Leseprobe

The Transparent Cow had a bigger appear- ance in 1999 within the special exhibition in the DHMD entitled “The New Man. Obses- sions of the 20th Century”. Here it was pre- sented, together with three other Transparent Figures, as a key object of the “The Cosmos. The New Perception of the Human Being” department (Fig. 67). With its transparency and faithful reproduction of animal anatomy, it stood here as a symbol for the “unabated faith in salvation through science”. 8 › Trans- parent Man from 1962/63, p. 150 Up to and including 2002, the Transparent Cow was finally exhibited in the DHMDs own perma- nent exhibition on the theme of “Nutrition and Digestion”. After a reorganisation lasting several years, the DHMD opened the newly developed per- manent exhibition in 2004/05 under the title “The Human Adventure”. It once again pre- sented the Transparent Cow, now as a cen- tral display object of the “Eating and Drink- ing” theme room. The exhibition planners assigned the figure to the theme complex of “Meat Production” and located it in the con- text of the expansion of agriculture in the 1950s. Accordingly, they understood the Transparent Cow as a display object for con- veying specialist knowledge and as a sym- bolic figure for the idea of engineered agricul- ture. The focus of the presentation was thus no longer on animal anatomy, and it was not possible for visitors to illuminate the internal organs, also for conservation reasons. › “… showing the Figure as a Work of Art”, p. 35 However, the original audio lecture for the fig- ure with the anatomical-physiological expla- nations from 1959 was offered for listening. 9 The content and scenography of this hall was revised in 2014. However, the curators retained the principal manner of presentation and contextualisation of the Transparent Cow (Fig. 36). In 2020, the figure was re- moved from the permanent collection due to its conservation condition and replaced with its plaster positive. 10 1 Transparent Cow, inv. no. 2001/89, data record in the online database of the DHMD, https://sammlung.dhmd.digital/ object/e4980d4e-d8a0-42c5-bb51-e049daaf4093 (8. 10. 2021). 2 Pedestal of the Transparent Cow, inv. no. 2001/89.1, data record in the online database of the DHMD, https://sammlu- ng.dhmd.digital/object/8427abe9-25c5-457d-8ed0- 59957b050786 (8. 10. 2021); playback devices for the audio lecture, inv. no. 2016/408 – 2016/414. 3 See report on travel to Venezuela and other documents, in: HStA Dresden, 13658 Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dres- den, no. Rb 3, vol. 12. 4 See ibid. 5 Parallel with this, the first Transparent Cow, completed in 1959, was found in the “Transparent Figures” workshop for a “complete overhaul”, see Holger: Die Kuh, die kein Gras frißt, in: Sächsische Neueste Nachrichten of 1/2. 10. 1983, in: HStA Dresden, 13658 Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, no. Z, vol. 16. 6 Visitor statistics of the Exhibitions and Events department of the DHMD of 1988, Registry Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, no. 7177 1983–1993. 7 On this, see the book accompanying the exhibition: Brock, Christine: Die Kuh – die Milch, Dresden 1997. 8 Tyradellis, Daniel: Der Kosmos. Die neue Wahrnehmung des Menschen, in: Lepp, Nicola/Roth, Martin/Vogel, Klaus (Ed.): Der Neue Mensch. Obsessionen des 20. Jahrhun- derts, Ostfildern 1999, pp. 174–203, here p. 185. 9 The audio lecture from 1959 is still in the collection, inv. no. 2018/521, data record in the online database of the DHMD, https://sammlung.dhmd.digital/object/912c44b1- f025-4877-a4e0-4c24396e0b0e (8. 10. 2021). 10 Plaster positive of the Transparent Cow, inv. no. 2006/68, data record in the online database of the DHMD, https:// sammlung.dhmd.digital/object/b9dee6e4-6e28-4d1b- b9b0-9b6478ddf77f (15. 9. 2021). Fig. 67 The Transparent Cow with other Transparent Figures in the special exhibition “The New Man. Obsessions of the 20th century”, 1999 156