I (fons)

A ritualised gaze at the smartphone. Constant repetition. FOMO. Notifications. FOMO. Well-rehearsed movement patterns: feeling for the device with confidence, fishing it out, balancing it between the palm and fingers, unlocking the home screen. Lights on: time, compass, map, messages, messages, important information, unimportant information, a music system with every song in the world. The hand is full and the device light. No ticking clock, but a digital display; a witness to time. A glance at it: a minute has passed. Security. The phone may disappear but remains close; sheltered by body heat. Until the uncertainty grows, in anticipation (or: hope? fear? necessity? compensation for progress?) of the next minute.

I (fons) explores (unconscious) patterns in the way we use smartphones—and the time we trade for them. The result is a reflection on the device as a feat of the attention economy. To tie in with routine and automatic smartphone use, the plaster casts are placed on the floor in an oval shape and stacked on top of one another in several places. The oval shape and the stacks evoke repetition and cyclicality, and, in a highly abstracted way, a stationary dial. Relative time, relative attention.