No cat picture. Also no video.

Digital cat watching

There is already a tremendous amount of various materials about the the enigmatic and, in it‘s excessive abundance, perhaps even disturbing phenomenon of cat pictures and cat videos on the internet. That’s exactly why I won’t add any other „cat material“. Promised. All of these grown-up cats, but especially the very small tatty kittens, are of course “cute“, no “sooooo cute”. I have to admit that somehow they can provide a moment of relaxation and break on strenuous screen work, but on the other hand, they also extremely „data heavy“, and they cause so much traffic that a whole series of users have already completely abandoned them from their screen. They actually surf completely „cat free“ on the internet. With 62%, the cat dominates the worldwide web animal kingdom, the No 2 in terms of most beloved internet animals are actually two species, namely sloths and tapir baby (yes, that’s right, it’s only the very small tapirs that make the race here). In fact, they are almost equally strong when compared to each other, but obviously quite far behind the cat with a capital „C“ with 8% and 7%, respectively 2nd and 3rd in rank (source: FAZ Feuilleton of April 1.2015).

Analog cat watching

Why am I writing about it here? For one thing, because in our neighborhood recently a new, apparently „low-domesticated“ cat moved in, which is about to conquer her new territory. And among her territory, there is clearly our garden, which she roams and explores more or less methodically. And unlike the digital cat world, I enjoy the classic analog observation of the local flora and fauna, and the perception of an independently acting subject, so clearly more than the “soooo-cute-soooo-fluffy” digital fur ball. Does the analog cat already dare to cross the path or does she stay in the bushes? What is there to observe (and hear) in our ground covered with thickets of ivy? How long can she actually freeze motionless? In short, every morning I’m looking forward to the encounter with a shy, red mackerel being who probably cares much less about me than I care about her.

Cat watching as a matter of art

I’m writing this because I stumbled across the highly interesting, cleverly compiled title story of the April 2018 issue of the art magazine which is dedicated entirely to the animal as a multi-faceted metaphor. The depiction of animals in the history of art certainly has never been out of fashion, and, starting with the cave drawings of the early man, the Renaissance scientific studies, the slaughter of baroque hunting scenes, and the idyllic Romanticism‘ portraits of citizens with their beloved pet (this is only to name a few examples), provide numerous examples of strong artistic mastership, but both glorification and belittlement of animals in art, turned into something suspect at some point. To a certain extent as kind of a counterbalance to the cat video, contemporary art seems to avoid to the naturalistic depiction of animals, or at least transforms it through irony and keeping distance, to the point of conversion. Thus, the inevitable and logical name of Pierre Huyghe‘s famous dog with the pink-painted leg, that combed through the documenta-13 grounds, is, of course, “Human”.

The moral of this entry

To finish my text: Please continue to enjoy your animal observations (no matter whether analog or digital, and yes, of course, including watching cat videos), and occasionally let your mind muse about your relationship with the animal (and vice versa?). Because that’s highly educational and fun.