Kat Wilson Creates New #selfiethrone for FORMAT Festival

Northwest Arkansas-based artist Kat Wilson to debut new #selfiethrone at FORMAT festival to shine a neon spotlight on the region’s creatives.
The multidisciplinary Format Festival will welcome a diverse range of globally renowned international and local musicians and artists, alongside emerging talent and a myriad of special performances and surprise acts.
Wilson will install an elaborate and interactive #selfiethrone that employs elements of photography, sculpture, and performance art to blur the line between self-empowerment and self-obsession. The thrones are embellished with vibrant, often kitschy objects set against charmingly gaudy backdrops. Wilson will unveil her newest throne for festival-goers to snapshots of themselves at the entrance to the Bizarre Bazaar.
“I want to give festival visitors from around the world a little something weirdly Arkansas to experience and take back home, some camouflage and a deer felt fitting,” says Wilson. She has teamed up with sign-fabricator Derrick Maxey to construct a skeletal neon deer head to adorn the throne surrounded by camo netting. Selfie Kings, Queens, and Non-Binary Monarchs will ascend the throne to techno tunes of Kevin Blagg a.k.a. Cellophane Garden. Visitors will be ushered in and gassed up by actor David Wayne Reed as Brother Randy Love, who preaches the gospel of self-love. Selfieogolist will be close by with biodegradable confetti cannons for those who haven’t mastered the art of the selfie. For the FORMAT #selfiethrone, Wilson has designed everything from backdrop to costumes, but what she loves most about this project is that it is a showcase of all the creative (and sometimes strange) energy the region has to offer.
#selfiethrone is just one of the projects Wilson has developed for her movement Part(ty) Art, community-built public artworks brought to life by engaging a diverse group of participants in an act of creativity.