Artworks function as training apparatuses for deliberately directing attention

Evidence

These paintings taught me about attention and duration, and that what I’ll see depends on how I look, and for how long. It’s a lot like breathing. Some kind of attention will always be present, but when we take hold of it, we have the ability to consciously direct, expand, and contract it. I’m often surprised at how shallow both my attention and my breathing are by default. As much as breathing deeply and well requires training and reminders, all of the artworks I’ve described so far could be thought of as training apparatuses for attention. By inviting us to perceive at different scales and tempos than we’re used to, they teach us not only how to sustain attention but how to move it back and forth between different registers. As always, this is enjoyable in and of itself. But if we allow that what we see forms the basis of how we can act, then the importance of directing our attention becomes all too clear. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 387

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the key linkage ‘what we see forms the basis of how we act’ — central to answering ‘what does she want attention redirected toward’.
• XREF: Mirrors the breathing/attention metaphor from Deep Listening and the deliberate contraction-expansion of attention. — connects to: Both creating and receiving art demand skilled labor on attention — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 435; Aesthetic laboratories protect attention by suspending communicational pressures — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 454; All aesthetic venues share a meta-attentional engagement structure — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 459 (+1 more)