"Wit(h)ness'' is an contemplative and diffractive group exhibition that seeks to stay with the poly crises we are facing today. It aims to illuminate the intricate connections between war, extractivism, climate collapse and human rights violations, and even intimate personal losses, without losing ourselves to overwhelm, chronic grief syndrome or apathy.
Inspired by Bracha Ettinger's (2001) who coined the term “Wit(h)ness”, we explore how complex and multifaceted processes of perception and engagement with trauma, the Other, and the creative act can be held through contemplative creative inquiry. It goes beyond traditional notions of witnessing as passive observation and takes on a more profound and empathetic dimension. Ettinger’s wit(h)nessing is seen as a unique co-poetic aesthetic relationship involving bearing witness to others' trauma with compassion and vulnerability, while maintaining a separate identity (Ettinger, 2005). By blending "witness" and "wit(h)" into wit(h)nessing, she creates a term suspending an indeterminate condition between the two (Pollock, 2017: 270).
This concept expands traditional notions of bearing witness beyond legal frameworks, emphasising a deeper engagement with the other that transcends binaries. Wit(h)nessing, as Pollock describes, involves being alongside the other in a gesture of ethical solidarity, highlighting the interconnectedness of co-responsibility and compassion. Ettinger stresses that the capacity for wit(h)nessing, rooted in feminine-maternal-matrixial relations, is inherent in everyone and can be practised respectfully (Ettinger in Kaiser & Thiele, 2018). In this exhibition we aim to explore how artists both witness and archive traumatic moments in history through their making process, but also at the same time, through the awakening force of aesthetic enquiry, can stay with realities that are sometimes almost impossible to bear witness too.
This exhibition brings together artists from around the world wit(h)nessing a variety of grief-laden realities from genocides in Palestine, Congo, Sudan and elsewhere, to ecocides, climate collapse, to personal losses and crises at home. From wit(h)nessing the realities of refugees, children and the more-than-human animals that suffer in war and ecological collapse, to the intimate struggles of mental health, family health, personal grief and other darknesses, the exhibition attempts to equip those who visit it with a new extrasensory musculature to ‘stay with the trouble’ as Donna Haraway puts it.
The aim for the exhibition is that participants who visit, are able to live in the indeterminate space of both witnessing and staying with difficulty, while also feeling, seeing and potentially participating in a contemplative creative practice (or see the results of others working through such a practice) that allows them to dwell closer to the difficulty. In this way, we are able to access a hope with our shirt sleeves rolled up.
Call to Wit(h)ness, before Action
As visitors engage with the poignant narratives and immersive experiences presented in "Wit(h)ness," they are called upon to reflect on their own complicity in systems of exploitation and violence. By bearing and gifting wit(h)ness to the interconnected struggles of earth communities, participants are empowered to become agents of change in their own spheres of influence, as Joseph Beuys puts it: “Every human being is an Artist, a freedom being, with the capacity to transform the conditions that shape their lives”. As such we encourage “wit(h)nessing” as a practice that preludes or anticipates action. We wit(h)ness before we act, or in other words, we explore how our ‘being’ can inform our ‘doing’ and not the other way around. In wit(h)nessing, I believe we are able to be present to the entirety of a situation, before taking any action. This is particularly helpful, when we feel powerless in the face of such difficulty. Wit(h)nessing allows us to assess the “personality of the situation” as Steve Biko (1978: 48) put it.
Through dialogue, reflection, and collective "Wit(h)nessing" the exhibition seeks to ignite a sense of urgency and solidarity among individuals committed to fostering a more just and sustainable world, through slow contemplative and care(full) acts. By confronting uncomfortable truths, amplifying marginalised voices, and advocating for systemic transformation, we can work towards a future where human rights are upheld, environments are protected, and communities thrive in peace and equity. Join us on this journey of wit(h)nessing and solidarity as we strive for a more compassionate and equitable world.
