Publisher Description

"Coffee House Press, a major nonprofit publisher, recently launched a Kickstarter for a book examining the Internet's cat video fetish. The book, if the Kickstarter campaign reaches its $25,000 goal, will be titled Cat is Art Spelled Wrong, and examine themes like what makes something art, whether art is good or bad, and how taste develops. In other words, cat videos can actually be . . . pretty serious."-The Washington Post"Coffee House Press one-ups all boring Kickstarter campaigns with Catstarter, a campaign to fund a book on cat videos."-The Millions"Coffee House Press's upcoming book, titled Cat is Art Spelled Wrong, takes the opportunity to examine a seemingly irrelevant subject from new perspectives-from 'the line is between reality/self on the internet' to 'how cat videos demonstrate either that nothing matters, or that any art matters if anyone thinks it does.' Thus, it's an earnest attempt to uncover more about human nature-especially in today's internet-driven world."-Cool Hunting Fifteenwriters, all addressing not just our fascination with cat videos, but also how we decide what is good or bad art, or art at all; how taste develops, how that can change, and why we love or hate something. It's about people and technology and just what it is about cats that makes them the internet's cutest despots.Contributors include: Sasha Archibald, Will Braden, Stephen Burt, Maria Bustillos, David Carr, Matthea Harvey,Alexis Madrigal, Joanne McNeil, Ander Monson, Kevin Nguyen, Elena Passarello, Jillian Steinhauer, Sarah Schultz, and Carl Wilson.

Author Biography

Sarah Schultz is the former Director of Education and Curator of Public Practice at the Walker Art Center.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Sarah Schultz and Katie HillFeline Darlings & the Anti-Cute: Sasha ArchibaldWatching Cat Videos Together: Will BradenPrologomena to Any Future Poetics of the Cat Video: Stephen BurtTitle TK: Maria BustillosCats: David CarrWalls Divide Humans and Their Cats from Other Humans but Cat Videos Are Our Digital Cat Doors, Peepholes into a Great Cross-species Love: Matthea HarveyTitle TK: Rhonda LierbermanSparrow Martinez: Alexis MadrigalFinding Half-Cat: Joanne McNeilTitle TK: Ander MonsonTitle TK: Kevin NguyenJeoffy (Felis catus): Elena PassarelloThe Nine Lives of Cat Videos: Jillian SteinhauerTitle TK: Carl Wilson

Review

"Cat Is Art Spelled Wrong is a playful and unpredictable elevator ride between high and low, between Derrida and Grumpy Cat, between Baudrillard and a feline dressed as a shark that likes to ride a vacuum cleaner... The magic of Cat Is Art Spelled Wrong is that its audience is all-inclusive... Enjoying the book is in no way contingent upon an art background or owning a cat."--Kirkus "The essays have an eclectic and joyful appeal ... Cat lovers will adore these creative reflections on the frivolity and the necessity of pets and the Web videos many believe to be "the ice cream of moving imagery."--Kirkus "This clever collection is highly recommended for people who watch cat videos, which is apparently nearly everyone."--Publishers Weekly "Readers should expect to find more awe than "aw" in this book, a shift that signals Coffee House Books has maintained the line of inquiry first embarked upon by the Walker Art Center and the lineage of artists whose works precipitated the event in the first place. In this collection, the focus rightly returns to the ancient impulse to pay cat obeisance and the realization that this obeisance (which is sometimes called art) has been sustained for nearly all of the Holocene."--The Rumpus "There's something perverse about making a traditional paper book about Internet ephemera ... [and] it's precisely this kind of ambivalent-yet-appealing perversity that makes the anthology "Cat Is Art Spelled Wrong," an entire book of essays dedicated to cat videos, such a delight."--Chicago Tribune "Cats have a hold on us--even those of us who do not consider ourselves a "cat person." And now cat videos do too. All it takes is a click of a mouse, or, in the case of Cat Is Art Spelled Wrong, the turn of a page, to find out why."--AV Club "Fourteen writers take on perhaps the most important cultural issue of our time: figure out what we're talking about when we're talking about cat videos."--New York Magazine "It's not just about cats, it's about this internet phenomena and what it says about humanity. The pieces range from philosophical to deeply personal stories... If you're interested in internet culture, don't miss this book."--BookRiot "14 funny, fascinating essays by noted writers."--Star Tribune "Contributors provide surprising insights about what our impulse to watch YouTube clips of felines says about them and us."--The Week "What's behind the cat video phenomenon? Local publisher Coffee House Press attempts to answer that question in the new book, Cat Is Art Spelled Wrong."--Minnesota Public Radio "The festival inspired a forthcoming collection of essays, Cat Is Art Spelled Wrong, with references to Georg Hegel, Immanuel Kant and, naturellement, semiotician Jacques Derrida--diffident cats tending to bring out the French in admirers."--Washington Post "With [this] new book, Minneapolis publisher makes the case that cat videos are a form of, yes, art"--MinnPost "Por que nos fascinan los videos de gatitos en internet"--El Confidencial(Spain) "Those upset by the [outcome of the CatVidFest contest] need only to read Maria Bustillos's 'Hope Is the Thing with Fur,' her contribution to the Coffee House Press cat video essay collection, Cat Is Art Spelled Wrong. She writes: 'Cat videos are the crystallization of all that human beings love about cats, the crux of which is centered in the fact that cats are both beautiful and absurd.'"--City Pages "Finally, I get to Write About Cats"--Bookmobile Blog "A lot of fun and one to store away for the holidays for someone who loves cat videos."--BookRiot

Promotional

Endorsements (potential): Hilton Als, Choire Sicha, Anna Holmes, Emily Nussbaum400+ Galleys by BEA 2014Submitted to Powell's IndiespensableNational print, radio, and online campaignTargeted bookseller mailingAdvertising: Bookforum, Shelf AwarenessPromotion at: BookExpo America, Winter Institute, ALA Annual, AWPPromotion on Coffee House Press e-newsletter, website, and social media channelsGiveaways on Twitter, GoodreadsSimultaneous print and e-book release, with e-book ISBN to be included on all press materials, author and publisher websites, and whenever print ISBN is listedPromotion via contributor's social media accounts

Long Description

"Coffee House Press, a major nonprofit publisher, recently launched a Kickstarter for a book examining the Internet's cat video fetish. The book, if the Kickstarter campaign reaches its $25,000 goal, will be titled Cat is Art Spelled Wrong , and examine themes like what makes something art, whether art is good or bad, and how taste develops. In other words, cat videos can actually be . . . pretty serious."-- The Washington Post "Coffee House Press one-ups all boring Kickstarter campaigns with Catstarter, a campaign to fund a book on cat videos."-- The Millions "Coffee House Press's upcoming book, titled Cat is Art Spelled Wrong , takes the opportunity to examine a seemingly irrelevant subject from new perspectives--from 'the line is between reality/self on the internet' to 'how cat videos demonstrate either that nothing matters, or that any art matters if anyone thinks it does.' Thus, it's an earnest attempt to uncover more about human nature--especially in today's internet-driven world."-- Cool Hunting Fifteen writers, all addressing not just our fascination with cat videos, but also how we decide what is good or bad art, or art at all; how taste develops, how that can change, and why we love or hate something. It's about people and technology and just what it is about cats that makes them the internet's cutest despots. Contributors include: Sasha Archibald, Will Braden, Stephen Burt, Maria Bustillos, David Carr, Matthea Harvey, Alexis Madrigal, Joanne McNeil, Ander Monson, Kevin Nguyen, Elena Passarello, Jillian Steinhauer, Sarah Schultz, and Carl Wilson.

Review Quote

"The essays have an eclectic and joyful appeal . . .

Competing Titles

Let's Talk About Love Carl Wilson 9781441166777 19.95 Bloomsbury 3/2014 Curationism David Balzer 9781441166777 13.95 Coach House 10/2014 The Ongoing Moment Geoff Dyer 9781400031689 16.95 Vintage 3/2007 Women in Clothes Sheila Heti 9780399166563 30.00 Blue Rider Press 9/2014

Description for Sales People

Cat Is Art Spelled Wrong was funded in part by a very successful Kickstarter, which raised more than $31,000 and generated a significant amount of prepublication buzz Contributors include those with significant platforms in different arenas: Jillian Steinhauer is an editor at Hyperallergic (arts); Stephen Burt is a well known and active member of the poetry and criticism communities; Alexis Madrigal has a closely followed tiny letter for stories about human interactions with technology; Maria Bustillos and Carl Wilson are both frequent contributors to various online and print cultural organs; and David Carr is a prominent media journalist for the NYT Contributors retain first serial, and we're encouraging them to place their essays in advance of publication Collaborating with the Walker Art Center gives us additional resources for promotion and publicity, as well as reach to the museum and visual art communities Will Braden, creator of Henri le chat noir, is a contributor and deeply invested in the project. He created the Kickstarter video and will be promoting the book to Henri's 100k plus fans.

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