GOLDFISH EFFECT

We live in an increasingly digital world where every imaginable piece of information or source of entertainment is at our fingertips. It is fair to say that we have become accustomed to instant gratification. “Goldfish Effect” is a body of work by visual storyteller JW Andrew, which examines the ever-diminishing attention span of modern digital citizens and how we got here.

As far back as the Edo dynasty, Japanese courtesans chose to have a literary theme on their Kimonos in order to demonstrate their taste and discernment. These few, short phrases acted as a playful way of inviting people to literally “read” something of their personality through their brightly, decorated attire. 

Fast forward to the British, post war, tourism boom, when working class, factory workers flocked to seaside holiday camps such as Butlins for two whole weeks of merriment and pneumonia, under the bracing, British, summer sunshine! In the 60’s and 70’s the ever so slightly, saucy, seaside postcard was the preferred method of communicating the essential “who, what, why, where and when” regarding the weather, the food and the winners of the knobbly knees contest to the folks back home.

A recent study carried out by researchers in Canada has concluded that our increasingly digitized lifestyle has had a dramatic effect on our ability to concentrate for long periods.  It states that the average human attention span has dropped from 12 seconds at the start of the century (around the time the mobile revolution began) to 8 seconds today. The scientists go on to claim that this is one second less than the attention span of the average goldfish, hence the term “Goldfish Effect” was born. They don’t actually explain how they managed to measure the attention span of a goldfish or even what a goldfish would be concentrating on anyway, but let’s not allow hard facts to get in the way of an entertaining theory!

Today, the current digital generation, who have grown up communicating by means of mobile devices have virtually abandoned such archaic notions as the paragraph, the sentence or even the word! Young folks increasingly use social media acronyms – FYI, IMHO, LOL etc to get their point across. 8 seconds suddenly seems like more than enough time.

Utilizing his trademark, rich, multi layered, photo based digital montages “Goldfish Effect” is a body of work from artist JW Andrew exploring how humans communicate in our increasingly digital world, where instant gratification has become the norm. 

Aesthetically, the images are influenced by a wide, eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary styles and creatives including Japanese Edo dynasty woodblock prints, New York surrealist Joseph Cornell, the photo-based artworks of Gilbert & George, messages on 1970’s holiday postcards and social media acronyms.

All of these “Goldfish Effect” images are available to own as top quality, Giclee prints on museum grade, Hahnemuhle etching paper, framed or unframed. Images are supplied with a certificate of authenticity.