Telephone Sheep Exhibit by Artist Jean Luc Cornec

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Posted on July 19, 2008 by Doug Gunzelmann in Art, Concept+Design

telephone sheep

Featured in the Museum für Kommunikation Frankfurt in 2006 Jean Luc Cornec’s Telephone Sheep were a sensation that swept web. We’ve decided to revisit this exhibit to open a dialogue on the importance of , design, and creativity in regards to the green movement. Jean Luc’s sheep were constructed of older model rotary telephones and their accompanying cords wrapped around sheep formed under structures. The phone on the cradle strikingly resembles a head in this context with the melted and bent hand piece creating great hooves. In this new environment the out of date phones have taken on an entirely new life due to our shift in perspective. The ability to see materials outside of their traditional roles is key to reducing the mass of products our society currently consumes and reusing that which surrounds us everyday to its maximum potential.

Postured in all the ways you would see sheep on a typical farm Jean Luc has evoked a surreal representation of life using otherwise lifeless forms.

telephone sheep

The Museum für Kommunikation focuses on the growth and change of the communications world and exhibits various modes of communication that have existed over the years. Ranging from antique mailboxes, an original Bell telephone, a piece of undersea communications cable, postal stamps and postcards, Jean Luc Cornec’s exhibit and more curiosities of this ilk.

telephone sheep

I recently had a debate with a friend on the importance of and design. While on the one hand can be seen as a form of entertainment and pleasure, which may seem trivial to some, there can be a much more functional element to it as well. and design occur from the need to express, communicate, and question the human experience. An exhibit may probe into society’s values and practices. Quality should in the very least make us think.

telephone sheep 

This may seem like heavy conversation while looking at these playful sheep, but Cornec’s piece is a perfect gateway into thought provoking that makes us shift our view on the function of material. The prevalence of upcycling, repurposing, green design, engineering, and architecture addressing global climate change that we are seeing on a daily basis is the fruit of creative thinking. Work like the Telephone Sheep force us to see new uses and value to otherwise expired products. The importance of can stretch far beyond entertaining some web surfers or museum patrons. It can spawn in any of us the ability to think with a more malleable mind. Perhaps in even a simple way on a daily basis we can look at common refuse and see further life, another form, continuing function…less waste.

telephone sheep

Artists and designers will play an immensely important role in our world as we move forward towards more sustainable ideology. Creativity, along with technology and ethical growth, can produce astounding results towards a more eco-friendly means of existence.

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15 Responses to “ Telephone Sheep Exhibit by Artist Jean Luc Cornec ”

  1. Madelyn

    14. Aug, 2008

    This art work is really unique, fun and simply great. Thanks.

    Reply to this comment
  2. cyra

    03. Sep, 2008

    thanks to Jean Luc Comec for the amazing creation of outdated technological sheep.. what an eye opener!

    Reply to this comment
  3. martin

    06. Sep, 2008

    hi friend i am srinu nice post

    it’s new on blog ..!

    good ..!

    Reply to this comment
  4. Ann

    08. Sep, 2008

    How brilliant! How uplifting!

    Jean Luc Cornec has enriched the world with his imagination.

    Thank you so much for sharing this.

    Reply to this comment
  5. Robert in Palm Harbor

    08. Sep, 2008

    Ba-a-ad Jean, very ba-a-ad, Robert said sheepishly.

    -Robert

    Reply to this comment
  6. catherine todd

    16. Sep, 2008

    Wonderful exhibit, wonderful sculptures, and you have written one of the best pieces about this on the web. Thanks!

    Reply to this comment
  7. Jim in Boston

    03. Oct, 2008

    This is so creative. It’s awesome to see how seemingly outdated and useless equipment can have a new breath of life. Thanks!

    Reply to this comment
  8. Judi Wagler

    28. Oct, 2008

    Thought this was quite neat. I’ve worked in the telecommunications (telephone companies) since 1975 and I would be proud to have such a display. Our grandchildren will not remember such a thing as a rotary phone.

    Not baaaaaaaaaaaahd.

    Judi

    Reply to this comment
  9. Judi Wagler

    28. Oct, 2008

    I thought this display quite neat. I’ve worked in the telephone industry since 1975. Our grandchildren will not remember the rotary phones.

    Not baaaaaaaaahd.

    Judi

    Reply to this comment
  10. Sam

    30. Oct, 2008

    it’s amazing art. and beautiful. but it scares me U_U

    Reply to this comment
  11. bidgee malone

    10. Mar, 2009

    excellent work, great to see old materials used in such a unique way…i really like the single black sheep!

    Bridgee

    Reply to this comment

    Site's linking to this post:

  1. [...] Baaaahd ass trash art Keith R. over at The Temas Blog turned me on to these amazing telephone sheep.  I guess I missed it when TreeHugger and others posted on these in June.  Better late than never.  These funky and adorable hunks of trash art are part of a Jean Luc Cornec installation at the Frankfurt Museum of Communications in Germany.  These things are just plain amazing.  For a more intellectualized analysis, check out this GreenUpgrader post. [...]

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  2. [...] Eis o que se pode fazer com uma boa dose de imaginação e antigos telefones. A ideia de criar estas ovelhas, reutilizando telefones, como forma de chamar a nossa atenção para os milhões de objectos que se acumulam no planeta, bem distante do alcance dos nossos olhos, foi o que pretendeu  o artista francês Jean-Luc Cornec. [...]

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