Lab. Mouse.

A collaboration with Noga Shimshon

Mouse.

The mouse and cursor live in parallel, complementary dimensions; the physical object and its virtual imagery. They are interdependent – they can never meet, and they will never part. In the physical sphere, the mouse is, for the most part, nothing more than a plastic shell that we hold in our hand, an object containing an optic sensor that responds to our hand’s movement, which is converted into virtual movement. In the digital sphere, the mouse becomes a cursor – a symbolic image of a black outline in the shape of an arrow. Since its creation in the 1960s, the cursor has only undergone one change. Its inventor, Douglas Engelbart, designed it as an upward pointing arrow. The cursor was later tilted sideways, the left edge creating a 90° angle. This change was driven by the low screen resolution at the time and made the 48-pixel arrow more visible. In the years since its introduction into our lives, the mouse has become the most popular tool in the virtual sphere, a phantom limb, a digital extension of ourselves.

Lab.

In this project, the mouse and cursor are part of a dismantling and reassembly laboratory. 48 black pixels were grouped by different people to form new structures – their own vision of a virtual cursor. On a physical level, random mass-produced plastic shells were assembled with electronical components of a computer mouse, and disguised themselves as the mice we know.

*Participated in “Image” exhibition, Binyamini Contemporary Ceramics Center, Tel Aviv.

Photo Credit – Aya Wind