Pointless, 2021

My task was to follow 86,400 one-bit instructions, randomly generated by a computer at a rate of one per second.

Using a marker on a sheet of paper, I had to either paint or leave it blank according to the computer’s commands (yes or no), minimizing pauses to only what was strictly necessary.

If I lost my attention during the process, I had to stop the instructions, mark in red, and once I was ready to continue, start the instructions again.

At a rate of one instruction per second, each sheet theoretically represented one hour. Completing 24 sheets would amount 86400 instructions.

This performance serves as an experiment to test the limits of my own attention. The absurdity of the task, its challenge-based design, and the chosen narrative and visual language all come together as a playground to explore our understanding of attention —its value and its role in today’s digital society.

Other pages linking to this page:
Daniel Armengol Altayó
Pointless / Attention understood as a scarce resource

↑ Every second of the performance in a single image.

This image precisely captures, down to the second, the recorded instructions, the moments when I lost my attention, and the pauses between sheets.

The performance lasted a total of 47 hours, 55 minutes, and 34 seconds, meaning that the average time per sheet was nearly two hours, twice the theoretical minimum.

Other pages linking to this page:
Pointless visual summary (?)
(test) Flickr gallery

↑ Empty grid on the left, grid filled with random one-bit instructions on the right.

The sheet of paper featured a dot grid of 50 columns by 72 rows (50 x 72 = 3600). Since the grid had to be filled at a rate of one instruction per second, each sheet was the equivalent of one hour (1 hour = 3600 seconds).

Other pages linking to this page:
Pointless / One hour (at least) per sheet
(test) Flickr gallery

TL;DR aka visual summary

(textos a revisar)

Using a marker on a sheet of paper, I had to either paint or leave it blank according to the computer’s commands, randomly generated by at a rate of one per second.

If I lost my attention I had to stop the instructions, paint using the red marker and, when I was ready to continue, start the process all over again. Similar to a guided meditation practice.

The sheet of paper featured a dot grid of 50 columns by 72 rows (50 x 72 = 3600). Since the grid had to be filled at a rate of one instruction per second, each sheet was the equivalent of one hour (1 hour = 3600 seconds), if completed without breaks.

The final goal, to fill 24 of those sheets, the equivalent of 24 hours, stopping as little as possible, for as long as strictly necessary.

Altough the breaks (red marks) occupied only one square on the sheet of paper, they did not equal to one second. After the performance I can process all the information to visualize the real time needed to complete each sheet, expanding the red points until they occupy the exact number of seconds corresponding to each break.

And if we put it all together, we can see every second of the performance in a single image. Almost 48 hours in total.

Daniel Armengol Altayó / Gallery / Pointless