BlaBlaLab Workshop | Rat King: Migration of the Brown Rat by Yi Zhang

This board game is designed around the transnational, trans-century migration trajectory of the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, dock rat, Hanover rat, or Norwegian rat. Their numerous names may reflect the species' long journey and its many encounters with humans across different times, spaces, and regions.

Originating in northern China, Mongolia and Siberia, the brown rat has now spread to every continent except Antarctica (reaching as far as South Georgia Island near the Antarctic). They have become the most widespread rodent across most of Europe and North America, firmly established in worldwide ecosystems.

A “rat king” is a rare phenomenon in which a group of rats becomes physically tangled together by their tails, which has been recorded in many parts of the world. I understand it as a kind of glitch in everyday reality, an entanglement that appears when enough encounters and conditions allow it to emerge. 

Through this game, we will collectively speculate on the movements of brown rat families and explore how their migration paths intersect with climate change, colonial navigation, human expansion, global trade, and ongoing efforts to eradicate them. What other forms of glitches might emerge within this continual flow of reality?

This project is a tryout session as a part of the Raise Your Voice 2025 Programme. From these tryout sessions, there will be selected fellowships continuing on into 2026 depending on the success and quality of the tryouts.

About the artist, participant of the Raise Your Voice program

Yi Zhang (she/they), is a 28 years old interdisciplinary artist, researcher and storyteller based in Eindhoven. They have an educational background in painting, site-specific art and research. Her work spans various mediums, including writing, drawing, cooking, video, performance, and site-specific installations. Her projects often center on "in-betweenness," which is a liminal space or state that implies dynamics of continuity, separation, transition, overlapping, and mobility. Exploring the experience of existing between different cultures, identities, or systems of power, rooted in the complexities of postcolonial societies. In recent years, they have focused on studying specific cases in global trade and its broader socio-political influences.