Light for cows | cinnnamon

Jan Bokma
Light for cows
May 18 – July 6, 2019

“More light, more milk. Good lighting in the barn has been shown to enhance cows’ productivity.”

The rationalisation of our relationship with the world around us doesn’t become clearer than when observing modern livestock farming: organic and natural processes (mating, feeding, milking) merge –or collide, depending on your world view– with man’s productivity enhancing rational approach. Even barn light is designed to this end.

We might say that life itself is being reduced to be understood in terms of economic value, marginalising life’s intrinsic complexity. On the other hand, aren’t we, humans, simply part of the larger ecosystem? Is the natural/rational divide even tenable, especially on a material level?

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