CowParade

The concept of "cow parade" has its origins in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1998[1] by artistic director Walter Knapp, it is based on an idea which was realised in the same city for the first time in 1986: Lions as the symbol of Zurich were painted and then on display throughout the city.

The Zürich exhibit 1998 was not called "cow parade" - it was called Land in Sicht (roughly translated as "Countryside in view"). The concept was brought to the United States when Chicago businessman Peter Hanig, along with Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Lois Weisberg, organized an event in Chicago in 1999 called Cows on Parade. A Swiss company, CowHolding Parade AG, started to explore the idea. The American company capitalizing on this idea, CowHolding Parade, was founded in 1999; the Swiss company promptly sued but the case fizzled out without results. A bronze casting of one of the cows is on permanent display in Chicago in commemoration of the city's initial exhibition.

The success of this venture inspired many other cities to host similar fundraising projects. The idea has been taken up by other cities which have chosen animals for public art projects with painted fiberglass sculptures (see Similar projects).

• 
  Cattlyst of the West by Irene Gallagher from Denver's cow parade, 2006
• 
  Vaca Fileteada from Buenos Aires`s cow parade, 2006
• 
  A cow at Revolucion Avenue, from Tijuana CowParade 2008
• 
  El chico de la banca (the guy on the bench) cow, at CECUT, from Tijuana CowParade 2008
• 
  Vacalero cow, in Paseo de los Heroes, from Tijuana CowParade 2008.
• 
  Double-cow in Lima (Peru), 2010
• 
  2006 Edinburgh Cow Parade, Moules on the Waterfront
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  Cow from CowParade in Madrid, 2009.

• Chicago, Illinois, USA (1999)
• Bilbao, Spain (2001)[2]
• Ventspils, Latvia (2002)[3]
• Buenos Aires, Argentina (2006)
• Houston, Texas, USA (2001)[4]
• Kansas City, Missouri, USA (2001)[5]
• Manchester, England, UK (2004)[6]
• Denver, Colorado, USA (2006)[7]
• Toulouse, France (2012)[8]
• Santa Catarina, Brazil (2011)[9] visiting Blumenau, Camboriú, Florianópolis, Joinville, Rio Negrinho
• Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA
• Perth, Western Australia[10]
• Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (2021)

Globe in TelAviv, A Gateway to the World, 2007

The phenomenon of CowParade has spawned copy-cat statue decorating projects in a number of cities worldwide.[11]

Zürich itself has adapted the bear theme in the "Teddy-Summer" in 2005.[12]

Europe

Two of the 104 decorated pigs on display in the English city of Bath. This was a public art event, called "King Bladud's Pigs in Bath". Pig sculptures were on display around the city through the summer of 2008.

Two Buddy Bears at Kurfürstendamm 21, Berlin

Location	Name	Exhibits	Date
's-Hertogenbosch	Garden of Earthly Delights sculpture trail	Figures taken from the Hieronymus Bosch work The Garden of Earthly Delights	2016[13]
Aberdeen	Wild Dolphins	50 Dolphins	2014[14]
Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness	Oor Wullie's Big Bucket Trail	60 Wullies	June 17, 2019 for 6 weeks[15]
Ashford, Kent	Snowdogs Discover Ashford	55 Snowdogs	September 12-November 18 2018[16]
Bath	King Bladud's Pigs	104 pigs	2008[17]
Bath	Lions of Bath	100 lions	2010[18]
Berlin	Buddy Bear Berlin Show	350 Buddy Bears	2001 and 2002
Berlin + since 2004 worldwide	United Buddy Bears Worldtour	150 United Buddy Bears	2002 and 2003, since 2004 worldwide This adopts the Cowparade idea to Berlin's town mascot; however the entailing United Buddy Bears exhibitions are very different from all other urban events. The bears were created by the German artists Klaus and Eva Herlitz. The idea and the philosophy behind the United Buddy Bears exhibitions are unique: with its international approach and its symbolism, this synthesis of the arts globally promotes tolerance, international understanding and a peaceful coexistence.
Birmingham	Big Hoot[19]	89 owls	July 20 to September 27, 2015[19]
Birmingham	Big Sleuth[20]	100 sun bears	July 10 to September 17, 2017[21]
Bournemouth	Pride in Bournemouth	50 lions	2011
Bristol	Shaun in the City	Shaun the Sheep visits Bristol in the summer 2015, after the spring 2015 visit to London. To coincide with Shaun the Sheep Movie.	2015[22]
Bristol	Wow! Gorillas	61 gorillas	2011[23]
Bristol	Gromit Unleashed	80 Gromits	2013, [24][25]
Chester	Rhino Mania	70 rhinos[26]	2010
Colchester	Stand tall	112 giraffes	2013[27]
Copenhagen	Elephant Parade	102 baby elephants	2011 June[28]
Dortmund	Dortmunder Nashorn	120 rhinos	2005, expanded for 2006 FIFA World Cup
Glasgow	Clyde's Mascot Trail[29]	25 Clydes, the mascot of the 2014 Commonwealth Games	2014
Hamburg	Hans Hummel	100 Hans Hummel	2003
Hannover	Elefanten-Parade	45 elephants	2004
Hasselt	Elephant Parade		2012
Heerlen	Elephant Parade		2011
Istanbul	Shoe Art	500 shoes	2008 September
Hull	Larkin with Toads	40 toads	2010
Kaiserslautern	Fishing for Phantasy	250 fish	2001
Leipzig	LeOLips	100 lions	2002[30]
Liverpool	Go Superlambananas!	125 Superlambananas	2008
Liverpool	Go Penguins	142 penguins	2009[31]
London	What's in your DNA?	21 double helix sculptures including designed by Zaha Hadid, Orla Kiely and Ai Weiwei[32]	June 29 – September 6, 2015
London	Shaun in the City	50 Shaun the Sheeps. Associated with a parade in Bristol in the summer 2015, and release of Shaun the Sheep Movie	March 28 to May 25, 2015[22]
London	Year of the Bus Sculpture Trails	41 buses	2014[33]
London	Elephant Parade		2010
London	Budgie the Little Helicopter Comes to Town		2021
London	The Big Egg Hunt		2012
London	The Paddington Trail	50 Paddington Bears	2014[34][35]
London		83 Wenlock and Mandeville mascots	2012[36][37]
London	Tusk Rhino Trail	21 Rhinos	September 2018[38]
Manchester	Bee in the City	Over 100 bees	July 23 to September 23, 2018[39]
Munich	Löwenparade	500 lions	2004
Neustadt an der Aisch	Aischgruender Karpfen	120 carp	2008 September[40]
Newport South Wales, UK	SuperDragons	60 dragons	2010[41]
Northampton	Pride of Northampton		2010[42]
Norwich	Go Elephants	54 baby elephants	2008[43]
Norwich	GoGoGorillas!	53[44] gorillas	2013[45]
Norwich	GoGoDragons!	84 large dragons, 120 school dragons[46]	2015[46]
Paris	Pathé Roosters	50 roosters	2021
Salisbury	The Barons Charter	25 barons	June 2 to September 6, 2015[47]
Sheffield	Herd of Sheffield	58 elephants	2016[48]
Southampton	Go Rhinos!	rhinos	2013[49]
Versmold	Bunte Borstenviecher	120 pigs	2007[50]
Wells	Swans of Wells	60 swans	2012, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II[51]
Wolverhampton	Wolves in Wolves	30 wolves	July - September 2017[52]
Wuppertal	Pinguinale	200 penguins	2006
Zürich	Teddy-Summer	630 teddy-bears	2005

CowParade has been criticized by contributing artists for their selectivity standards; David Lynch's cow with its flesh partially ripped off, and organs showing, was rejected. The explanation is that this particular CowParade cow was rejected by the City of New York, not the CowParade organisation.[132]

A Swedish organization called The Militant Graffiti Artists of Stockholm kidnapped and decapitated one of the cows of the Stockholm event in protest of the publicly provisioned cows carrying advertisements.[133]

• Bund Bull
• Charging Bull
• Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet
• Concrete Cows
• Elephant Parade
• Gladys the Swiss Dairy Cow
• The Big Egg Hunt
• United Buddy Bears

• Official U.S. CowParade website
• CowParade Rio de Janeiro 2007 — photos.
• Paris Cow Parade 2006 — photos.
• Carps in Neustadt an der Aisch (Germany) — photos.
• Wild in Art.uk

Wikimedia Commons has media related to CowParade.