When two mice began capturing their own photos using a camera set up in their cage, artist Augustin Liniere felt a "superpower." In an interview with CNN, Liniere shared that as part of his graduate studies in 2021, he purchased two mice from a pet store in France, where he lives, and built an elaborate cage for them.
Using a mechanism that dispenses sugar when the rodents press a button, Liniere trained them to take pictures of themselves. Through this process, he produced commentary on concepts of pleasure, reward, and the addictive behaviors induced by social media platforms.
Liniere explained that the mice's selfies, which intentionally mirror the funny animal images and videos circulating on social media, serve as a "cute way to attract attention." He added that it provided a "playful" way to explore topics such as declining attention spans and the effects of social media algorithms.
He noted, "When you have such power, even with two little rodents and not billions of humans, you feel like you can manipulate everything." Liniere based his cage design on the "Skinner box," a laboratory device invented by American psychologist B.F. Skinner to study animal behavior.
