Grab the Pussy is the second installment of the media art project The Fair Grounds. It consists of a refurbished claw-crane machine, filled with knitted kittens. No industrial plush but homemade woolen cats knitted by knitting clubs from all over the Netherlands!

Grab the Pussy is a community art project. In conjunction with the ‘Knitting Together’ project of the Netherlands Fund for the elderly, DROPSTUFF MEDIA approached knitting and knitting clubs throughout the Netherlands to knit the kittens. The goal of these clubs is to counteract loneliness among the elderly by providing communal activities.

Chipped and ready to share!
The kittens each receive an individual biography and a NFC-chip in their ‘collar’. By scanning the chip with their smartphone, the winner of the game activates these chips and can register the cat.

They can leave a selfie with the cat on the site GrabThePussy.nl where everyone – including the creators of the cat! – can see where the huggable pet has ended up. The machine first premiered at the Lowlands festival and has since travelled to different festivals. The project is currently only in Dutch.

#GrabThePussy
The term ‘Grab the Pussy’ is an ironic reference to Donald Trump’s infamous statement. It decontaminates the hashtag #GrabThePussy by flooding it with pictures of these beautifully knitted cat. Look it up and see for yourself – meow!