I am a writer and artist based in Oakland, California. My work generally involves acts of close observation, whether it's birdwatching, collecting screen shots, researching trash, or trying to parse bizarre forms of e-commerce. In general, I am searching for frameworks that allow us to perceive something new about everyday reality.
My first book, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, was published in 2019, and my second book, Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock, was published in 2023. I am currently working on a book about repair. You can see my other writing here.
My visual work has been exhibited at The Contemporary Jewish Museum, the New York Public Library, the Marjorie Barrick Museum (Las Vegas), Les Rencontres D'Arles, Fotomuseum Antwerpen, Fotomuseum Winterthur, La Gaîté Lyrique (Paris), the Lishui Photography Festival (China), and apexart (NY). I have been an artist in residence at Recology SF (the dump), the San Francisco Planning Department, the Internet Archive, and the Montalvo Arts Center. From 2013 to 2021, I taught digital art at Stanford University.
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upcoming events
- April 6, 2026
Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton Culture and the Public Good Symposium
University of Notre Dame, Indiana
selected conversations
- conversation with Natalie Portman about Saving Time, for her book club (2025, video)
- Orion: Gift Thinking (conversation with Robin Wall Kimmerer) (2025, transcript)
- Emergence Magazine: "Another Kind of Time" (2024, audio + transcript)
- KQED Forum: "Jenny Odell Saves Time, and Herself, By Living Beyond the Clock" (2023, audio)
- Finding Our Way with Prentis Hemphill: "Resisting the Attention Economy with Jenny Odell" (2022, audio + transcript)
- The Creative Independent: "On taking the time you need to notice, think, and grow" (2020, transcript)
- The Ezra Klein Show: "Jenny Odell and the Art of Attention" (2019, audio)
contact
- Agent: Caroline Eisenmann (ce@goldinlit.com), Frances Goldin Literary Agency
- Speaking queries: Kwabena Dinizulu, Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau (kdinizulu@penguinrandomhouse.com)