CowParade in Manchester

As we went to a wedding in Manchester last weekend, we dropped in on CowParade there. It was indeed excellent, especially being a lot more compact than the London event in 2002. Particularly good were Mooer’s Moomalade, sponsored by Duerr’s Marmalade and Danger Moo-se, dressed to look like Danger Mouse.

There were a few problems, however. First seems to be the reliance on sponsors. The Duerr’s example is unusually good as they have resisted the temptation just to plaster a picture of a jam jar on it; similarly the Lake Land Bell (situated outside the Lakeland Limited shop but actually sponsored by the Northwest Regional Development Agency) gives you an idea of the beauty of the Lake District without resorting to text or symbols. Less good is Fashion Moovers, which is dull at best and makes you regret bothering to find it in the first place. Retail Therapy is a cow with a bag and the word Shop on it. Considering the cow is is designed and sculpted for you, it is hard to see what artistic effort was applied.

Retail Therapy does at least escape the second and more prevalent trend: the reliance on puns, for examples of which see the list for M. This seems to let artists off the challenge and opportunity of using a bloody great big cow as a canvas in the inventive way Lake Land Belle does, with foliage following the contours of the cow’s body (the picture doesn’t do it justice). A good example is Moochelangelo which, although beautifully executed, is still just a large moo pun. It would be good to see more like Tattoed Bovine (this is the 3rd by that name, the original being shown in the first Chicago Cow Parade of which we have a lovely figurine at home).

Lastly, the map could have been a lot better. Most of the cows were in the big white spaces in between roads. It was difficult to figure out whether they were inside shops, in open spaces between shops, on the other side of shops, or somewhere in the impenetrable URBIS centre.

However, it was brilliant, I would highly recommend it, and I look forward to CowParade coming to Sandy. A full list of the Manchester cows can be seen in the gallery.