Largest Cow Art Exhibition

Founded in Zurich, Switzerland, in the summer of 1998, CowPARADE is the world's largest cow art exhibit with 812 artistically painted life size fibreglass cows exhibited along streets, on buildings, in parks, airport terminals, rail stations, etc. Developed by the Zurich Retail Association to promote retail and the arts downtown, the event brought in more than 1.5 million tourists. Hundreds of artists put forward their designs to the cow committee, and in no time, decorated bovines with punny names like Lady Cowdiva, Picowsso and Sam-Mooo-Rai are filling the city streets. There are three available cow poses for artists to work with - standing, grazing, and reclining - but all of the anatomical representations of Holstein cows measure approximately 8' long, 4'9" high and 2'5" wide (2.4 x 1.4 x .7m)and weigh approximately 100lbs (45.3kg). While all the life-sized cow sculptures remain the same, each city's artists are challenged by the art from past events, inspired by the cultural influences of their respective cities, and moved by their own interpretation of the cow as an art object.