Attention itself can be the creative medium, not just the output

Evidence

Part of the reason I work this way is because I find existing things infinitely more interesting than anything I could possibly make. The Bureau of Suspended Objects was really just an excuse for me to stare at the amazing things in the dump—a Nintendo Power Glove, a jumble of bicentennial-edition 7UP cans, a bank ledger from 1906—and to give each object the attention it was due. This near-paralyzing fascination with one’s subject is something I’ve termed the “observational eros.” — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 52

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘observational eros’ — near-paralyzing fascination with a subject — central to Odell’s method.
• XREF: Model of attention as world-constitution: the dump objects become a world through sustained attention. Also resonates with the ‘manifest dismantling’ thesis. — connects to: Literary studies must be reinvented, not merely recovered, as an attentional practice.; Attention’s deepest ground is the material medium of perception itself — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 556; Paying attention differs from spending time or being aware. — Thomas Davenport & John Beck, The Attention Economy: Understanding…, 22
• SEED: Angle for a defense essay: Odell’s ‘medium is context’ as the principle that makes ‘doing nothing’ productive rather than inert.