The Ethics of Attention: Activism, Community, Sanctuary

Nov. 1st - Nov. 18th, 2023

Attention is the stuff of care. It is also, as Mary Oliver famously wrote, "the beginning of devotion." Writers and thinkers throughout the long twentieth century have explored attention's relationship to ethical questions of goodness, love and justice. The intensification of attention capture technologies add new urgency to these ageless inquiries. What role does attention play in our understanding of an ethical world? What is a "sanctuary" of attention? Where do these spaces already exist? How might we create them ourselves?

This course will review attention's role in efforts to create a more just and compassionate world. By examining activist movements through the lens of attentional practice, we will consider how attention can reconfigure our understanding of "activism." We will read texts by Simone Weil, Mary Oliver, Sylvia Wynter, and Jenny Odell, among others. These inquiries will be activated in our culminating Attention Lab on November 18th, at which we will seek to create a "sanctuary" space for ourselves and our community.

Co-taught by Kristin Lawler, Jeff Dolven, and Len Nalencz

Classes on Wednesdays, 7:00 - 9:00pm
Nov. 1st - Nov. 15th
138 S. Oxford Street, Brooklyn

The course culminated in a public, free Attention Lab:
12:00 - 3:00pm
Saturday, Nov. 18th,