International call for noticing exercices on February 8, 2025

To understand, we first need to observe. Sitting still or walking around, we start paying attention to our surroundings. Then slowly the magic happen. We start noticing details, patterns, tensions. Ideas form in our heads. We suddenly find ourselves in the midst of creating knowledge, directly from experience.

On a sidewalk in China or in front of a screen, to observe the world has been my favorite activity. Far from a distraction, it acts as a form of meditation where I can abstract myself away and just be there with all the other people and things.

The difficulty lies in that to pay attention about what is happening around, you have to care first. It requires you to ignore whatever important things you are busy with to focus on some random things that happen to be there. Noticing things comes from the practice of caring about what is around you.

While it may look easy, very few people had elevated it as an art like Nicolas did. He excelled at noticing the interesting. His passion for observing the world was incredibly communicative. For those who knew him, they can attest he always cared deeply about the people and things around him. To me, the quality of his observations was only one of the manifestations of his character and show how much he loved to engage with our world.

His short book « Exercises d’Observation » that he left us before his sudden death is a gift for everyone who wants to practice this subtle way of being into the world. It may even act as a guide for those who decide to look for amazement in everyday life. You can train your eyes, you ears and your brain to see the world differently. Despite the dark times we seem to live in, there is still so much about the world to discover and enjoy - but you have to look for it.

As a tribute to Nicolas’ work, we put together with Matthieu Duperrex and Amélie Petit a website to collect everyone’s « exercices d’observation » from all over the world during this weekend. The website will be open to contributions on Friday, as a weekend of celebrations in Nicolas’ memory is happening in Paris. Wherever you happen to be, feel free to join and share your observations and a moment of thoughts for him and our world he loved so much.

https://noticing.world

hashtag#NovaNoticing