DanmatsuMouse is a software artwork that documents the destruction of computer mice, along with their cursors’ movements on the desktop as the destruction occurred. When a user launches the software, the video of a mouse’s demise begins to play, while the user’s own mouse cursor replicates the on-screen death throes of the destroyed mouse. Although the physical mouse cannot be restored once destroyed, its cursor is a digital being that can be resurrected again and again, repeating the same motion. The work thus stands as a juxtaposition of physical and digital death.

Collection of Tokyo Photographic Art Museum