Artist Laura Allcorn is running a pledge drive with a difference, but she’s not trying to raise money – what she really wants is your attention.
Her humorous and candy-coloured take on television fundraising drives is part of a new show at the University of Melbourne’s Science Gallery titled Distraction.
“We’re trying to steal back time from tech corporations, who are stealing our attention every day,” Allcorn said.
Using an analog script, visitors can tell each other about their digital time-sucking habits and pledge to each other to use their time differently, with helpful suggestions including “spend time with people you like”.
Allcorn has tested this analog approach, and who knows, perhaps looking at faces rather than screens might catch on.
“You’re not on your phone any more, and you’re looking face-to-face with someone … there’s a lot of accountability that comes from that, and I think that’s powerful,” she said.
The time pledged by gallery-goers will be added to a giant tally, with the aim of collectively reclaiming a whole year of people’s attention.
The artwork was developed with psychologist Gloria Mark, and also features a giant spinning prize wheel labelled “Bye Bye Brain Rot” containing strategies to reduce digital distraction.
The topical exhibition idea came through a brainstorming session with the Science Gallery’s SciCurious advisory group, made up of people aged 15-25 who reported feeling constantly plugged in to the digital world.
“It was kind of natural to come up with a theme around distraction, this idea of our attention being pulled in every direction,’ curator Bern Hall said.
An international open call for artworks resulted in more than 300 submissions, with half a dozen included in the show and about the same number commissioned to flesh out the distraction theme.
Of course, an exhibition focused on human responses to the digital world would not be complete without cat videos.
Artist Jen Valender travelled to Japan’s Ainoshima Island, known as “Cat Heaven Island”, to film cats encountering digital screens for the first time.
She discovered felines are captivated by cat content just like humans, and her artwork features 81 cat videos crammed into a giant screen and played on a loop.
Gallery-goers who stand in the right spot and strike a feline pose will be able to see the footage switch over to “cat vision” mode, in colours mimicking what cats actually see, based on animal research by the university.
There’s also Epic Sock Puppet Theatre from US media artists Jennifer Gradecki and Derek Curry, which features hilarious but malicious sock puppets who spread disinformation and ridiculousness as they teach people how to uncover online impersonators.
These are just some of the hopeful perspectives art can offer in response to the overwhelm caused by the digital world, according to Hall.
Distraction is at the Science Gallery at the University of Melbourne from July 26 until May 2, 2026.
https://thewest.com.au/entertainment/attention-please-is-your-phone-dominating-your-life-c-19462546
