Skip to main content

Feed your inner crazy cat person by visiting this museum’s exhibit on Internet felines

museum of moving image cats on the web 6672148713 cae5e82bf1 o
Flickr/Moyan Brenn
If you’re looking for the intersection of high and low culture, look no further than the Museum of the Moving Image. Next month, the Queens, New York, museum will be opening an exhibit dedicated to the history of cats on the Internet because what higher form of art could possibly exist than YouTube videos of kittens boppin’ along to a sick beat?

Starting August 7, the Museum of the Moving Image will move you to laughter and perhaps to tears with what can only be described as the highly anticipated How Cats Took Over the Internet. It’s an interesting question to be sure, as I am sure that there was once a time when Facebook news feeds were not inundated by cat GIFs and Twitter was not filled by memes of Grumpy Cat. Though to be honest, I am glad that I never knew those days.

As per the museum website, the exhibit, which will run until January 31, 2016, “tells the history of cats online, examining phenomena like Caturday, lolcats, cat videos, celebrity cats, and more to unearth why images and videos of the feline kind have transfixed a generation of Web users. Touching on concepts like anthropomorphism, the aesthetics of cuteness, the Bored at Work Network, and the rise of user-generated content, this exhibit takes a critical look at a deceptively frivolous phenomenon.”

In a press release, Associate Curator of Digital Media Jason Eppink noted, “The Internet’s collective with cats offers a window into the way we understand ourselves. This exhibition examines the many reasons for this deceptively frivolous phenomenon and highlights the new ways we’re creating, consuming and sharing culture.” And if that’s all just too much theory for you, also bear in mind that you’ll have the opportunity to create your own cat meme during your visit.

Complete with a number of special screenings (including The Cat-vant Garde Film Show on October 10), this six-month exhibit is sure to be a crowd pleaser no matter what your interests are (even if they only marginally include cats). So mark your calendars and prepare to make the trek out to Queens. The cats are here.

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
The 5 best websites like Craigslist in 2024

For years, Craigslist has been the go-to website for scoring a free sofa or finding an apartment. But there are plenty of other alternatives to Craigslist that do an equally fine job, oftentimes with a more attractive interface and fewer spam postings. The 5 best Craigslist alternatives are:

Facebook Marketplace
OfferUp
Locanto
Mercari
Recycler

Read more
How to stop spam emails in Outlook, Gmail, and more
A person sitting on the grass and taking notes at a laptop.

Spam and other unwanted emails are a nuisance, and it can seem like keeping them away from your inbox is a losing battle. But while you won't be able to prevent every piece of spam from landing in your inbox, it is possible to significantly reduce the number of messages that show up.

In this guide, we'll show you how to use filters, blocking, and spam reporting features to help stop spam from invading your inbox. We'll also go over a few more tips on how to reduce unwanted messages overall.
How to stop spam in Gmail
If you use Gmail, the most popular email client, you will eventually start getting spam. Here are our two favorite ways to deal with it.
Block spam in Gmail

Read more
How to add a signature in Gmail on desktop and mobile
how to file for stimulus

Email signatures are a great way to automatically include your contact information to your email correspondence. If you'd like to add a signature to your emails in Gmail, it's easy enough to add one. You'll just need to go through your Gmail settings to do it.

In this guide, we'll show you how to add a signature in Gmail whether you're using the desktop website version of Gmail or its mobile app.
How to add a signature on your desktop
Step 1: Launch your favorite browser and log into your Gmail account as you normally would.

Read more