computer mouse conference

what is this conference

The invention of the computer mouse helped to shift perceptions of the relationships between bodies and computing technologies. The mouse is powerful in its potential to reroute perceptions and create new meaning. The mouse can also be seen as a site of contradictions within the history of computing. These contradictions can be leveraged in order to complicate its history so that its story can be retold while it’s still here and still ubiquitous. Imagine a mouse re-imagined. What does it look like? Who is it for? How is it made? What materials? What does it feel like? Where can it be used? At this conference we will address a seemingly uninteresting and ubiquitous device in order to re-frame its relevance to and potential for living with and through computers. We have invited 8 artists and 6 speakers to present work through a complication of the computer mouse. The idea here is to re-imagine the mouse as an object. What in its shape and its material determine how a person uses it? How can thinking through the mouse help to re-evaluate our understanding of computing and the complex relationships between bodies and computers?