Molke & Meane
"We are proud to have you as an artist in our museum"
Museum director it Tsiispakhûs Tineke Huitema
A layered story about agriculture, certification, choices and tension in a landscape living between conservation and foodproduction.
In Molke & Meane (Frisian for “Milking & Mowing”), handcrafted porcelain milk cartons symbolise a grass landscape and represents the fragile balance between farmer, cow, consumer, and meadow bird. These porcelain milk cartons carry a multi-layered narrative about agriculture, certifications, choices, and the tensions in a landscape that lives between conservation and food production.
Certification
Each milk carton shows a certification in the form of a familiar yellow cow-ear tag. However, instead of a cow name like “313,” each carries the Frisian name of a meadow bird such as “Skries 207” with a unique number. This role reversal highlights two themes: counting birds as measures of ecological success, and the anonymity with which cows and certifications are consumed by the consumer, literally and figuratively.
Biodiversity
The project explores the complexity of organic farming. Farmers want to support biodiversity, yet often run into regulations that clash with daily practice. A farmer who leaves land for meadow birds has less space for cows, while consumers expect more grazing. Mowing later to spare snipes means less nutritious and less winter feed. This reality clashes with the simplistic certifications on supermarket packaging.
Milkcartons
The milk cartons, familiar in shape become sculptural information carriers. They raise questions about what we drink, where it comes from, and who - bird or cow - gets space in the landscapes we shape through our choices.
Molke & Meane does not judge but shows: every sip of milk or dairy is connected to decisions about mowing, space, rules, and living. Interested in a milk carton?