In 2024, an art collective embarked on a new piece called Our Cow Angus.
Here’s what they did:
- Bought a young cow.
- Named it Angus.
- Presold Angus as 1,200 hamburgers and four leather handbags.
- Exchanged customer’s cash for “Angus Tokens” — redeemable when Angus reaches slaughtering age.
Then they waited for Angus to grow up.
Two years later, it’s time. Angus is approaching slaughtering age, and it’s up to the owners of the Angus tokens to vote on what happens next.
If, by March 13, 2026, more than half of the buyers cancel their purchases through an online portal, Angus lives the rest of his life in an animal sanctuary.
If not, he dies, and hamburgers and handbags are added to the world supply.
So far, 31.8 percent have voted to keep Angus alive.
Angus needs about 18% of token owners to cancel their orders by the end of March, or he’s off to the slaughterhouse.
So this art collective has turned the process of meat production into a story, filled with stakes, suspense, and ultimately, possibly surprise.
It’s a story containing emotion and intrigue.
Heroes and villains.
Questions of practicality and morality.
I’m not sure if it’s a good story, and I’m not sure if we needed to turn cheesburgers into high-pressure, live-or-die decision-making, but it’s admittedly compelling.
I’ve already added “Check on Angus” to my calendar for March 13, which is the sign of a good story:
One that creates a narrative that you can’t wait to see play out.
If you’re as intrigued as I am about how this will play out, you can check on Angus’s status here.
