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The new lamb, photo: Michael Mercil
Hannah, the proud mommy, photo: Michael Mercil
Video screen showing the sheep in their pasture
The sheep visit The Virtual Pasture Photos: Justin Braun


The new lamb, photo: Michael MercilHannah, the proud mommy, photo: Michael MercilVideo screen showing the sheep in their pastureThe sheep visit The Virtual Pasture Photos: Justin Braun
The new lamb, photo: Michael MercilHannah, the proud mommy, photo: Michael MercilVideo screen showing the sheep in their pastureThe sheep visit The Virtual Pasture Photos: Justin Braun

The Virtual Pasture


Wed, Oct 1, 2008–Thu, Dec 30, 2010
Wexner Center for the Arts

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The Virtual Pasture's flock is growing, with two new lambs—one white, and one black—born this spring.

The entire flock of Shetland sheep, including the two lambs, visited campus on the afternoon of Thursday, May 27 for the grand opening of The Market at 15th & High farmers' market and made their last appearance of the spring on Monday, June 7. Now they are taking a summer vacation from visiting, which will continue during July, August, and September. Mark your calendars for their return to monthly visits on Monday, October 4. Meanwhile, keep your eyes on the outdoor screen facing the Oval at the Wex for live 24/7 coverage of farm animal life in rural Ohio.

The Virtual Pasture is an ever-evolving, "agri/cultural" piece by Ohio State artist and art professor Michael Mercil. The piece features a 24-hour live video feed of the sheep in their home pasture at Stratford Ecological Center and occasional live visits. The work is the second installment in Mercil's ongoing investigations as part of the Living Culture Initiative in the Department of Art, in partnership with the Wexner Center and the Social Responsibility Initiative in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences. As the first project in this series, this once empty patch of green space just outside the Wexner Center was home to Mercil's The Beanfield project from 2006 to 2007.

Believe it or not, sheep and cows once grazed Ohio State's central campus grounds. Horses pulled delivery wagons to classrooms, auditoriums, and dormitories. But animals—except pigeons, squirrels, rats, raccoons, and dogs—are now mostly absent here. The Virtual Pasture reanimates the campus landscape with its (small but growing) flock of sheep, presented via the images transmitted live to the on-site video monitor. The project entertains such questions as where, when, and how do we encounter farm animals now? And, how might we reestablish contact with the living creatures with which we still share deep mutual dependence, but which we have made invisible in our daily life?

For more information on the project, see the Columbus Dispatch interview with Mercil earlier this year and the segment from the WOSU.TV/PBS program Our Ohio. You can also read Mercil's early comments on this piece on our blog.