A performative installation commenting on a daily digital ritual in which we all make a sacrificial offering of our attention.
CREATED AT PANGENERATOR

#scroll #attention-economy #ritual

Ad infinitum

The infinity scroll is a mechanism often utilised by social media services and platforms, suggesting infinite amounts of content. Endless scrolling induces a state of permanent craving in the mind, tempting it with an endless stream of new information, which, however, it is incapable of processing.

Scrolling thus becomes a purely sensory experience, inducing a hypnosis of sorts. The soothing monotony of light forms moving in front of our eyes leaves us fully engrossed, becoming a daily digital ritual in which we make a sacrificial offering of all our attention – a priceless gift for digital corporations. Or is it time to stop genuflecting?

The installation was a part of panGenerator's ICONS exhibition held at Warsaw Ethnographic Museum that presented a series of objects embodying various phenomena of digital culture.

Installation invites audience to perform an awkward act of kneeling in front of the screen and re-enacting the automatic gesture of scrolling in untypical context - hopefully encouraging contemplation.

The contents of the "feed" displayed on the screen are purely abstract and are generated randomly - convening the fact that we most often don't really process what we see on our screens, just feeding on purely sensual stimuli.

Installation is equipped with custom capacitive touch pad that allows for a familiar scrolling experience - though purposefully it only accepts an upward motion.

Produced at panGenerator in collaboration with Krzysztof Cybulski & Krzysztof Goliński. Check the project page here

Photos by Maciej Jędrzejewski

YEAR:
2020

TECHNIQUE:
custom led screen, custom capacitive touchpad, arduino, lacquered plywood, mini-pc, code: processing

NOTABLE EXHIBITIONS:
kikk, ars electronica, wro biennale

COMMISSIONED BY:
etno museum warsaw

HELD BY:
pangenerator