Reflecting on and training attention, deteriorated by the impact of technologies, the goal of a conference organized by the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) and the University of Navarra Museum
From March 11 to 13, the 2nd Week of Attention, an initiative to explore this capacity in the traditions of spirituality and art, will take place
07 | 03 | 2025
Exploring the capacity of attention through the paths of spirituality and art. This is the proposal of the 2nd Week of Mindfulness, an initiative promoted by the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, in partnership with the Museo Universidad de Navarra, to be held in Pamplona from March 11 to 13. Through various meetings, led by experts in different disciplines, such as linguistics, Philosophy and art, it seeks to understand how this human capacity works, increasingly deteriorated by the growing technological exploitation. In addition, it will delve into ways to train attention and work on its healing. The proposal is open to the general public and is free with prior registration.
Nieves Acedo, a researcher at the Institute for Culture and Society who directs the MOAS (Models for Art Spectatorship) project , which includes these conference, explains that "social polarization, superficiality and the development of populism are closely related to the deterioration of our attention span. He points out that this status, in which "attention is being exploited in a mercantilist way", makes us "less critical and less free and, therefore, more vulnerable and manipulable". However, there are ways to train it: "Attention can be understood as a muscle and recovered through its exercise".
Precisely, the MOAS project investigates that the development of the ability to be a spectator of art, to perceive the work of art and to establish a bond with it, can have a healing effect on people's interiority and attention span.
Music listening experimentation workshop
Unlike the first edition of the Week of Mindfulness, which was based on workshops and practical activities to develop mindfulness with different methodologies, this time the aim is to delve deeper into its roots: "We have invited experts to think about what mindfulness is and reflect on it in different areas. Specifically, we will address what its mechanisms are and how it works, and we will analyze it in the tradition of spirituality in different religions and in art".
Experts Cristóbal Pagán, from the University of Murcia; Anna Bonifazi, from the University of Cologne; Erika Goble, from NorQuest College; artist and independent researcher Rafael SM Paniagua; and Inés Olza, Adriana Gordejuela, Nathaniel Barrett, Pablo Martí, Juan Luis Caballero and Nieves Acedo, from the University of Navarra, will participate in the meetings. "What we are proposing is a three-day conversation. We want there to be a lot of dialogue, discussion and resonance between the different sessions," Acedo emphasizes.
Coinciding with the celebration of the 2nd Week of Attention, a musical listening experimentation workshop has been organized, which will take place on March 11 at the MUN. The aim is for participants to listen to different pieces of music in different contexts, and then analyze their experience of perception/reception of the musical work in each of them. Participation is also free with prior registration in a form separate from that of the Week of Attention.
