Slowness
Course code
YID7028.YM
old course code
Course title in Estonian
Aeglus
Course title in English
Slowness
ECTS credits
6.0
Assessment form
assessment
lecturer of 2025/2026 Spring semester
Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.
lecturer of 2026/2027 Autumn semester
Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.
Course aims
To explore the concept of slowness from an interdisciplinary and creative practice perspective. Examining how slowness is applicable to different activities and phenomena in life such as slow cinema, slow food, meditation, yin yoga, slow travel, letter writing, journaling, slow art, slow parenting, slow productivity, etc. Allowing students to explore some of these activities through seminar participation and creative practice workshops which deliberately apply the principles of slowness and break away from the breathless pace of modernity.
Brief description of the course
Slowness is a state which stands in opposition to the hyper-mediated ultra-accelerated world we live in where being seen to be busy is mistaken for productivity according to Cal Newport author of Deep Work and Slow Productivity, and our intolerance of boredom obscures the meaning in our lives and kills our creativity according to Arthur Brooks. In the modern world, the pace is often experienced as relentless and focus resistant; we are multitasking at work, with our entertainment, in our personal lives in order to accelerate our achievements and maximise our experiences.
However, there is a counter tradition which argues this fast pace is actually making it impossible to experience deeply and curtails our meaningful achievements. This counter traditions embraces slowness and involves a shift towards increased intentionality as well as personal sense of balance found in the granularity of the moment and attempting to reconfigure what is expected of us in a variety of situations. This reconfiguration may involve engaging with slow cinema, cultivating deeper attention and sustained focus, or approaching everyday activities with greater intentionality. This transdisciplinary course explores slowness and its advocates and critics from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
Taking the position that it’s best to learn by doing, students are invited to join ’slow seminars’ where the discussion will be deliberately less structured and give more time to think and respond to the topic; as well as ’slow workshops’ where students write with paper and pen, take a mindful walk in the forest, stare at art more than the usual 20 seconds, and creatively write in a slower way. At the end of the course the students will have experienced slowness in a variety of activities and settings and will be asked to create a slow work of either creative, theoretical, or practical value. Final assessments will be proposed by the students and approved by the course leader.
However, there is a counter tradition which argues this fast pace is actually making it impossible to experience deeply and curtails our meaningful achievements. This counter traditions embraces slowness and involves a shift towards increased intentionality as well as personal sense of balance found in the granularity of the moment and attempting to reconfigure what is expected of us in a variety of situations. This reconfiguration may involve engaging with slow cinema, cultivating deeper attention and sustained focus, or approaching everyday activities with greater intentionality. This transdisciplinary course explores slowness and its advocates and critics from both theoretical and practical perspectives.
Taking the position that it’s best to learn by doing, students are invited to join ’slow seminars’ where the discussion will be deliberately less structured and give more time to think and respond to the topic; as well as ’slow workshops’ where students write with paper and pen, take a mindful walk in the forest, stare at art more than the usual 20 seconds, and creatively write in a slower way. At the end of the course the students will have experienced slowness in a variety of activities and settings and will be asked to create a slow work of either creative, theoretical, or practical value. Final assessments will be proposed by the students and approved by the course leader.
Learning outcomes in the course
Upon completing the course the student:
- will have explored a variety of different slow activities and forms;
- will have a better understanding of the philosophies which govern slowness and slow movements;
- will be able to present a work of creative research which embodies slowness in some form;
- will be able to evaluate the relative uses of slow practices in their everyday lives.
- will have explored a variety of different slow activities and forms;
- will have a better understanding of the philosophies which govern slowness and slow movements;
- will be able to present a work of creative research which embodies slowness in some form;
- will be able to evaluate the relative uses of slow practices in their everyday lives.
Teacher
Michael Keerdo-Dawson
Additional information
This course cannot be transferred through RPL.