“Follow the mouse” is a common behavior that computer programmers use to make an object trail the mouse pointer around the monitor. It is also, more colloquially, what we all do daily in front of our screens as we work, play, and communicate. In replacing a hardware mouse with its namesake, a living creature, I hope to humorously raise some questions about the names and metaphors we invoke to describe the constructed environments that we inhabit.

The installation portrays an office workspace, a place where creative exploration and play may be suppressed to finish the more ordinary tasks of data entry, word processing, and e-mail. In the Follow the mouse cubicle, the live mouse creates a series of monotype inkjet prints. A small spy camera suspended above the mouse’s cage enables the computer to monitor the mouse’s changing position in its cage. The computer program I wrote analyzes the video information and maps a marks to the mouse’s precise location in the cage in real time. Rapid movements create changes in the width and height of the marks while no movement triggers rotation. Printouts automatically occur on the hour. Each drawing is absolutely unique. The collection of printouts represents the intricate tracings of routine activity.