“My mom put me on top of this cow and she sang to me!”

The “Cow, Cow Boogie Cow”

This interactive cow sculpture was sponsored by The Wall Street Journal as part of the 2000 Cow Parade street art event in New York City which hosted over 300 cows produced by artists and designers. 

The 200-pound shell provided by the organizers was restructured to make the cow appear like it was singing by reshaping the head, neck and mouth. A sound system was placed inside the cow to produce music when a user triggered a switch by sitting on top.

The Wall Street Journal chose the design from a public competition. Working with the WSJ staff, we chose, “The Cow-Cow Boogie” by Ella Mae Morse for the sound recording. The song would play when a pressure sensitive seat-trigger activated a sound system powered by a battery mounted inside the cow. The sculpture was placed at Wall and Broad Streets, then auctioned off at a fund-raiser and sold for $17,000.

Work
Design selected for support by The Wall Street Journal
Work with a crew of three to execute the design
Work with an audio equipment company to provide a sound system

A second design was chosen and produced for Bear Sterns