This Guy Went On Vacation So He Could Become A Goat
A holiday like no other.
By John Lim — 14 Aug 2015, 04:53 PM
Usually when someone is tired of the day-to-day routine, they plan for a vacation to unwind themselves
In a bid to make the experience more authentic, the English-based designer commissioned a pair of prosthetic limbs, so that he could walk in all fours, just like a goat
Having commissioned prosthetic limbs in order to make the experience more authentic, the England-based designer lived among a goat herd for three days in September 2014. An exhibition of Thwaites' work with the goats will be made available to the public in London next month.
mashable.com
Why is he doing this, you ask? He wanted to simplify his life
"My goal was to take a holiday from the pain and worry of being a self-conscious being, able to regret the past and worry about the future," Thwaites said.
mashable.com
Thwaites also asked to live among the goats at a farm in the Swiss Alps for three days
"So I spent the rest of the day trying to catch up to them. And eventually I found them again, and it was quite nice, in the actual soft grassy pasture bit. But actually heading down the mountain was petrifying. Because if I fell I didn't have any hands to stop me from hitting a rock," said the English-based designer.
vice.com
Afraid of what humans might become in the future due to technology, Thwaites has always admired the simplicity of being an animal, with no worries and burden
"To be a nonhuman animal? So much calmer and simpler!" Thwaites said. He wanted to explore what it would be like to live as a creature immune to the worries and frustrations—the "existential terror"—of everyday life, and to do so as authentically as possible with the technology that exists today.
vice.com
Aside from looking like a goat, Thwaites even visited specialists and attempted to switch off parts of his mind, so he could think like a goat. He's obviously not playing around.
Thwaites prepared by studying the cognitive and physical aspects of what it's like to literally be a goat. He visited a behavioral psychologist and neurologist to study "turning off" parts of his brain in order to think more like a goat. He spoke to an expert in animal locomotion to nail down their movement. Even further, he met with a biologist to see about making an artificial rumen (a part of the goat's stomach) in order to digest grass.
mashable.com