Encounter Differential - Attention Observation Tool

Encounter Differential is a web application that lets a person view two artworks side by side in a deliberately restrained environment and records how their attention behaves during that encounter.

The Concept:

This is not an art analysis tool. It does not explain artworks, compare styles, draw conclusions, or evaluate the viewer. It is a controlled viewing environment designed to make the act of looking itself observable. It treats looking as the event, not interpretation.

Key Features:

• Neutral Viewing Situation: Creates an environment where two artworks are presented with equal weight and no contextual explanation (no labels, titles, dates, or prompts)
• Temporal Restraint: For a short period (e.g., 60 seconds), the viewer cannot rearrange, hide, or swap the images. This delay prevents reflexive comparison and encourages sustained looking
• Attention Trace Recording: Quietly records only factual behaviors such as:
  • How long each image is viewed
  • How often the viewer returns to each image
  • When attention first shifts from one to the other
  • Whether the encounter is abandoned early
• Reflection Phase: After viewing, displays neutral statements like "You returned to the left image three times" or "Attention shifted after 14 seconds", describing what happened, not what it means

How It Works:

Artworks are paired through randomized pairing, blind pairing, or user selection. The viewer encounters both works simultaneously in identical presentation conditions. The app records attention patterns without inference, then optionally provides a plain-text encounter log that reads like field notes.

What Makes It Different:

While most art tools explain, interpret, teach, or persuade, Encounter Differential withholds explanation, slows comparison, and records attention instead of meaning. It notices how proximity changes perception and observes where attention leans or resists, without being told what to think.

Use Cases: Artists, critics, students, librarians, curators, or anyone interested in how meaning begins before language.

In One Sentence: A quiet tool that places two artworks together and records what happens to a viewer's attention, without explaining, judging, or resolving the encounter.