Stereo sound. 9 mins. 40 secs. (Excerpted below.)
From "Cats Lap With Just Tip of the Tongue, Engineers Find," a New York Times article by Nicholas Wade:
What happens is that the cat darts its tongue, curving the upper side downward so that the tip lightly touches the surface of the water. The tongue is then pulled upward at high speed, drawing a column of water behind it.
Just at the moment that gravity finally overcomes the rush of the water and starts to pull the column down — snap! The cat’s jaws have closed over the jet of water and swallowed it.
This sound piece was named in tribute to Batman, the cat belonging to Open Source Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Open Source's former building was destroyed in an accidental fire which occurred on November 12, 2010, just a few doors down from the artist’s studio. Disoriented, Batman - a black and white tomcat who'd been king of the block - disappeared for a few days. An article appeared in the Science Times that day with new information on how cats lap. Part of it was woven into this piece.
Holy Smoke, Batman! was installed in Open Source's exhibition ASSOCIATED which took place in April, 2011, throughout an adjacent building that had been severely damaged by the fire.