Familiar things tend to go unnoticed; they disappear into the fabric of daily life. What might we learn by paying sustained attention to the everyday? How do we observe what we would otherwise overlook?
Participants are invited to choose an everyday object from their own surroundings (a spoon, a matchbook, an old pair of shoes) and bring it in for investigation. The object need not hold any particular importance. Together we will explore its quiet potential as a participant in daily life.
The workshop begins with an introduction to the Observation Scores collected by the Observational Practices Lab at The New School, which Selena Kimball co-directs. Researchers from many fields record their methods of observing an everyday object, and these records become simple instructions anyone can enact. Participants will then create their own methods of observation, using the senses, instruments of measurement, and acts of imagination. All are welcome.
Selena Kimball is an artist whose work explores how images shape what we notice and what we overlook. She is Associate Professor of Contemporary Art Practice at Parsons, The New School, where she co-directs the Observational Practices Lab. Kimball is a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow.
Selena Kimball, Atlas of Air, 2021, collaged pigment prints on Hahnemühle rice paper, framed. Courtesy of the artist and Ulterior Gallery, New York.