HOLY COW POOPS EURO COINS :)

The Tallinn Technical University Centre for Biorobotics has teamed up with the Estonian Media Artists Union to create a robot cow that eats Estonian kroon coins and passes one euro coins out from the back.

Dubbed "Holy Cow", it is a social art project that was displayed in Tallinn's Freedom Square in the last days before Estonia is set to enter into the eurozone on January 1st, 2011.

The interesting thing about the Holy Cow is that it exchanges money at the rate of one to one instead of the roughly fifteen and a half to one actual exchange rate from kroons to euros.

Needless to say, the robot cow created quite a stir and also attracted a lot of media attention, as there are mixed feelings about the arrival of the euro in light of the recent financial turmoils in Europe and also in terms of the symbolic value of the Estonian kroon.

Maarja Kruusmaa, the head of the Centre for Biorobotics, and media artist Piibe Piirma talk about the concept behind the art work.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Holy Cow
• Maarja Kruusmaa
• Piibe Piirma
• Jaan Rebane
• Madis Listak
• Püha Lehm
• Tallinn Technical University
• Centre for Biorobotics
• Biorobootika keskus
• Euro
• Estonia and Euro
• Estonian Media Artists Union
• Eesti Meediakunstnike Ühing
• Smoked Sparrow
• media art and technology

[nonomu1988]

I like how the guy at 5:52 is one of the few interviewees to acknowledge the source of the euros.