Switching Costs on display in the Buddy Window at the Chicago Cultural Center between architectural large columns

5 CRT TV’s with manually synced loops play personal essayistic videos along side collaborative attention exercises. A large window displays “Please Lend Us Your Attention”

Look over here                                                                                                                          Now here 

Our mind’s ability to switch between tasks can do more damage than good. But the costs are well hidden behind.. 

The countless hours

clicking…

              watching..

swiping.. 

scrolling..

Rapidly moving from one topic to another, honing our ability to skim and multitask. Yet we can’t seem to focus anymore. Concentration slips from our grasp as we reach further, clutching the interruption machine known as the internet.

There is nothing calming about the internet.

Feeling as though our bodies and minds are adapting to the digital environment built around us. How do these changes affect the ways we interact with the world? Where do we find moments of refuge, time to disconnect, and reroot? Can we find a way to switch these costs from the users to the tech oligarchs that hold our attention as capital?

A close up photo of the 5 televisions stacked inside of the window display

Switching Costs by Yah Yah Collective

Members of the Yah Yah Collective who collaborated on Switching Costs;

Seiya Abe-Bell

Vero Pruenda

Dan Meinhart

Brian Castillo

Irma Gualpa

Tania Kelly

and Billy Tucker

Our installation was featured in the Buddy Chicago window at the Chicago Cultural Center throughout the month of August 2025.