Visitors to the Swedish city of Lund have some new attractions to look out for, but they will have to bow their heads really low in order to see them.
AnonyMouse, a collective that originated in Malmo, has been creating a mini city with tiny (and adorable) stores and cafes for the little rodents roaming the busy streets.
The collective of artists who were inspired by the stories of Astrid Lindgren and Beatrix Potter, and scenes from Walt Disney movies, started building miniature installations for mice in 2016. After making these installations in four different cities in Sweden they began to spread out to the south of France as well as at the Isle of Man. The collective has made 25 scenes so far.
Apart from the mini-city shops for the mice, there's also an interactive mystery quest involving newspapers, emails, maps, and answering machines set up by the group. "We think that at some point most kids like to imagine that there is a world parallel to ours, where small animals live quite like we do but recycle things that we have lost," say the folks at AnonyMouse. "So, we try to incorporate as many human objects as we can, a champagne cork becomes a chair, a matchbox a desk, a seashell becomes a lampshade and a stamp becomes a painting. When we started, it took us three months to complete a scene, but now that we've gotten the hang of it, it's considerably faster."
The collective works only at night, never revealing the precise location of new installations, leaving that a mystery for their public. The followers of their works can be seen searching for clues to their whereabouts in photos. walking the streets with their heads down. People analyse the bricks, signboards, and even bushes in the photo shared by the collective and set out on the quest, giving a &lsquoSherlock&rsquo vibe to their travels.
The newest of the creation, the record store containing miniature mice-themed records and posters, follows the opening of the &lsquoCicada Pharmacy&rsquo in a different city in July.