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Courtesy of the Walker Art Museum
Internet Cat Video Festival
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Surprised Kitty
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Keyboard Cat
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Stalking Cat
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Original Grumpy Cat
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Lil BUB Meets a Moth
Ben Huh, CEO of the Cheezburger Network (as in “I can haz cheezburger?”) has a simple theory about why the Internet skews so feline. It’s the closest thing we’ll ever have to a dog park for cats. Because a cat park…well…who wants to get a pinkie bitten off? Thus, “we socialize with other cat owners through the Web,” Huh explains. If the Internet is a cat park, it’s also Cat Hollywood. And it’s a nicer, cuter place than Human Hollywood, filled with stars like Lil BUB and Tardar Sauce (a.k.a. Grumpy Cat) who are beloved not for their physical perfection, but for their distinctive je ne sais quoi. It’s not all about acceptance and dignity, though: if you’ve ever watched YouTube clips of some poor tabby orbiting on a ceiling fan, hanging on by one trembling paw, you realize humiliation’s a big part of the mix, too. There’s a place for everyone, really—the klutzes, the jolie laides, the talkative, the mysterious, and even serious talents like Keyboard Cat.
Local audiences have the rare chance this month to see their favorite memeing kitty on the big screen, as opposed to the tiny pixely one, when the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis welcomes the Walker Art Center’s annual Internet Cat Video Festival for “two days of purrs and lolz.” Cats are not invited, but the event does serve to further that cat-park metaphor a bit. As the museum points out, “It isn’t about cat videos. It’s about watching cat videos together.”
Internet Cat Video Festival, July 18 & 19, 5:30–9:30 p.m.; screening starts at 7:30 p.m. $10. Contemporary Art Museum-St. Louis, 3750 Washington, 314-535-4660, camstl.org.
