In her provocatively insightful new book, Disordered Attention, Claire Bishop presents a compelling narrative on the transformation of viewer engagement in the digital age. Bishop, a renowned contemporary art scholar, argues that the ubiquity of smartphones has significantly shifted the horizon of human attention, rendering these devices not merely accessories but integral components of our perceptual apparatus in experiencing art.
As Bishop weaves through the complex terrain of modern aesthetics, she explores the paradox of increased connectivity—our expansive access to knowledge and culture—braided with a diminished capacity for prolonged focus. This shift, she posits, has impelled artists to adapt, to rethink the ways in which art communicates and demands attention.
The notion of the phone as a "prosthesis for viewing" art underpins Bishop's thesis. This metaphor extends beyond mere enhancement of vision, suggesting a transformation in the very nature of looking. The digital screen mediates our visual and cognitive engagement, altering the temporal and spatial dynamics of viewing. Bishop dismantles the traditional dichotomy between passive reception and active participation, showing how contemporary art forms challenge the viewer to engage with art in novel, often disorienting ways.
Through a meticulous analysis of various art forms and their interaction with digital technology, Bishop illuminates how artists have ingeniously responded to the era of the smartphone. Whether through interactive installations that require physical engagement or multimedia pieces that merge digital and physical realms, artists are actively experimenting with strategies to recapture and recondition viewer attention.
Bishop's critique is not merely a lament for the lost art of deep focus, but a celebration of the new aesthetic possibilities that arise from these technological shifts. In Disordered Attention, she highlights several innovative artists who harness the fragmented attention spans fostered by digital devices as a medium in itself, creating works that are both a product of and a reflection on the contemporary zeitgeist.
Disordered Attention is as much an invitation as it is a critique—a call to artists and audiences alike to explore the new landscapes of visual culture shaped by digital technology. Bishop’s work encourages a reevaluation of our engagement with art, advocating for a deeper understanding of how technology alters perception and, consequentially, the art that springs from and speaks to these conditions.
This book, elegant and profound, is not only a critical resource for artists, curators, and scholars but also an enlightening read for anyone intrigued by the intersections of technology, culture, and art. Claire Bishop’s analysis offers a sophisticated framework for understanding the evolving dynamics of attention in the age of the smartphone, inviting us to look not only at art but also at the act of viewing itself through a refreshed, contemporary lens.