On January 23, 2024, the New York Times published an article about an experiment with strong media coverage, illustrated by a collection of rat selfies.
Its initiator: Augustin Lignier, a French professional photographer who wanted – as part of an academic work – to reproduce the experience of the American behaviorist and psychologist Skinner. A protocol invented in the 1930s involved locking rats in a testing chamber and then randomly distributing rewards using a small lever that the animal could operate. He quickly becomes dependent: he can no longer get away from the button and the prospect of gain. Satisfying your hunger also becomes a secondary objective. He makes himself a slave to the mechanism of the machine.
The social network was created by taking inspiration from this research. When we update our news feed, we are also looking for rewards: a like, a comment, a heart… These digital reactions stimulate our dopamine production, which is why we return to them regularly and sometimes compulsively. .
Augustin Lignier, influenced by this modern obsession with the selfie, designed a three-story transparent glass tower. In front of her: a camera, and, at the end of the line: a button that triggers a photo and delivers a dose of sugar. Inside the device, he places two rats and a screen that allows them to reflect on each other. After the learning phase, the rats are more interested in the photos than the sugar, which they give up. For Augustine Lignier, this is proof that these rats are like us: fed by narcissism. We are caught up in our addiction to social media.
Obviously if these works lend themselves to the aesthetics of scientific experience, they are above all an artistic approach that seeks to question our relationship with the media. It is impossible to really know whether an animal is aware of its own image.
The Naruto Monkey Affair
It is reminiscent of the Indonesian monkey Naruto, who in 2011 – when British photographer David J. Slater was reporting on an island and put his camera on a stand – he took advantage of the moment to take a selfie with the installation. Intentional or not, we will never know. But after the picture of the monkey went viral, animal rights organization Peta has questioned the copyright. Who owns the image? To the photographer or to Makoda?
After a long legal process full of twists and turns, Slater and Peta reach a compromise: the photographer promises to donate 25% of all proceeds from the sale of the image to an organization that preserves the habitat of Naruto and his descendants.
For Augustine Lignier’s rats, the same question arises: to what extent are they also not, published by the authors of this photo New York Times ? The French artist, who takes the question very seriously, assures us: he considers his rats collaborators. They have a small bank account and the photographer will be willing to pay them half of the income.
