Two rats become self-taught photographers thanks to artist’s ingenious experiment
When two rats started taking their own photos with a camera attached to their cage, artist Augustin Lignier said he felt “super powerful.”
As part of his graduate studies in 2021, Lignier bought two rats from a pet store in France and built them an elaborate cage. Using a mechanism that gave the rodents sugar each time they pressed a button, he trained them to take photos of themselves, while simultaneously commenting on notions of pleasure, reward, and addictive behaviors induced by social media.
The rats’ self-portraits resemble funny photos and videos of other animals found on social media, attracting attention and offering a “playful” way to explore topics such as reduced attention spans and the impact of social media algorithms.
Lignier based his cage design on the “Skinner box,” a device invented by American psychologist BF Skinner to study animal behavior. The rats, later named Augustin and Arthur, showed a clear understanding and association of pleasure with pressing the button, even when the sugar release became random.
Their antics led to a series of selfies, some of which appeared to be taken against a clean white background, while others were close-up shots. According to Lignier, the process of giving random rewards for taking selfies mirrored the tactics social media companies and dating apps use to keep users coming back.
After spending a few days taking selfies, the rats went to live with Lignier’s mother in the south of France until they died and were buried in her backyard.