Leseprobe

TRANSPARENT COW FROM 1982/83 The Transparent Cow is the only Transparent Animal in the collection of the DHMD. 1 It is the ninth and thus last Transparent Cow, manufactured by the “Transparent Figures” workshop at the beginning of the 1980s. In addition to the figure itself, a pedestal and historical exhibition technology like a cas- sette player are preserved in the collection. 2 Documents in the Hauptstaatsarchiv Dres- den provide information about the manufac- turing context. According to these, the Trans- parent Cow was created for an ultimately unrealised export order from Venezuela, which arose in 1981 in the course of a “sales trip” of the Director of the Institute for Ana- tomical-Biological Teaching Material at the DHMD, Otto Kunkel (1918–1982). The Trans- parent Cow was to be delivered to the Uni- versity of Sur del Lago in the federal state of Zulia (Venezuela). For unknown reasons, however, it could not be sold to Venezuela following completion, as hoped. 3 The figure remained in the DHMD when no other poten- tial buyers could be found. 4 The Transparent Cow subsequently func- tioned as an additional exhibition piece in the museum building: as of autumn 1983, it was presented to visitors in the staircase between the exhibition floors (Fig. 66). 5 The model and the accompanying audio lecture were still presented to more than 8,000 participants in 1988. 6 The presentation was dismantled in 1989. In 2001, the Transparent Cow was includ- ed in the newly founded museum collection, probably in connection with the new perma- nent exhibition being planned. However, it had already been shown in several exhibi- tions in the 1990s and had been loaned to other museums for presentation purposes. A look into the exhibition calendar of the mod- el suggests that the Transparent Cow mostly served as an impressive display object for animal anatomy in this context: ❚ From June to November 1993, the Trans- parent Cow was shown in a special exhi- bition on the occasion of the opening of the Medizin- und Apothekenmuseum (museum of medicine and pharmacy) in Rhede. ❚ The Kinder-Akademie (children’s acade- my) in Fulda presented a special exhibition with the title “The Cow – the Milk” between November 1995 and 1996, in which the Transparent Cow was shown. ❚ In the summer of 1997, the figure was part of the “The Cow – the Milk” special exhi- bition organised by the DHMD and the State Ministry of Saxony for Agriculture, Nutrition and Forests. Here, the Transpar- ent Cow stood in front of an Alpine pano- rama on a green meadow of flowers. 7 ‹ Fig. 65 The Transparent Cow from 1982/ 83, inv. no. 2001/89 Fig. 66 Presentation of the Transparent Cow in a staircase of the DHMD, photograph, 1983, inv. no. 2021/63.29 155