Do you think that’s a dying skill? The ability to say more with less.

Attention spans are dying. Maybe creators are compelled to serve that demand to make money or something like that. So like, ‘Fast cut music videos are hot or in demand so I’ll make more of that’.

Could it possibly be just a case where people have seen so much? People’s appreciation of art history today, in terms of being familiar with artistic images, is probably greater now than in any stage in human history. Even though they may be desensitised by a lot of what they see, digital media has allowed them to see so much more than any generation before them could.

I think people in our generation, or our age group, peer group, with the net and everything… you can pursue you own interests. Half of me wants to be all idealistic and think like, ‘Oh well, maybe attention spans are extending, and mass media are loosening their grip on our consciousness’. That’s one side of me that thinks that. The other side of me thinks, ‘Jesus Christ, there’s a lot of stupid shit out there!’

That’s only because there’s a lot of stupid people out there!

Maybe, I mean, the dreamer in me says, ‘No that’s not true, there ought to be a better way, maybe they just haven’t seen it or something like that’. Anyway, it’s not for me to judge. I’m interested in still photography. I’m interested in stretching people’s imaginations and attention spans and patience. That’s what I’e been really interested about. And I’m hoping I’m seeing a trend. One thing that really inspired me, I got a chance to go to see in San Francisco the premiere of Brian Eno’s ’77 Million Paintings’. It’s this generative artwork that he makes, and it’s generative sound mixed with generative visuals, and it goes on forever because the permutations are so multiple, the multitude of permutations are so great that ever time you watch it it’s different. It screens, but it has no set beginning or end time. It’s always changing, it’s this organic motion picture piece. But you go in there, and the thing looks static. 'What the fuck? It’s supposed to be moving pictures and stuff?' But you sit there for a while, and you realise that your consciousness and your eyes start to adjust to the speed and the work actually is teaching you to be more patient. And as that happens you see these changes coming much, much faster. It’s all coming in real time at a normal pace. It doesn’t change up tempo or anything. But your consciousness slows down to receive that… the pace of it all, to soak it all in. I love it! And it’s a total stoner piece, they have pillows on the floor, there’s no seating and stuff. That got me thinking. It’s like reading a book versus watching the television in terms of delivering story, telling a story.

Do you think that the internet in a way is a step back to that more static media plane? In the sense that much of it is word based. It’s not like TV where people chatter and images are shot at you from a bazooka. Even though there’s online video, animation, colour and movement, most online content involves literally flipping through pages. Sort of a return to the written word.

Perhaps. It’s a really interesting paradox I think. I think about this a lot. Yes you have that kind of demand on your patience if you’re reading a good article or a good blog post. But then again, have you been to Digg.com? Have you read the comments on that stuff? Yes it goes back to a word place, and yes you can take your time, and yes there are places on the net for that type of discussion or uptake of information. But, it’s the same type of signal to noise ratio. It’s so out of whack on the internet because there’s so much noise and so little signal out there. So I compare that to broadcast and TV. At least internet users have a choice…

And it’s largely a free choice, costwise.

That’s right. At least it’s not pushed in your face. You have to ask for it. You have to go to Digg. If you wanted to go to the McDonald’s website you can do that too. I don’t know why, but you can.

In a way television’s a choice too. After all, you’ve got to choose when or if you want to turn it on.

You do, but I don’t feel it’s as much choice. So yeah, it’s just different. I’m no expert as you can tell. But I find it way more interesting than television. And it’s funny, because� I had aspirations to be this or that filmmaker when I was younger, that’s before I came to America to study art….

And when was that?

1999 was when it started. And after about three years of living there I became sadly extremely cynical and jaded in a way. About media. And about the Hollywood system. Television and celebrity and all that. It’s so much noise to me. I don’t know why. I don’t know what turned in me, but that need to work in Hollywood or a big studio died. Doesn’t interest me at all.

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