Claire Bishop, a professor of art history, emphasizes that our relationship with attention has been reshaped by digital technology, prompting artists to adapt their methods accordingly. She observes that even in contemporary art, the sociable essence of attention mirrors the theatrical experiences of the past, where artists actively engaged with and manipulated the audience's focus, reflecting a continuous evolution of attentional practices.
Bishop often highlights how art's interaction with attention evolves over time. The manipulation of focus in historical contexts, like Joseph Haydn's unconventional silence in music, has an echo in the contemporary art scene, seen in installations like Sun & Sea, where the audience's attention is intentionally diffused and shared amidst performance and social media.
Art experiences today frequently involve our smartphones, whether snapping pictures or socializing about exhibited works. This 'document as we look' phenomenon suggests a shift in attentional dynamics, where individual engagement with art spaces has transformed into a collective and often fragmented digital interaction.
The Venice Biennale piece Sun & Sea exemplifies how contemporary artists are addressing information overload, inviting viewers to interact fluidly between physical presence and digital spectating in a sleek, immersive environment, creating an artwork that unfolds over time and encourages an organic, shared experience.
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