Attention//Distraction: The Exhibition

Attention // Distraction is an exhibition presented by Underground Art And Design (UAAD). It explores misplaced and mediated attention through installations, net art, live video game performance and artist talks.

Opening Hours:

May 8, 4-10PM (Talk + Performance: 7-9 PM)

May 9, 11AM - 5PM

You live in a moment of unprecedented competition for attention in a world shaped by ever-growing crises and conflicts.

Wars and colonization unfold across multiple regions. Political scandals emerge only to be quickly forgotten. Technological power concentrates in the hands of corporations and technocratic institutions. And with the rise of artificial intelligence and the attention economy, your attention has been further commodified and exploited through information that is exaggerated, fabricated, or manufactured.

You are physically present in the world, yet simultaneously networked to multiple elsewheres. Perception is shaped not only by what you choose to look at, but also by the technological infrastructures, media platforms, and ideological powers that direct your gaze.

Before you pay attention to something, you need to examine: what gravitational forces are redirecting your attention, and from what? When your vision turns toward a certain orientation, what falls outside the frame?

Artists have long intervened in these dynamics by reshaping how we look, notice, and interpret the world. This exhibition brings together interactive installations, net art, video game performance, experimental film, and automated systems, exploring distraction as a strategy for commanding attention in the mode of refusal, interference, and subversion.

Artists:

Sam Lavigne, Temitope Olujobi, Anna Zhang, Queenie Wu, Tina Tarighian, k0j0 (Koi Ren and Joey Verbeke), foxes, Mengna Da, Iris Xiaoyu Qu, Niles Fromm, Adam Salem, Julia Kan, Jasmine Nackash, Supernova191919

Location: The Blanc (15 E 40th St, 1st Fl, NYC - Near Bryant Park)

Curated by Amy Xiaofan Jiang

Learn more about the work at uaad.art