Attention Budget: Coded Gaze

May 11, 2026

What it is about

This interactive piece visualizes your processing capacity as a dynamic lens over an archival image, shrinking with activity and expanding with idleness.

How it was made

Built as an interactive browser piece with Canvas 2D + Met Open Access; the code bundle is linked below as the output.

The abstract concept of an 'attention budget' is grounded by a dynamic, code-driven lens overlaid on 'The Penitence of Saint Jerome.' This visual form allows the ebb and flow of focus to directly obscure or reveal the intricate details of the artwork, symbolizing how our capacity to process information impacts our perception of complex visual narratives. Felix built this interactive visual component using `canvas2d` for the dynamic foreground and `met-open-access` for the background image. The medium decision was `source-plus-code`, chosen to combine archival texture with live procedural behavior. The source search initially aimed for a public-domain technical diagram or chart; however, this query was broadened after no suitable matches were found. The final source is 'The Penitence of Saint Jerome' by Joachim Patinir (ca. 1515), from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.