Barcelona-based creative studio Hungry Castle introduced an inflatable cat head at the ADC Festival in Miami in April. The inflatable Laser Cat uses lasers in its eyes to project works of art onto screens or buildings. In Miami, it projected art work on the New World Center.
The inflatable cat head measures 20 feet by 20 feet and stands two stories high. The cat makes a “pew, pew” sound as it projects the artwork during the laser show.
Hungry Castle used a funny online video campaign to solicit donations of creative works from local artists. They received more than 15,000 drawings, photographs, and paintings and “fed” them to the cat. At the ADC Festival, the cat projected artwork from its eyes for 45 minutes. It presented the top 50 pieces of art that were selected from all of those submitted.
Laser Cat will make its Canadian debut in Calgary. It will be on display at the downtown block party at the Beakerhead science and arts festival on September 13. Hungry Castle will be collecting submissions of artwork from the public in the coming weeks. Laser Cat has already collected 16,000 pieces of art since making its debut in Miami. For the show in Calgary, it will give preference to work from local artists.
Laser Cat is inspired by online pop culture and the popularity of cat memes. The design team behind the project wants spectators to question the definition of art. The designers see Laser Cat as a way to encourage people of all abilities and skill levels to create art simply for fun, not to achieve commercial success or gain.