"The Cat Is My Medium": Notes on the Writing and Art of Carolee Schneemann

While both are evident to anyone who has followed Schneemann's career, neither has yet to be explored in any depth or seriousness-her skills as a poetic writer and the cat as a medium.5 Art in the Age of the Cat Video The cat as subject matter, not to mention as a medium, is obviously a loaded topic, never more so than today, when the viral cat video and unbearably affecting cat celebrities such as Lil Bub or Grumpy Cat rule the Internet, fill up Facebook, and, most relevant for this essay, pitter-pat their way into the contemporary art world.4 When the Walker Art Museum presented the first Internet Cat Video Festival in 2012, it was trying to enlarge its audience and to introduce the cat video as a genre of contemporary art. [...]Haraway's description of the co-constitution of a being, in the following quotation from When Species Meet, echoes beautifully with the kissing couple of Schneemann and her cat Vesper in Infinity Kisses.