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. 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.
For upcoming event details, news, and other missives, you can join my mailing list.
upcoming events
- May 1, 7pm
in conversation with John Shoptaw, author of Near-Earth Object
Green Apple Books (9th St. location), San Francisco - May 27, time TBD
keynote on care and repair at re:publica
STATION Berlin
selected conversations
- East Bay Yesterday: "Time is Not Money" (2023, audio)
- 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
- Publicity queries: Carrie Neill (cneill@penguinrandomhouse.com)
- Speaking queries: Stasia Whalen (swhalen@penguinrandomhouse.com)