DISTRACTION exhibition at Science Gallery unpacks the chaos of digital life

A playful and provocative new exhibition at the University of Melbourne’s Science Gallery is set to challenge how we think about our attention spans.

DISTRACTION will run from July 26 to December 20, inviting visitors to explore the noisy, chaotic world of digital life – and how we might find focus and meaning within it.

Blending art, science, and technology, DISTRACTION asks timely questions about how we cope with constant notifications, doom-scrolling, and the pressures of online life.

Through interactive installations and immersive artworks, the exhibition explores how people engage with, and escape from, the everyday flood of digital content.

“We are all aware of the constant push and pull for our attention,” director of Science Gallery Melbourne Dr Ryan Jefferies said.

“In the age of digital distraction, information overload, misinformation, doom-scrolling and rising rates of ADHD are the new normal, so how do we stay focused, filter out or switch off in an ever-growing global attention economy.”

“DISTRACTION shines a playful light on how humans are navigating our relationship with technology, exploring escapism and finding time for ourselves.”

One standout work comes from US artist and humorist Laura Allcorn.

Her interactive installation, Pledge Drive for Attention, mimics a televised telethon and encourages visitors to “steal back” time lost to digital distractions.

Developed with psychologist Gloria Mark, the piece is a tongue-in-cheek look at how technology chips away at our attention.

Naarm/Melbourne-based artist Xanthe Dobbie’s immersive video work Unoriginal_Sin reflects on the internet’s “hallucinated mediocrity”, a term drawn from artist Hito Steyerl, exploring how repeated imagery flattens meaning in digital spaces.

In Cat Island, artist Jen Valender blends animal behaviour research from the University of Melbourne with digital art to explore how cats respond to on-screen stimuli.

Filmed in Japan’s Ainoshima, often dubbed “Cat Heaven Island,” the work invites visitors to see through feline eyes.

From the UK, Studio Playfool’s Deviation Game playfully pits humans against AI. Visitors try to draw objects that artificial intelligence can’t recognise, prompting reflection on how creativity can outpace algorithms.

The exhibition also features a custom-built arcade, showcasing playable games developed in collaboration with Freeplay and researchers from the University’s MAGPIE initiative.

High school students from the STEM Centre of Excellence have contributed original arcade games, and a new education zone will host dynamic workshops throughout the season.

“How let algorithms define us? And how do we showcase the creative and connective creatures that we are, beyond the fixed nature of our online identities?” curator Bern Hall said.

“The exhibition highlights our incalculable capacity to surprise and invites visitors to delight in their own sense of curiosity and play. The time you spend in the exhibition is wholly your own – what do you want to do with it?”.

DISTRACTION is curated by Bern Hall and Tilly Boleyn, with input from academic experts and young collaborators, and includes a research residency led by the SWISP Lab. •