cow virtual reality with Cory McKague & news for Drawing Animals
ESSAY FIFTEEN: "THE AMERICAN FARM"
I am over here.
Where are you?
AFTERTHOUGHTS
Like elephants and dogs, cows have a tremendous capacity for friendship, long-term memory, and recognition of past playmates and family members.
They experience a range of emotions from rage to love. Mother cows mourn calves who stolen from them to become food.
I met my first family of cows almost four years ago when I went with my mother to Catskill Animal Sanctuary. I'd learned of the space after living for a week at Omega Institute where I was camping and studying poetry. There was a brochure for the sanctuary at the check-out counter, and I knew I needed to go.
From Cory McKague's Instagram: "Domestication/Where the Buffalo Roamed. Now on part of the MT Liggett Art Environment."
This experience is just one of the reasons I was so excited to talk to this week's podcast guest, Cory McKague, an artist, educator, and technologist who recently completed a Tall Grass Artist Residency where they demonstrated their virtual reality cow simulator where users can put on a headset to experience a variety of cow experiences.
From Tall Grass Residency website representing Cory McKague's virtual reality cow simulator
Cory McKague is an American realist whose interests lie in the intersection of technology and points of extraction amidst the rural landscape. They are a MFA candidate at the University of Colorado, Boulder in sculpture + post studio practice where they are researching untold stories of the west and the digital divide.
From Tall Grass Residency website representing Cory McKague's virtual reality cow simulator
"I think as our world becomes more commercialized, we become more avoidant to this fact," Cory shares. "Everything is so pre-packaged and mass produced, it really separates that we're eating an animal."
Listen to the full episode of "Embodying farmed animals with Cory McKague" here!
In our conversation, Cory shared their artistic practice, their thoughts on the American agricultural system, and what it's like to embody the experience of a cow through virtual reality. We also discussed JBS, the largest producer of beef (cow) in the world.
READING LIST: COW LOVE
I have some work out that I'd love to share with you. I recently had a new story come out in The Offing that you can read here. My new short film, Final Curtain Call, will also be premiering at Cinema Village on East 12th Street in Manhattan on 10/26 at 2p as part of the New York Shorts International Film Festival if you're in the area! Tickets go live here on 10/13.
I am experiencing some changes in my life that have asked me to reevaluate my weekly release of this newsletter. Moving forward, Drawing Animals and the companion podcast episode will be released monthly. Until next time, I suggest the following to continue to deepen your relationship to the lives of cows: Meditations with Cows by Shreve Stockton and The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young.
Talk to you soon! <3