Walker Art Center's Internet Cat Video Fest heads to SXSW

Last summer, over 10,000 people camped out on the Walker Art Center's hilly lawn for the Cat Video Fest (#catvidfest), an outdoor screening of the best cat videos the internet had to offer. When it came to curating the show, the museum staff were overwhelmed with the sheer quantity of submissions, and staffers were delighted (and shocked) when folks -- plus a few celebrity cats -- flew in from around the world to attend the event.

At this year's SXSW, folks from the Walker will be in town to talk about what the hell happened, and what this means for modern art.

They will also be screening cat videos, of course.

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The talk, titled "#catvidfest: Is This the End of Art?," will explore some of the questions raised by the event's popularity, as well as its mere existence. During the talk, Open Field programmer Scott Stulen and festival curator/organizer Katie Hill will address the sheer ridiculousness of the event, what role modern-art museums play in terms of showcasing pop-culture trends, how  crowd-sourcing an event impacts curational work, and the implications of bringing online communities together at public events.

Heading to Austin this spring for SXSW? Be sure to slot the talk into your schedule. For a more info on the event, or for the festivals complete schedule, visit schedule.sxsw.com.