The Return of the Cows

There aren’t many reasons to visit quiet Dietrich-Bonhoeffer Strasse, which lies on the bleeding edge of gentrified Prenzlauerberg’s encroachment into (formerly) gritty Friedrichshain. But Sergej Dott’s whimsical public art installation, “Die Rückkehr der Kühe” (“The Return of the Cows”) just might make it worth the trip.

Halfway down the block, if you peer into the empty lot and look up, you’ll see a green field full of larger-than-life cows “walking” up and down the side of a pre-war Berlin apartment house.

Dott specializes in public installations, including the cow installations he calls “Kuhunst.” Savvy Germanophiles will recognize the pun on the German words for art (“Kunst”) and cow (“Kuh”). Another can be found just west of The Return of the Cows, at Kollwitzstraße 18 in Prenzlauerberg.