EGMT 1510: "Paying" Attention

How do we “pay” attention to art? This course asks what kinds of aesthetic attention there are, what they feel like, and where they come from. Together, we will investigate how media and technology shape our attentional capacities—as well as how art experiences can respond to those transformations, resisting the commodification of attention. From the detective to the distracted teen, we will ask about culturally recognizable depictions of attention, exploring how those tropes inform the kinds of attentional power we develop. In a more intimate vein, we will ask: what is the relationship between attention and love, and what are the spiritual upshots of self-conscious attention? In pursuit of these urgent lines of inquiry, we will read and discuss studies of attention emerging from many disciplines, focalizing topics ranging from addiction to devotion to boredom. We will keep journals, linger with works of art and experiment with technology in order to test and strengthen our attentional capacities, observe others when they’re paying attention to art, and develop and revise our own theories of aesthetic attention.