Have you ever thought about the relationship between cows and aliens? Or what cows are thinking while ruminating in the meadow? The cow is an archetypal symbol of the Dutch landscape. But what is it doing on a little island in the Indian Ocean? The short film essay Yntolerânsje (2023) by Jori Galama (1992) associatively ties all these questions together in a feverish compilation. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and following the course Beeld & Taal at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Galama participated in the Dutch Foundation for Literature’s Slow Writing Lab and obtained a master’s degree in Artistic Research at the Netherlands Film Academy. As a result, film, literature, research, and visual arts naturally blend into each other in their work. The artist is interested in the far-reaching consequences images have on our society, in how they are preserved, and how they affect our relationship to the more-than-human world.
Yntolerânsje starts with the factual story of Île Amsterdam, a small island in the Indian Ocean where five bovines were once left behind by colonists. These animals multiplied to become an immense population that posed a threat to the island’s indigenous ecosystem, prompting the French government to exterminate them in 2010. At the Beeld en Geluid archives, Galema encountered numerous references to how cows and the production of milk are closely related to Dutch colonialism. From a rest home for cows in Friesland, the farmers’ protests, and racist references to lactose intolerance, to anti-globalist conspiracy theories featuring cows. Yntolerânsje is thus stacked with associative narratives that combine topical politics, history, and speculative literature.
Text: Esther Darley
Translation from Dutch to English: Marie Louise Schoondergang