Jessica Helfand

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Assimilating

What becomes of public space when we’re absent from it—when our familiar human constellations cease to exist?

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Reading

Reading is one of life’s great indulgences, even (and especially) if you are stuck inside.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Reciprocating

Reciprocity is not binary—it’s fragmented—like people are, and like life is.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Turning

Turning is a deliberate and conscious act: it’s how we express attentiveness.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Walking

Walking is a form of creative trespassing, like tourism for the psyche.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Responding

Responses are reactions, and reactions demand attention.

Michael Bierut|Audio

Episode 124: That Thing You Do

Making art and design during the COVID-19 pandemic; Christoph Niemann and Daniella Zalcman; Adam Schlesinger; spec scripts for Larry David

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Distancing

Will social alienation make us a socially alien nation?

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Surrendering

Surrender is the art of uncertainty: it’s the practice of giving in, not giving up.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Sheltering

Shelter is not so much a gesture of imprisonment as an invitation to dream.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Canoeing

What is an actor without an audience? A person—that’s what.

Jessica Helfand|The Self-Reliance Project

Burning

To read a poem allows you to visit words, the same way you might, say, go to a museum to visit a particular painting.