Exercices d’observation
Bibliography
Nova, N., & Monnet, L. (2022). Exercices d’observation. Premier Parallèle.
Notes
Abstract
Retrouver une sensibilité au monde, aux êtres et aux choses qui le composent, cultiver l’art d’observer. Cette invitation, aussi nécessaire que louable, est sur toutes les lèvres. Les manuels abondent, de la botanique à l’analyse de paysages en passant par l’anthropologie ou l’urbanisme. Mais dans ces ouvrages, les modalités d’observation tiennent en général en quelques pages de conseils ; comme si les manières de construire l’attention perceptive au monde étaient déjà acquises. Or, il s’agit là d’une capacité cognitive qui s’apprend, se cultive et se nourrit. Dès lors, comment faire concrètement ? Par où démarrer ? Avec quoi se lancer ? Ce livre répond à ces questions au moyen d’une série d’exercices inspirés des façons de faire des écrivains, des anthropologues, des ethnographes, des designers ou des artistes. Présenté sous la forme de consignes à mettre en pratique, ce livre-ressource invite le lecteur à devenir lui-même un explorateur de ce que Georges Perec appelaitl’» infra-ordinaire »
Reading Notes
Exercises D’Observation
An important aspect is to enable and practice observation from multiple viewpoints, scales and positions.
Having different ways of capturing observations can help in that; for example jotting them down on paper, scribbling and sketching, photographing them, recording audio, being analog and digital.
When doing notes, distinguish between facts and reflections. Different people and different professions find different structures in how to take notes. William Burroughs for example had three rows for his travelling notebooks: what happend, what he was thinking when something happened, and what he was reading in a given moment.
Observational notes can only ever be approximations. They need to be relational, woven, steady and revisited. They exist, for us to remember a place, event, moment, conversation, and so on and are an archive sauvage from which we nourish and develop our ideas.
Exercise #1: For ten minutes note down all things you witness (in brief terms). Create a system with thirty of these observations, structured in columns.
Exercise #2: Chose something or somebody in front of you and come up with 25 questions within ten minutes. The questions don’t need to be answered and can be about anything you feel like worth knowing. Compile a list with all your questions.
Exercise #3: Sit and observe a larger space with many moving bodies, human or beyond. Chose two to three individuals and follow their path for fifteen minutes, either in parallel or after one another. Draw their path on a piece of paper. When finished, give a name to this newly fashioned map.