‘Til the cows come home is a drawing machine operated by three mice. The machine was inspired by a visit last spring to a neuroscientist’s laboratory. Mice are genetically very similar to humans and thus used widely in thousands of scientific experiments that test the capacity of a mouse to become addicted to cocaine, fight a tumor, or diet successfully.

Scientists record an animal’s locomotion through the use of special treadmills that electronically count the number of revolutions. I designed a simple machine that would not only provide simple visualization of the amount of wheel rotation but also allow for imprecision—the mice playfully chew on both the paper and pencil at night. Due to the friction of the sharpened pencil against the paper, the combined efforts of the mice to move the wheel results in slight movements of the treadmill itself. The mice produce one drawing daily—the marks are subtle but tremendous variation is possible within the simple form of the endless circle.