Seeing Before Naming

Barbara Matijević (independent artist)

We all sense that something unusual is happening with our attention - that fundamental capacity to be present, with both mind and senses, for what matters to us. What if resisting constant distraction isn't a matter of personal discipline? What if the solution to a digital detox isn't simply a more perfectly organized day?
The Attention Laboratory is a long-term project that approaches attention as a collective practice and an act of political resistance against an industry of immense technological and financial power - an industry that seeks to fragment our attention and turn every moment of our lives into something measurable and marketable.
Drawing on diverse spiritual, artistic, scientific, and political traditions, the project builds - slowly and collaboratively - new forms of attention activism.
This two-day workshop is designed as an introduction to the core principles of attention activism through conversation, exchange, and simple experiential exercises. No prior knowledge is required - only a willingness to devote our attention to... attention itself.

Barbara Matijević is a theatre and performance artist from Zagreb whose work explores the impact of digital culture on storytelling, the body, and the social imagination. Her intermedial practice spans theatre, dance, performance, radio, and installation art; her works have been presented in over 40 countries across Europe, Asia, and Latin America (including the Centre Pompidou, Guggenheim Bilbao, Festival d'Avignon, the Venice Biennale, etc.). She holds a degree in French and English Language and Literature and is trained in documentary filmmaking at Ateliers Varan in Paris. She holds a European certificate in Gestalt psychotherapy and works as a guest lecturer at art academies (Osijek, Zagreb, Helsinki, Singapore).

She is the founder of the Omnibus Art Organization, where she launched the Attention Laboratory - a research and workshop program focused on attention as a collective practice.