Attention Figures

32-channel sound system, variable light, algorithmic sound composition that uses a common notification sound and attempts to construct spatial arrangements of visitors' attention

In 1971 Herbert A. Simon coined the term attention economics stating that “In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients”.

Attention Figures stems from the perspective that the mental space associated with imagination is increasingly being colonized by algorithmic devices. The installation stages a space that pulsates between casual and theatrical and attempts to bring visitors' attention into their attention. The work was part of a solo show at the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia that inquired into methods used to occupy our attention, how imagination is shaped and visions of reality are created.