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“Hornless Heritage”


(2014 - 2017)

“German dairy cow in the age of its technical reproducibility”

Just like its country’s famous automotive brands, German dairy breeds - known as ‘turbo cows’ - are very popular all over the world because of their performance and reliability. Thanks to computer technologies in the last decades, German scientists have compiled millions of breeding values together along with knowledge about genomic code, which has allowed them to design an animal with up to four times higher milk output and even breed out undesirable traits such as the animal’s horns. For a cow, evolutionary horns mean protection and autonomy. They are even important for the milk performance and overall condition of the animal. However, within the setting of huge, fully automated farms populated by hundreds of cows, horns are viewed as too dangerous. After decades of painful dehorning of cattle with a branding iron, scientists now predict that cows in the future could be rendered hornless by birth and retain the same peak milk performance due to the innovations of German cattle breeders. In an age where technological advancement and financial gains have created a culture of perfectionism, what will be the role for the cow itself as a living being in the years to come?

- ARTE Award Berlin 2018
- Kassel Dummy Award shortlist 2018
- Voies Off, Arles 2018
- Lumix Festival Shortlist 2018
- 3rd Place, Open category at NTU IPA, Singapore 2017
- Shortlisted at the Athens Photo Festival 2017

Published in VICE (DE), Le Monde M (FR), FuturZwei, WIRED (US), It's Nice That, Fluter.de, Süddeutsche Zeitung




Photographer and his assistants trying to get the cow into the right position during a professional cow photoshooting at the most important breeders championship "Schau der Besten" in Verden. 02/2017 Cattles are waiting to be sold at the "German Masters Sale" auction in Bitburg. 10/2015 Frozen semen of hundreds bulls at the insemination station, which can remain for up to 50 years, Borken. 02/2016 Milking machine presentation at the biggest agrocultural fair in Europe "Eurotier" in Hannover. 11/2016 A model of a modern full automated farm at the biggest agrocultural fair in Europe "Eurotier" in Hannover. 11/2016 A cow lift / livestock crush presentation for cutting the claws at the biggest agrocultural fair in Europe "Eurotier" in Hannover. 11/2016 A business man checking visit cards at the biggest agrocultural fair in Europe "Eurotier" in Hannover. 11/2014 A farmer spraying wounded cow leg white before the auction in Krefeld, 09/2015 Drops of milk are falling down out of the udder of a cow before the auction in Hamm. Usually the owners of the cows do not milk them for some days, to get the udder as huge as possible. 09/2015 A cowboy leads the cow over the "red carpet" to the stage to be sold at the "German Masters Sale" auction in Bitburg. 10/2015 An ear chip at the biggest agrocultural fair in Europe "Eurotier" in Hannover. 11/2016 The president of the Holstein bredders association showing two cow models. On the right a Holstein cow after 40 years breeding. Deutscher Holstein Verband, Bonn. 02/2017 Fresh sperm through the electro microscope at the insemination station in Borken, 02/2016 A "glass cow" in the lecture hall at the "Free University" of Berlin, anatomical faculty. There were only 9 of them produced since 1959 in Dresden based on the cow "Heidi", which was pregnant. The Berlin cow is the only one without a glass cover and with an BSE upgrade of the nervous system. 04/2017 Cows at the auction in Krefeld. 09/2015 Frozen semen sticks being prepared to be delivered to the farmers at the insemination station in Borken, 02/2016 Servers with the largest european database and genetic values of millions of bulls and cows in the cellar of the VIT(united information systems animal managment) Center in Verden.02/2017 A huge sticker of a claw cutting station at the biggest agrocultural fair in Europe "Eurotier" in Hannover. 11/2014 A full genome of a certain cow from the database at the VIT(united information systems animal managment) Center in Verden.02/2017 Businessmen at the biggest agrocultural fair in Europe "Eurotier" in Hannover. 11/2014 A dried stomach of a cow as part of the exhibition at the biggest agrocultural fair in Europe "Eurotier" in Hannover. 11/2014 A hornless cattle waiting for the auction at the most important breeders championship "Schau der Besten" in Verden. 02/2017 The most famous german Breeder Henrik Wille and his award winning cow Lady Gaga entering the red carpet / field at the most important breeders championship "Schau der Besten" in Verden. 02/2016






Schauraum, FH Dortmun Layout design in collaboration with Wolfgang Zurborn, Juli 2017















      
                                                                           
                                                                    
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