Pointless, 2021
We live in times dominated by a new medium that demands new forms of interaction and communication. A medium that imposes such accelerated rhythms that it hardly leaves us room to breathe, digest or reflect. It seems, that in this scenario, absurdity has become the maxim that moves us, and that only those who take it to the extreme, attracting the greatest number of looks and ears to their discourses, will have the opportunity to influence the behavior of the social body.
This was my proposal of extreme absurdity: I tried to capture my full attention by following random instructions every second, for 24 hours. Because, if attention is a limited resource that can be exploited, where exactly is its limit?
Attention has become a valuable asset because it can be captured, measured, and profiled, and then used to target and trigger specific behaviors in us. I harvested my own attention, so you can buy it, in an alluring show designed to grab yours, with the final goal of being able to ask you a question:
Do you think it is possible to regain some agency over the flows of our own attention?
↑ Digital composition, arranged from left to right and top to bottom, showing the artworks derived from the performance.
Pointless, 2021
Details and dimensions:
- Series of 24 original and unique artworks, signed and numbered.
- Size of 29,7 W x 42 H cm (A3) including white margins.
- Clairefontaine Digital Colour Printing paper 300g.
- Dot grid laser printed on the front, performance instructions on the back.
- Hand-drawn pixels using black and red Edding 500 permanent makers.
- The performance was streamed on Twitch. Videos now hosted on Youtube.
Request your artwork.
1/24 🔴, 2/24 🔴, 3/24 🔴, 4/24, 5/24, 6/24, 7/24 🔴, 8/24, 9/24, 10/24 🔴, 11/24, 12/24 🔴, 13/24 🔴, 14/24, 15/24, 16/24, 17/24 🔴, 18/24, 19/24, 20/24 🔴, 21/24 🔴, 22/24 🔴, 23/24 🔴, 24/24 🔴.
- 99€ per artwork, taxes included if applicable.
- International shipping included (ships rolled in a tube).
- Additional costs such as duties or customs clearance fees, not included.
- Payment process via PayPal.
- Please do not expose it to direct sunlight to avoid colors fading.
Other pages linking to this page:
Pointless / Attention understood as a scarce resource
Pointless / The design to test the limits of my own attention
Pointless / Attention understood as a scarce resource
Pointless / The design to test the limits of my own attention
Pointless, 2021
My task consisted of following 86400 one-bit instructions, randomly generated by a computer at the speed of one instruction per second.
Using a marker on a sheet of paper, I had to paint or not, according to the orders emitted by the computer (yes or no), stopping as little as possible, for the time strictly necessary.
If I lost my attention during the process, I had to stop the instructions, paint using a red marker, and when I was ready to continue, start the instructions again.
At one instruction per second, one sheet would be the theoretical equivalent of one hour. 24 sheets would be the theoretical equivalent of 86400 instructions.
The performance is presented as an experiment to test the limits of my own attention. The absurdity of the proposal, its design as a challenge, the narrative and the visual language chosen for the video, all combined, act as a playground to explore our understanding of human attention, its value and the role it plays in our current digital society.
Other pages linking to this page:
Daniel Armengol Altayó
Pointless / Attention understood as a scarce resource
Daniel Armengol Altayó
Pointless / Attention understood as a scarce resource