This is a real thing. It’s happening tonight. Not even a mile from my house. And I almost missed it.

The Walker Art Center, and let me reiterate, THE WALKER ART CENTER… That metal building between Uptown and Downtown… no, not the curvy one on the East Bank, that’s the Weisman Art Museum. The OTHER metallic art building. The one with the giant spoon and cherry on their lawn.

The one that Bill says looks like a happy monster from one angle:

HAPPY!!!

And an angry monster from the other:

ANGRY!!!

As an aside, Bill was so convinced that the architect did this on purpose this way that he one time called the Walker up and asked. He was told the building was actually inspired by a snowflake. What? I got it. Totally.

The Walker Art Center, one of the most prestigious and celebrated art museums for contemporary art in… well, I don’t actually know, but around here, anyway… they are holding a film festival tonight. A film festival so very daring, it not only defies conventional contemporary art, but spits in its face, steals it’s lunch money, and kicks sand in its eyes. A film festival so very contemporary and modern, I’m pretty sure other art critics are mocking it behind its back in appreciation.

Ladies and Gentlemen, tonight, for one hour, and one hour only, you can participate in Walker Art Center’s very own “Internet Cat Video Film Festival.”

I’ll give you a moment to let the weight of that sink in. True art needs a moment for full appreciation.

You see, what they’ve done is taken cat videos off the internet, and combined them into an hour long film festival that will take place outside, projected onto a giant screen.

I have a couple of critiques:

1) I have a problem with calling anything one hour in length a festival.
2) Mosquitoes.

Other than that, I think this is pure genius. Think about it. Who is this going to appeal to? Little kids and cat ladies. People who are not generally known for their refined taste in modern art (although, if you want to reproduce modern art, you could ask either to draw you something. I kid, mostly).

What you will see tonight is a hill full of crazy cat ladies and pre-teens with their parents who are trying to find a way to connect with their generation. Maybe someone will bring their cat on a leash (cats love leashes). They will all sit on the grass. Outside. Not in their houses on the internet, not surrounded by their hordes of newspapers and stacks of trinkets and candy bowls. They will be outside. That magical realm where few of these species ever dares to go, unless it’s to go back inside.

They will be outside, and they will appreciate something happening at an art center. Are internet cat videos art? Who can say? But they will all be there, gathered, appreciating it. And out of the corner of their eye, they might see a giant spoon with a cherry on it, and it will become a part of their experience, and maybe, just maybe, they will appreciate that, too.

If you can’t bring them to the art, maybe you can bring the art to them.

Well played, Walker Art Center. Well played indeed.