PEERY SLOAN
  • More Than It Holds (workshop)

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Seeing the Same Thing Differently

2026
Participatory workshop 
The Grange, Big Sur, California 
Programming for Liars' Village Exhibition


We started with our bodies. An extreme slow walk, arm slaps, breath. Actually arriving before asking anyone to look at anything. Then I handed everyone a piece of paper: write what you notice. Quietly. On your own.

The premise is simple: attention isn't neutral. What we see is shaped by who we are, what we've been trained to look for, what we've learned to ignore. The workshop moves through solo observation and small-group role play. Folks were asked to embody a forensic investigator, an alien anthropologist, an access auditor, a devotional council. Each group observes the same room through a completely different lens.

The closing conversation produced more questions than answers. That was the best possible outcome. People couldn't quite wrap their heads around their daily positionality and that was exactly right. Sitting with the not knowing. That's where the thinking starts.

I came in as the facilitator and left as a student. Watching people interpret the roles demonstrated the entire premise more clearly than I ever could have explained it. This was the first time I'd run it with a mixed public group and that mix made it more alive.

An hour wasn't enough.

Photos by Sarah Blesener