

A month or so ago (I’m late as usual to posting events) my husband went on a Team Building hiking trip thing. His team took a train to bus to a cable car up a mountain, and then hiked back down the mountain, going down on scooters partway, and stopping for the occasional beer. The day ended with dinner together. It was an all-day thing, and even though he was pretty tired at the end, my husband had a blast.

On their way up the mountain, though, Heath encountered a really special parade – one I’d hoped to see during my time in Switzerland, but have thus far missed: the parade of cows from the high pasture to the low pasture in the fall (and vice-versa in the spring), called Alp Aufzug. This is a very integral part of Swiss rural culture. Lots of tourists and Swiss citizens flock to small alpine towns to view the parades. There’s often a specific traditional order and custom to the parades. The one that Heath saw started with children leading goats, and then the adult men in their bright vests leading cows wearing huge bells. And at the end was a man in brown. I’ve seen photographs of other parades where women wear traditional costumes including a fantastic headdress that looks like it belongs in the movie Dune and men blowing those huge Alpine horns at the end of the day. I missed it this year, but I’m determined to go to one of these parades next year.

My husband got some absolutely fantastic photos of the event:

children in traditional Swiss costume leading the Alp Aufzug

Cheese cart at the end of the parade.

Heath’s coworkers were a little boggled by his eagerness to scramble out of the bus (which had to pull to the side of the road) to take pictures of cows (twice! there were two parades that day!). But they just teased him over beers later. Here’s a few shots of his hike.

View of the steep hiking trail.

Heath on a mountaintop

Goats on the mountaintop!

Swiss cowbells in a pub

Heath and his best bud Ayse

More pictures of Heath’s hike with his coworkers can be found here.

A great article on the Alp Aufzug by Rick Steves can be found here.

Dear Ceci, Cle and Dri

Happy Halloween! Missing you guys and the fun parade from last year!

Esse ano minha fantasia é a vaca! Espero vcs aqui! Bjs!

… and she will be missed!

Life is supposed to be fun. And it is.

Como se não bastasse seu incompreensível sucesso no Brasil, a Cow Parade nos traz agora uma vaca ciclista, de autoria da designer Laura Sobral, finalista da seleção para a exposição de 2010, em São Paulo. Detalhe: a cicowvia, segundo o site Blue Bus, é patrocinada pela Ipiranga. Aquela que descobriu há muito tempo que o brasileiro é apaixonado por carro.

Vaca ciclista, idéia bovina. Imagem do Blue Bus.

That´s how a cow becomes a house.

Photograph by: Carolina Kenéz

I painted for almost 11 hours today! My eyes, hand and arm need some rest… and yet, my heart and soul ask for more!

It´s been so much fun to paint this sculpture! Besides all the daily adversities, life always offers fantastic (and perhaps disguised) presents.

We have to keep an open heart to recognize them… They may look simple or meaningless, but they are definetely up-lifting!

I´m grateful for the gift of painting!

And you? What are you grateful for?

A few days after the Cow Parade was inaugurated in Madrid a group of 6 youths stole one of the sculptures on display in Plaza Lavapies . Somehow, in the early hours of Sunday morning, they managed to unscrew the base of the cow, which weighs about 400 kilos, and kidnap ithe sculpture without anyone seeing them. It was taken by the local kids to their apartment block a few streets away, and carried up to their fifth floor flat without the use of a lift. It was only at this point that a curtain-twitching neghbour alerted the police. They turned up the following day with one of the exhibition organisers, to liberate the cow. She was subsequently returned unharmed to her plinth in the plaza. The organinsers of the event were quoted as saying ‘You have to really have your head screwed on to unscrew one of these sculptures from its base.’ They also said it was most unusual for one of the cows to go walkabout during Cow Parade. But then, they didn’t count on the inhabitants of Lavapies, who are indeed unusual.

The international exhibiton, over the last ten years or so since its conception, has paraded through over 65 cities in three different continents, and there are only two other cases of kidnapping.

While the exhibiton was in Prague a cow was stolen and believed to have been dumped in the river.

...or the cow gets it

During the Stockholm event a Swedish Organization called the Militant Graffiti Artists of Stockholm kidnapped and decapitated one of the cows after releasing a video in which two balaclava-clad militants held power drills to its head, and proclaimed,

“We, the members of The Militant Graffiti Artists of Stockholm feel morally obligated to protect our city against the Cows that have invaded our streets…..The cows are Not Art. …. Advertisements can never be art….We have taken a hostage. We demand that the cows be declared Non-Art and… before 12:00 August 23rd, leave our streets.….If our demands are not met, the hostage will be sacrificed. Vandalism and artistic justice will be administered.”

The event organisers tried to negotiate with the kidnappers and offered them a white cow to decorate in exchange for the stolen one, so that they could clarify what “real art” was. They also offered to auction off this piece with the others at the end of the event. But the ac tivists were not impressed.Vandalism and artistic justice were soon administered. The pieces of the executed cow were sent in a black bin-liner to one of the Swedish daily newspapers and a video of the beheading posted on the graffiti artists’ website.

So, only three cases of kidnapping over a ten year period. But it is the Lava pies theft that interests me because it says so much about this neighbourhood and the character of its mixed bag of inhabitants. The Prague disappearance was an act of mindless vandalism. The Stockholm stunt was an ironic and well-planned poltical statement. In both cases the cows were destroyed. But the cownapping here was an inspired spontaneous decision by a group of mates, made in the early hours of Saturday night/Sunday morning, probably under the influence of alcohol, drugs or both. She was returned unharmed and there was no real malice involved. It is the equivalent of taking a traffic cone home on your head, or helping yourself to someone’s garden gnome on the way home from the pub, only it takes six to carry it, and it’s a far more prestigious trophy. The theft shows a certain ‘devil-may-care’ attitude to authority, (given the huge number of video surveillance cameras recording every second of our existence), and a great deal of initiative, problem-solving and teamwork (unscrewing the base, carrying it up to the fifth floor without a lift), It also demonstrates a sense of entitlement to public property, or to anything that isn’t nailed down. And to some things that are.

It reminds me of the history of my front door. Today we have a smart, laquered wooden door at the main entrance to my block, with a glass panel in it. But I was told that during the recent rennovations, the original brand new front door was dropped onto its hinges by the carpenters ready to be properly attached. When they arrived the next day to screw in the fittings there was no front door.

Theft of public property of this kind only re-inforces the negative opinions of those who believe Lavapies is no more than a filthy immigrant neighbourhood with soaring crime rates . In this city if you mention that you live in Lavapies to anybody ‘pijo’ (upper middle class/posh), eyebrows will most certainly be raised. Many people seem to see it as a dangerous no-go area. They have never dared to come down here and take a look for themselves, yet they have a clear picture in their head of what it is like, and this picture is a Hogarth drawing.

Gin Lane

So why would anyone choose to live in Sodom and Gomorra? Even the neghbours association vecinosdelavapies pokes a wry finger at local delinquinecy in its glorious Lavapies Olympics project (more of that coming soon). But Lavapies is also a laid back, multi-cultural , democratic and vibrant neighbourhood. It has been compared to the Alexandria of the thirties immortalised by Durrell in his writing. I would bet good money that the Militant Graffiti Artists of Stockholm would feel just as at home here as I do. As would Banksy. The neighbourhood may have its fair share of scallies and thieving cows, but that, like so many things in Lavapies, you just have to take with a pinch of salt.

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Burro Parade ou Feirão do Burro.É a versão do Novo México da Cow Parade onde cada artista escolhido decora um burro de cerâmica que será exposto nas ruas e posteriormente, leiloados com resultados financeiros revertidos aos abrigos de animais da cidade de Lincoln County .Vale a pena conferir.
clique aqui para conhecer todos burros

Beast Parade or Beast Sale.Is the New Mexico version of the Cow Parade in which each artist chose a beast of decorating pottery will be exhibited in the streets and then auctioned with financial results reverted to animal shelters in the city of Lincoln County.
Check out here.

How can something that gives such pleasure and joy be called “work”? I´m so blessed!

Kansas City is my hometown. While Kansas City is far from a ‘cow town’ today, it still has trouble shaking that moniker. Unfortunately, I too thought of Kansas City when I read the name of this rug collection from Surya…Cow Parade. Surya is a great site for design inspiration and color studies.

MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUito fofa!

Having so MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUch fun!

PS: Carolina took this picture. Thanks Caro!

My friend Hanne said it all: She is a beauty!

Life is indeed supposed to be fun!

Have you ever heard of “The Cow Parade”?

I was invited to paint one for the local edition of this fantastic parade (in São Paulo, Brazil) and I´m loving it!

The sculpture arrived blank and I´m already working on it. If you want to follow the making of the cow, keep visiting my blog!

It´s going to be a lot of fun!

PS: My cow will be a “naive” cow…and it will be like inside of a house… Are you curious? Than wait until my next post!

Território Urbano – Feira de manifestações contemporâneas acontecerá no dia 29 de agosto e inaugurará um novo projeto do Studio Ideias, empresa de planejamento estratégico localizada na Vila Madalena: o Coletivo Ideias.
O horário de funcionamento será das 10h às 20h00 e contará com uma programação cultural: um tour pelas intervenções urbanas da Vila Madalena, Workshops de Toy Art e Graffiti, debates sobre as manifestações atuais da cultura urbana, além de lounges expositivos de produtores independentes de moda, arte, design, música, decoração e literatura.
O evento está incluído no roteiro cultural de arte urbana Soul Sampa e promete ser um misto de festa, show, bazar e ainda um laboratório de produções e intervenções artísticas. Os interessados em participar dos workshops e roteiros devem entrar em contato com a organização do evento ou postar um comentário no blog.

Serviço:
Território Urbano – Feira de manifestações contemporâneas
Dia 29/08/09, das 10h às 20h. Entrada: R$ 5,00
Coletivo Ideias – Rua Madalena, 158. Vila Madalena
Mais informações ou imprensa: tel: 11- 2924-4007/08 (Mariana Nobre)
http://www.studioideias.com.br/coletivoideias

Programação:
Workshops (Inscrições limitadas)

• 11h – Tour Soul Sampa pelas ruas da Vila Madalena, seguido de workshop de graffiti no evento Território Urbano, monitorado pela artista e grafiteira Ya! Inscrições: reservas@soulsampa.com ou pelo telefone (11) 8654-8621 (Leandro Herrera)
• 10h às 16h – Workshop de Toy Art em tecido, com Xto e Shanon.Inscrições pelo tel 11-2924-4008 ou mariana.nobre@studioideias.com.br e xto@xto.pro.br.

Arena de debates

• 15h30 – Arena 1: “Texturas Urbanas que cobrem a cidade, a casa e o corpo: A linguagem urbana como estética contemporânea para a moda, a arte e o design.”

Mediação: Eduardo Furtado Leite: Psicanalista, doutor em ciências da comunicação (ECA-USP) e coordenador do Centro de Estudos em Semiótica e Psicanálise (CESPuc).

Debatedores:
Marco Antonio Di Lorenzi: Coordenador do curso de moda da UniSantana, professor de design têxtil da Escola Panamericana de Arte e FMU.

Monayna Pinheiro: Coordenadora do curso de Moda do Senac, criadora da marca Apego e Casa de Quem.
Luis Esteban Dominguez: Arquiteto e Urbanista, mestre em história pela PUC-SP, professor do curso de Semiótica Psicanalítica da COGEAE-PUC-SP.

• 17h – Arena 2: “Cultura Urbana: a influência da tecnologia e os impactos no comportamento urbano”

Mediação: Endrigo Chiri Braz, diretor de redação do B-Coolt.

Debatedores:

Eli Golande: integrante brasileiro do Grupo Arac, coletivo de estudos de arte urbana e intervenções artísticas.                                                                    Ester Krivkin: Representante da Cow Parade Brasil.
Jaime Prades: Desenhista, pintor, artista urbano e designer gráfico. Na década de 1980 por seu trabalho com o grupo Tupinãodá nas ruas de São Paulo, Curitiba e Rio de Janeiro, entre outras.
Oscar Cesarotto: Psicanalista. Professor titular do curso de pós-graduação em comunicação e Semiótica da PUC-SP.
Erica Almeida: Integrante do Coletivo de design e moda streetwear A.BOOM.
Alê Youssef: Curador musical do Studio SP

• 18h30 – Festa
  Intervenção Artística Grupo Arac – Arremesso de Borboleta
  DJs:Ju Salty

At the end of the world tour,

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Depois de saírem dos pastos e ganharem as ruas das principais cidades do mundo, as vacas do Cow Parade* estão no Submarino. A Silla Objetos, Tendências e Idéias, acertou contrato com a Top Trends, que detém a licença da Cow Parade no Brasil, para a exclusividade na importação e distribuição das miniaturas oficiais.

Assim, se vocês também se apaixonaram por essas vacas super estilosas ao caminharem pelas ruas de São Paulo há algum tempo atrás, agora podem adquirir uma em tamanhos que vão do pequeno ao extra grande. Onde? Aqui.

*Cowparade é um dos maiores e mais bem-sucedidos eventos contemporâneos de arte de rua do mundo. O projeto já percorreu mais de 50 cidades ao redor do mundo, incluindo Chicago, Nova York, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Cidade do México, Londres, Las Vegas, Bruxelas, Praga, entre outras. Criado em Zurique – Suíça, em 1998, o evento é um sucesso desde a sua concepção, além de ser uma forma muito divertida de expressar a arte de rua e promover a democratização da cultura no mundo.

On Sunday afternoon, Chuck and I finally got to see a Cow Parade, the wonderful public art/fundraising project in which fiberglass cows are adorned by local artists and displayed throughout a city. The Cow Parade is on display through June 14th in La Jolla, the seaside enclave famous for fabulous beaches (and controversial seal colonies). We had a lot of fun walking around town to see the cows, and saw three or four other groups of people walking from cow to cow as well. Of course, we also took a mid-parade break for beers and wings at La Jolla Brew House, where we especially enjoyed Night Shift, a Belgian-style IPA, and Zomer Brun, a Belgian-brown ale.

Here’s our cow parade gallery:

While Cow Parade art exhibits have been hosted in cities all around the world, one of the most creative displays to date was in London, England in 2002. London, a city rich in history, humor, and culture, was an ideal location for a creative Cow Parade public art project. Using a most unusual canvas–a fiberglass cow, local artists were able to express historical and cultural influences, ideas, and events unique to London and Europe. What were at first plain, unadorned fiberglass cows, resulted in an incredible display of painted bovine creations! Seen by millions of residents and tourists along the streets of England’s capital, in famous stores such as Harrods, and grazing in lush parks throughout the city, were a great variety of life-size decorated cow sculptures.

There are many cows in the line that are some of my favorites. You can find cows like Muuza that will surely get you excited if you are into pop art. Or Cowpatra if you are into Egyptian artwork. These cows are real pieces of art and they make excellent gifts or simply a real icebreaker in any crowd.

CowParade has become a very popular line because of its amazing artwork all over the World.