PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD REVEALED AT THE FIRST INTERNET CAT VIDEO FESTIVAL, AUGUST 30, AT THE WALKER ART CENTER’S OPEN FIELD
AWARD-WINNING VIDEO TO BE BROADCAST DURING ANIMAL PLANET’S MY CAT FROM HELL SEASON FINALE
Minneapolis, August 16, 2012—The Walker Art Center’s summer-long experiment, Open Field, presents the first internet cat video festival Thursday, August 30, 4–10 pm. Chosen by online voting, the winner of the People’s Choice Award, the Golden Kitty, will be announced at the festival and the producer of the winning video will be present. The video will also be broadcast during the season finale of Animal Planet’s My Cat From Hell on September 8 at 8 pm EST.
An audience favorite, the Best of Show video, will be selected via Twitter voting during the event and announced after the festival. Use #catvidfest to participate in the Best of Show voting during the Internet Cat Video Festival. The festival will also be available via walkerart.org and the Animal Planet web site http://animal.discovery.com/ beginning August 31.
The Internet Cat Video Festival takes a subject of pop culture relevance and crowdsourced content and presents it as communal experience. A guilty pleasure for most, cat videos are also one of the most-shared entities on the internet through email, blogs, social media, and word of mouth. Why has this online phenomenon, with its massive audience, not had a climactic offline moment? Why not tap into the web community of cat-video lovers to bring an individual viewing experience off-line and out into the open with other people? In the spirit of Open Field we decided to try it out and see what happens. The event is free and open to the public.
The open nominations for the Internet Cat Video Festival generated over 10,000 submissions. This is not a curated film program, but an embrace of an internet phenomena and an experiment in transforming a solitary web experience into a real world social event… and maybe also an excuse to watch a lot of cats in boxes. The festival screening will feature a broad range of cat videos that best represent the pool of nominations. The intention is to be inclusive, not exclusive, and to celebrate this extremely popular internet phenomenon, in real life, together.
TO REQUEST MEDIA CREDENTIALS: Please contact Rachel Joyce rachel.joyce@walkerart.org
About #CATVIDFEST
Schedule
4–10 pm Open Field, Free
4–8 pm Drawing Club and Letterpress with Lunalux
7 pm Music by Brian Laidlaw and the Family Trade
8:30 pm Cat Video Festival
The #catvidfest will last about an hour, and is divided into the following CAT-egories: Comedy, Drama, Foreign, Animated, Musical, Documentary, Art House, and Honorable Mention. The final seven videos of the program are the people’s choice winners presented in order of voting popularity.
Cat Video Festival Merchandise
#catvidfest and Cat Video Festival logo t-shirts in black, white, and green (men’s and women’s sizes) are available for $10 via the Walker’s Shop
Shop the Walker’s Cool Cat Collection
Refreshments
Garden Grill by D’Amico will be serving The Cat’s Meow (Prairie Organic Vodka with cherry, pomegranate and ginger) cocktails as well as non-alcoholic Kitty Cocktails and assorted beverages. A variety of grilled items and snacks will also be available for purchase.
About Open Field
The community has helped shape Open Field into the ultimate mix of public spaces: a patio, a recreational field, a playground, a stage, a beer garden, a hangout, and every once in a while, a zoo. It’s a different type of park, where town square meets community green meets cultural commons. Open Field is a place for social and creative exchange—everyone is encouraged to share their talents and interests by organizing a public event on the Field. Visitors can consult the Open Field calendar to see what’s going on, or simply show up and join in.
Open Field features a shady courtyard and the Open Field Tool Shed, where visitors can check out picnic blankets, books, games, sports equipment, art materials, and other supplies. Garden Grill by D’Amico offers freshly grilled barbeque favorites and summer beverages including a selection of local beers.
About Animal Planet
Animal Planet Media (APM), a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platfoms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. APM consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 96 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; the 24/7 broadband channel, Animal Planet Beyond; Petfinder.com, the #1 pet-related Web property globally that facilitates pet adoption; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service; mobile content; and merchandising extensions
Getting Here
Biking
Bike racks are located at the Walker’s Hennepin Avenue and Vineland Place entrances. Extra racks will be available for the event. Nice Ride has a station near the Hennepin entrance.
Parking
Paid parking is available at the underground ramp on Vineland Place at Bryant Avenue or in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden pay lot.
Public Transportation
Metro Transit bus lines 4, 6, 12, and 25 will bring you to the Walker and Open Field.
The Walker is committed to welcoming all visitors, including those with special needs and disabilities. For assistance with these arrangements please contact access@walkerart.org.
Internet Cat Video Festival Media Partner Animal Planet
The Walker Art Center is located at 1750 Hennepin Avenue—where Hennepin meets Lyndale—one block off Highways I-94 and I-394, in Minneapolis.
For public information, call 612.375.7600 or visit walkerart.org. Stay connected via your mobile device and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
Walker Art Center
One of the most celebrated art museums in the country, the Walker Art Center is known for presenting today's most compelling artists, as well as modern masters, including Andy Warhol, Matthew Barney, Jasper Johns, Yoko Ono, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, and Kara Walker. In addition to traveling exhibitions and its world-renowned collection, the Walker presents a broad array of contemporary music, dance, and theater, and the best in film from around the world and down the block. The Walker's 11-acre MinneapolisSculptureGardenis one of the country's largest urban sculpture parks. At its center is the beloved Twin Cities landmark—the playful fountain-sculpture Spoonbridge and Cherry. The Garden features more than 40 works of art and the Cowles Conservatory.
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