‘Like a tiny kitten waiting to pounce:’ Inside the cult of cute

Made popular by its seemingly unthreatening nature, cute’s quest for world domination suggests there is more to the phenomenon than its charming exterior might imply

A fluffy, doe-eyed kitten adorned with a rainbow and a unicorn horn may, at first glance, stir up images of childishness or innocence. However, this cute creature is more powerful than it may first appear. From pets to children to wide-eyed toys, social media filters, emojis and internet memes, “cuteness” is one of the most prominent aesthetics of our digitally saturated age, and a veritable industry in itself. Made popular by its seemingly unthreatening nature, cute’s quest for world domination suggests there is more to the phenomenon than its charming exterior might imply. How cuteness has taken over our world — and why — is a subject being explored in “Cute,” a new (and the first ever) exhibition devoted to the movement at London’s Somerset House. “By creatively unpacking cute’s many guises, we can not only understand something about ourselves … but also about how we relate to each other and the world around us,” said Somerset House’s director of exhibitions, Cliff Lauson, at the show’s opening. It started with cats. When Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the internet, was asked to name one use of the internet he did not anticipate, he answered with a single word — “kittens.” It’s evocative of how Claire Catterall, senior curator at Somerset House, described cuteness in a speech to open the exhibit: “Like a tiny kitten waiting to pounce, its power and influence has slowly crept up on us.”