​​​​‘notification’ features a single speaker placed next to a window in the exhibition space. It invites the audience to reflect on their capacity for attention, contemplation and boredom, inviting them to gaze outside the window. The sound, an artificially emulated gong, plays every 47 seconds, created by blending and distorting today’s most common phone notification tones.

 

Researchers observed that in 2004, the average viewing attention span was 2.5 minutes; by 2021, it had diminished to just 47 seconds. The installation acts as a wake-up call, confronting viewers with their own attention span, patience, and how their nervous system responds to prolonged stillness.

 

The installation serves several functions. One is the embodiment of the timeframe: as you gaze out the window, how long until your mind starts craving the next stimulus? It becomes a tool for observing your behaviour. 

 

Additionally, after a while the installation shifts the role of a notification. Rather than drawing you toward distraction, it becomes a meditative tool within its looped cycle, helping you focus and bringing you back to the present moment and space.

 

It also prompts reflection on why the sounds created by tech companies bear striking similarities to ancient gongs, known for their mental stimulation and hypnotic qualities.