Double Muscle - Final presentation

Maria McKinney has spent six-weeks in the land of the Belgian Blue, aka the Arnold Schwarzenegger of cows - a world renowned breed known for their extreme physicality.

During this time she has made a strange sculptural intervention at two live cattle events - De Vette Os (The Fattest Ox) and Belgium's National Cattle Competition.

This work focuses on the underlying forces which have created these creatures - most notably the manipulation of the muscle regulating myostatin gene,

achieved through two centuries of line-breeding.

McKinney hand-crafts objects with semen-straws, the storage receptacles used in the artificial insemination process.

The ceremonial inspired object is then worn on the back of a cow, the two entities coalescing into something else (yet to be specified).

In an effort to capture these immensely sculptural creatures through video, McKinney has collaborated with artist/film-maker Karina Beumer.

Come witness the outcomes at Lokaal 01 Gallery.