Irrational Exuberance (or where the cow shits)

Irrational Exuberance or where the cow shits
Kypros Kyprianou, 2009
5 minutes
Portuguese with English subtitles

During the stock market boom of 1996, the then US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan used the term "Irrational exuberance" fourteen pages into a dinner speech to question whether the market might be overvalued. His utterance of the phrase caused a minor crash, acquiring the meaning of the mindset that occurs during speculative bubbles.

The video “Irrational Exuberance or where the cow shits” documents an hour-long poio da vaca (cow dung) draw that took place in 2009 in Mesão Frio, Portugal at the tail end of a bubble. A cow is led round a field marked out in 1000 squares. A master of ceremonies urges the public place bets on where it will defecate to win €300.

Screenings
‘Multichannel (Variable Economies)’, Artsway 2010
‘The Hope of Wrecks’, Art and Design Gallery, University of Hertfordshire and Museum of St Albans, 2013.