About
About
wit[h]nessing is a platform for transdisciplinary artistic research that nurtures cultural, social and environmental ecologies to reinvent new ways of co-existing. With an open collaborative framework, it aims to incorporate perspectives concerned with expanding the concepts of subjectivity, aesthetics and ethics at intersections between art, architecture and design. By acknowledging the affective level of the encounter between subjects, human and nonhuman, the platform aims to question predominant disciplinary narratives and propose unorthodox forms of being in the world. The process of inquiry manifests in multiple forms, such as site-specific interventions, exhibition curation and critical writing, creating liminal spaces that possess a transformative potential.
The platform draws inspiration from Bracha L. Ettinger’s word-concept— wit(h)nessing—presenting a theoretical framework that delves into the ontological issue of separation entrenched within modernity. These schisms, as evidenced by dichotomies such as culture versus nature, male versus female, mind versus body, reason versus sense, individual versus collective, have engendered a profound sense of disconnection not only among human subjects but also between humanity and the broader nonhuman world.
Beyond mere passive observation, wit(h)nessing embodies a mode of emotional engagement that blurs the conventional boundaries between the self and the other, serving as a means for recognising the inherent interconnectedness of all entities and the mutual shaping of subjectivity through material, embodied and affective relational encounters.
Functioning as a collaborative platform of thought and practice, it provides a (virtual) space to reassess approaches in art, design, and architecture. Through this endeavour, it aims to contribute to the envisioning of new ontological and ethical paradigms that embrace a world where diverse realities coexist.
The platform proposes a methodological approach centred around critical theory, participatory fieldwork, archival studies, and artistic or design interventions. Through this methodology, it collaborates with diverse stakeholders across artistic communities, cultural institutions, and academia. This inquiry translates into exhibition curation, critical writing, editorial work, and publishing, as well as a variety of educational activities including lectures, workshops, and seminars. In addition, the platform consistently seeks out and archives diverse (post)natural and cultural artefacts, revealing unconscious workings of traditional thinking apparatuses and offering the potential to perceive histories in new light.
Team
Giga Tsikarishvili (multidisciplinary artist and architect) unites site-specific design intervention with posthumanist theory, seeking to heal nature-culture entanglements and foster deep attunement with traumatised environments.
Tatuli Japoshvili (visual culture researcher and curator) bridges image theory and feminist psychoanalysis, employing the atlas methodology to map the affective behaviour of archives and articulate feminine dimension of subjectivity.
Tina Jelia (literary researcher and writer) explores the somatic and tactile dimensions of literature, conceptualising the body and materiality as inherently articulate to disrupt hierarchical body-mind dualities.
Network
Artist in Coexistence · COHATY · Confluence of European Water Bodies · DAI-SAI · Design Institute · DESIGN+POSTHUMANISM NETWORK · DINEBA · ETSAM · Forecast · HDK-Valand · Heinrich Böll Stiftung · koozArch · LINA Community · Lisbon Architecture Triennale · Metalab · NWDS · studio2AM · Symbiotic Lab · Ubani · VA[A]DS · Xaraxura Press
Contact
We welcome enquiries of any kind.