Lost Objects
“This book is such a pleasure to read. Each of the writers here spins an intimate, one-page mini-movie that sticks in your mind as much as their lost object has stayed locked in their memory.” — Air Mail From Hat & Beard Press: A new book, co-edited with Joshua Glenn. LOST OBJECTS: 50 Stories About […]
The Art of Noticing
–> Subscribe to The Art of Noticing Newsletter here: robwalker.substack.com –> Indiebound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Knopf Imagine a cross between, say, Ways of Seeing and Marie Kondo. It’s a book that’s meant to be not just read, but used, for years to come. It’s accessible, it’s helpful — and it’s fun! Some media: Very excited […]
Journalism & Commentary
[NOTE: I stopped updating this page for a while because of a technical problem with the site; I’m gradually catching up now.] I write about technology, design, business, marketing, the arts, work, and other subjects. (For more about me please go here.) Currently I write the Branded column for Fast Company, and also focus on […]
Teaching
Since 2013, I’ve been on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts Products of Design MFA program. My annual mini-class is called “Point of View.” It’s a great program. Also since 2013, I’ve led workshop sessions on “writing about objects” for the Summer Intensive program associated SVA’s Design Research (formerly D*Crit) MA program. Also great. […]
PROJECT:OBJECT
PROJECT:OBJECT is an ongoing multimedia experiment in stories about objects, in collaboration with Joshua Glenn. PROJECT:OBJECT launched in 2017, publishing four “volumes” of 25 nonfiction personal essays each, on the site HILOBROW. The project has also branched out into the realms of physical objects, audio stories, original illustration, workshops and events, charitable fundraising, and will continue to […]
Speaking & Workshops
I am represented by Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. Please contact Kim Thornton Ingenito with inquiries: 212-572-2299 or kthornton@penguinrandomhouse.com Selected past appearances: Stories about Objects. Public talk and student workshop, University of Texas at Austin. September 2023 Lost Objects. Group reading and event, Brooklyn, NY. October 2022 The Art of Noticing. Online talk associated with “Global Moment […]
Audio
I’ve been a fan of radio since I was a kid, and that’s extended into a digital-era enthusiasm for podcasts, sound art, and basically all things audio. Professionally, I’m a text guy, but I do try to do audio stuff whenever the opportunity comes up, and hope to do more. Here are a few things from […]
Workologist
From August 2013 to December 2018, I wrote a workplace advice column called The Workologist, for The New York Times. Per the original announcement: The C.E.O., the cubicle dweller, the summer intern, the Starbucks-telecommuter — everyone in the modern workplace has something in common: We all need advice sometimes. Beginning in August, a new Sunday […]
Buying In
“The most trenchant psychoanalyst of our consumer selves is Rob Walker. ‘Buying In’ is a fresh and fascinating exploration of the places where material culture and identity intersect.” – Michael Pollan.” Available now at bookstores, or online from Amazon, Powell’s, and Barnes & Noble. One of the five best nonfiction books of 2008 — Salon. […]
Anthologies & Other Books
From time to time, I’ve had work reprinted in anthologies, or written forwards and introductions or other original pieces for such books. Here are some. Flashed: Sudden Stories in Comics and Prose, by Josh Neufeld and Sari Wilson (editors). 2016. This “fresh take on the exquisite corpse method” includes the first (and only) fiction I have written […]
Hypothetical Development Organization
A public art project co-founded with Ellen Susan and G.K. Darby, involving a talented cast of contributors. [NOTE This entry is still being built.] The Hypothetical Development Organization‘s debut project took place in New Orleans, and was later included in “Spontaneous Interventions,” the U.S. exhibition at that 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. The Hypothetical Development Organization […]
Letters From New Orleans
The Letter From New Orleans — “pointless, sporadic, and free”— began as a bunch of emails to interested parties, from New Orleans. The book Letters From New Orleans, includes all the Letters, as well as additional material. Subjects covered in Letters From New Orleans include: Celebratory gunfire, rich people, religion, the riddle of race relations […]
As Real As It Gets
As Real As It Gets An exhibition of imaginary products and fictional brands. Organized by Rob Walker November 16 – December 22, 2012 at apexart, 291 Church Street, New York, NY. Installation views here. Featured work by: Kelli Anderson, Conrad Bakker, Beach Packaging Design, Matt Brown, Steven M. Johnson, Last Exit To Nowhere, MakerBot Industries, […]
Spawn of Gerrymander
The Concept: Top illustrators respond to contemporary congressional districts twisted into torturous shapes by partisan map-makers. Background: After learning that modern gerrymandering is probably more pervasive, sophisticated, and damaging than ever, I was disappointed at the visual presentation of these grotesque districts in most media reports on the subject. After all, early 19th century illustrator […]
Where Were You?
“Your zine is great! And only mildly depressing.” — Actual reader “Very interesting. … I was bummed that in the end everyone died!” — Another actual reader “Utterly addictive.” — David Shields, author of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, among other works (and also an actual reader) “Where Were You?” is a zine, published annually. […]
Unconsumption
The Unconsumption Project, founded in 2009, explores reuse, recycling and related ideas primarily through a group Tumblr — “Your daily source of inspiration for creative reuse and mindful consumption.”
Consumed
From 2004 to 2011, I wrote a column called Consumed for The New York Times Magazine. Conceived of as a cross between business journalism and anthropology, the column addressed material culture, and was variously seen as being about branding, design, psychology, or consumer behavior. Depending on the week, it was indeed about each, or all, […]
Google Image Search Results
Google Image Search Results is a Tumblr. Further background here. In 2013 I compiled 449 Google Image Search Results into a one-minute video, for a MoMA PopRally Abstract Currents events. The video is below.
Titans of Finance
Titans of Finance (published by Alternative Comics) is a nonfiction comic book about money and business. The stories collected in its pages — stories of outsized egos, astonishing hubris, shameless greed — are not only true, they’re too good to be made up. It’s a new and groundbreaking merger of reality — straight from the […]
MLK BLVD
A number of the photographs in the book Letters From New Orleans are (or were) part of a planned project called “MLK Blvd.” You can see some of those pictures here. This was an idea that came about some years ago and then languished. Here is the explanation. Sometime in the mid 1990s, I became […]
The 48-Hour T-Shirt
The 48-Hour T-Shirt was a 2008 project in collaboration with Derek Black, Greg Eckler, and Angie Smith (now Angie Moramarco), all of whom were Savannah College of Art and Design students at the time. This project involved the creation of three T-shirts, each by a talented up-and-coming student designer. Each design was inspired by specific academic research related to consumer […]
