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Saving Time with Jenny Odell

Being able to pay a certain type of attention requires time, and it’s obviously helped by having more control over your time or how time feels, but then at the same time, paying a certain type of attention makes time feel different” – Jenny Odell.

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In this episode, Jenny Odell, the author of How to Do Nothing, explores the cultural forces that shape our understanding of time, challenges the notion that ‘time is money’, and offers new possibilities for experiencing time beyond the world of work and profit. 

Shaking up the conversation about time in her latest book Saving Time, Odell deep dives into the intricate connection between time and power, revealing how a clock designed for profit is linked to ongoing social inequalities, the climate crisis and our growing sense of existential dread. 

In conversation with host Fiona Wright, one of the most exciting voices in contemporary culture shares her subversive and inspiring vision for how we can save time – and how time might save us.


This event was supported by the Melbourne City Revitalisation Fund, a Victorian Government and City of Melbourne partnership.

The event was recorded on Monday 22 May 2023 at the Wheeler Centre as part of World of Words. 

Featured music is Living in a Fantasy by Pulsed. 

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The Wheeler Centre acknowledges the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which the Centre stands. We acknowledge and pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their Elders, past and present, as the custodians of the world’s oldest continuous living culture.