The In-Between: The Cat Show

The Cat Show celebrates cats of all shapes, sizes and subjectivities with cat themed work by over 50

artists. The show was conceived and organised by Rhonda Lieberman.

One of the main features of the show in 'The Cats-in-Residence Program' were cats from Social Tees Animal Rescue, who lounge on a feline fine art, play and run about on a playground designed by architects Gia Wolff and Freecell, were they will hopefully find their forever homes from enthusiastic gallery viewers and cat lovers.

Samantha Brody of Social Tees said, “The cats were having the time of their lives -- the artist-designed enclosure is like a jungle gym/spa for kitties. And the visitors (especially those who went inside the enclosure!) were just as overjoyed as the cats. It was awesome to see so many faces light up.”

When discussing the background for the show, Lieberman provided this anecdote revealing her first impulse to create a platform to bring awareness to animal rescue in New York City and how to integrate this into an art gallery environment:

"Back in the mid-’90s, I lived in a loft in Long Island City (LIC) and started tending an outdoor cat colony in an empty lot on my street. I wasn’t even a cat person when I moved in, but LIC had tons of street cats then and they pulled me in. The cat party started at dusk when we arrived with the cans. It was my favorite art installation at the time!

Hi-rises were about to go up on the lot — displacing the cats my neighbors and I had grown fond of. We placed some and approached some rescue groups — all overflowing with adoptable pets — and that’s when I got a crash course in the over-extended rescue situation in NYC. I thought it would be so amazing to help the rescue groups by creating an undepressing space where the public could meet the cats, a place where strays would be appreciated as the gorgeous creatures they are and not wretches in a cage-lined facility! I thought the cat area itself was a great installation and this project would use the art context to actually facilitate adoption — as well as being an aesthetic, meditative space."

The exhibition features an impressively long list of artists:

Michele Abeles, Rita Ackermann, Antonio Adams, Bill Adams, Laura Aldridge, Graham Anderson, Araki, Cory Arcangel, Atelier E.B. (Lucy McKenzie, Beca Lipscombe, Marc Camille Chaimowicz), Michel Auder, Lisa Anne Auerbach, Matthew Barney, Will Benedict, Olaf Breuning, Janet Burchill, Kathe Burkhart, Carter, Antoine Catala, David Colman, Ann Craven, Cynthia Daignault, Lucky DeBellevue, Jake Ewert, Bella Foster, Magdalena Frimkess, Jeff Funnell, Rainer Ganahl, Paul Georges, Eric Ginsburg, Karin Gulbran, Tamar Halpern, Michelle Handelman, June Hamper, Michelle Handelman, Daniel Heidkamp, Robert Heinecken, John Hiltunen, Ann Cathrin November Hoibo, Jonathan Horowitz, Marc Hundley, Gary Indiana, Jane Kaplowitz, Nina Katchadourian, Matt Keegan, Mike Kelley, Wayne Koestenbaum, Barbara Kruger, Ella Kruglyanskaya, Sadie Laska, Elad Lassry, Mark Leckey, Cary Leibowitz, Rhonda Lieberman, Cassandra MacLeod, Alissa McKendrick, Ryan McNamara, Matthias Merkel-Hess, Siobhan Meow, Marilyn Minter, Dave Muller, Takeshi Murata, Eileen Neff, Laura Owens, Elizabeth Peyton, Richard Prince, Rob Pruitt, Eileen Quinlan, , T. Cole Rachel, Jennifer Rochlin, Sam Roeck, Ruth Root, Kay Rosen, Jason Rosenberg, Theo Rosenblum and Chelsea Seltzer, Gus Van Sant, Joe Scanlan, Steven Shearer, David Shrigley, Patti Smith, Frances Stark, Amy Taubin, Nicola Tyson, Andy Warhol, Jordan Wolfson, B. Wurtz, Rob Wynne, and Freecell with Gia Wolff.

This exhibition is a fantastic way to create awareness to the over crowding in animal rescues and the need for homes for so many cats that have been abandoned and need homes.
This is hopefully were my studio work will be heading this year. I hope to create an exhibition along similar lines as this one, using local artists to help raise much needed funds for smaller shelters in my area and neighbouring counties. Hopefully I will create awareness to the dire situation involving Irish animals and the shelters who are struggling to cope with the situation.
I like the idea of having adoption days in the gallery space, as it will allow people to come and see the animals for themselves and also to see art.
Hopefully if this event is successful I can have an annual one featuring a different rescue each time.
I have never organised a show and have a lot of work ahead of me, hopefully I will be successful and it will be fun.
I will keep you updated and any help or suggestions to get the ball rolling would be greatly appreciated.