Jenny Odell: How to Do Nothing

Tuesday, Aug 06, 2019 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Location:
In the basement of the store.
2476 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley

Website

Nothing is harder to do these days than nothing. But in a world where our value is determined by our 24/7 data productivity, doing nothing may be our most important form of resistance.

In HOW TO DO NOTHING: Resisting the Attention Economy, artist and critic Jenny Odell argues that our attention is the most precious –and overdrawn— resource we have. She dares us to question what we currently perceive as productivity, then proposes that instead we do “nothing.” However, that “nothing” is actually a plan of action and an act of political resistance.

Jenny argues that if we disengage from the attention economy –that endless cycle where communication is stunted, time is money, and our overstimulation is ever-present– we can re-route and deepen our attention to time and place, allowing us to better connect with our environment and each other.

About the Author:

Jenny Odell is an artist and writer who teaches at Stanford University. She has been an artist-in-residence at places such as the San Francisco dump, Facebook, the Internet Archive, and the San Francisco Planning Department, and has exhibited her art all over the world. She lives in Oakland, California, with her sometimes-pet crow.