History of Others, a critically acclaimed, large scale art and research project by visual artist Terike Haapoja and author Laura Gustafsson takes this shortcoming as its starting point. By producing art exhibitions, publications and stage work History of Others seeks to build discourse around the lack of non-human perspectives in history writing and to develop platforms for imagining non human accounts of our shared reality.
History According to Cattle is an expanded account of the project’s first major installment, The Museum of the History of Cattle (2013). The volume presents the history of one of the most important companion species of humans, cattle, as if seen from the bovine perspective. The connections of animal rights issues with violations of human rights become visible while investigating the situation of indigenous populations, the development of genetics or industrialization through the eyes of this silent, ever present companion. Both tragic and humorous, History According to Cattle portrays humans as a species mesmerized by its own image.
The publication includes full presentation of the research and visual material from the museum, expanded by contextualizing essays by Anne Aurasmaa, Elisa Aaltola, Kirs Forkasiewizc, and Radhika Submaraniam.