​Katie Wilde

 

 

I’m drawn to the notion of human interaction with the world we inhabit. Ceaselessly discovering, creating and destroying, we change the face of the globe and the structure of life on it. I’m interested in the way we seek answers, or suppress freedom of information in power struggles. How do we situate ourselves as a part of this complex system of Earthly life? I describe my feelings towards the subject as equal parts critical and sympathetic. I am boiling with excitement at the bizarre wonders of the universe in all its sizes and dimensions, laws and paradoxes. I also feel culpable and humbly grateful for the sacrifices that have occurred in order for humanity to have progressed to its present stage. In this project I hand over some of the creative power to three representatives of a group who happen to have allowed for a great expansion of knowledge regarding the physical human: little white mice.



The project’s earliest beginnings stemmed from an unconscious blurting of the phrase “A House for a Mouse” up into my conscious mind. This was the title of a book that my mother used to read to me, but not remembering many details, I quickly drifted into a dramatic daydream, where I constructed a surreal sculptural landscape which mice could inhabit. My favourite element of this strange arena was a glass-bottomed water feature under which mice could run – the glass being their ceiling. In the shallow water would be some form of particulate matter, suspended gently until a mouse scurried beneath, at which point it would gather towards the mouse and be dragged behind it in an underwater comet-trail, then relaxing as the mouse disappeared into other tunnels. While researching for a material that could behave in such a way, I came upon ferromagnetic fluids. The landscape was left behind for the time being in favour of exploring mice and magnetics.

 

By harnessing biological and magnetic forces, the performative aspect of the installation appears eerily separated from any direct human or mechanical interference. The patterns created by the movement of the mice are erratic, influenced not only by the shifting of magnetic fields perpetrated by the little albino agents, but by the inevitable interference of gravity and inertia, as well as my decisions regarding magnet configuration, fluid application, and duration of performance



(Non)interference Patterns functions as  a shameless challenge to revive a childlike curiosity about the way in which our universe functions. At the same time, I question whether it is possible for humanity to truly know our physical or social environment. As the mice are unaware of their creations, I imagine that we too are rich in ignorance, leaving a vast wealth to be discovered.













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