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The National Film Board of Canada has partnered with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Toronto on the new digital artwork Charity, created by the Toronto-based collective of Parastoo Anoushahpour, Faraz Anoushahpour and Ryan Ferko. Available free online globally on NFB.ca in English and French starting September 29, Charity is an interactive documentary that explores the controversy and bureaucracy around an oversized chrome cow placed in a suburban Ontario neighbourhood as public art, raising questions about the identity of a place and who determines it.
In July 2017, residents of the Cathedraltown suburban development in Markham, northeast of Toronto, awoke to find Charity, a giant chrome replica of a prize-winning Holstein cow commissioned by Cathedraltown's developer, facing their homes. The residents, however, had never been consulted about the installation of their new eight-metre high bovine neighbour meant to pay tribute to the history of the site, and quickly rose in opposition to the sculpture. After mockery in the media, a barrage of complaints and numerous municipal-level discussions, the city council agreed to remove the contentious cow.
Charity looks at...