Going viral with Emily Pelleymounter
I attended the Visual Anthropology MA course in 2005 and it was challenging for me academically and artistically but it was also the first time that my creativity had been fully supported. Goldsmiths was an environment where not only was it okay to have these ideas, but it was applauded. I was introduced to concepts and artists, like Jeff Koons’ lowbrow as the new highbrow and Sophie Calle’s The Hotel that shaped me and gave me self-assuredness in my own style.
One career highlight is creating my first “viral” video, Cats vs Bananas. I was on the subway in New York when it got published, and because the reception is intermittent underground I remember refreshing the site constantly and watching the play count rise every time the train pulled into a station and I got reception. By the time I made it to where I was staying uptown, there were over one million views.
Guest Post by Emily Pelleymounter (MA Visual Anthropology, 2005), Creative Director of Video at The Dodo, an internet brand based in New York. Emily’s work features all animals but cats have always dominated the internet, so she mostly designs and produces cat videos. And loves it.
