VIDEOGRAM

Can conscious listening spark radical change?

The Witness is a postactivist opera weaving together the Earth's changing messages and the voices of indigenous wisdom holders. This cooperative practice gathers a network of communities closely following the manifestations of the planetary paradigm shift perceptible in the territory they inhabit. Community members, researchers and artists from all regions of the world develop field projects that explore, document, and share local eco-social relationships and stories.
Each year, a six-month edition spanning from the March equinox to the September equinox, involving the sharing of research fragments, monthly translocal conversations and Openlabs, highlights new projects joining The Witness.
Since 2018, The Witness has grown as research groups from different parts of the world working at the intersection of art, research and community engagement have joined and collaborations have developed between participants. Seven years later, The Witness works with a network of 125 artists, researchers and activists from 20 communities in 16 countries.

In this lecture Julie Beauvais will share her experiences in developing a long-term translocal cooperation practice that nurtures and celebrates the diversity of worldviews, amplifies the voices of the most radical listeners and deepens solidarity between, and imagines new forms of activism and new ways of serving the times in which we live.

"The task of spiritual companionship is dwelling-together-with and losing our forms generously in order to find other ways of with-nessing a troubled world."

Báyò Akómoláfé

Chaoba Thiyam will share his experience as an artist working and responding to the conflict and crisis in Manipur, northeast India. He will discuss the challenges artists face in such situations and how we find ways to work alongside fellow artists, the community, and local people.

"In times of political and social turmoil, it becomes essential to practice deep listening, reconnect with ourselves and with nature, and reimagine our perspectives. This helps us find a voice to tell our stories and offer meaningful responses."

Chaoba Thiyam

30.10.2024, 19:00 CET,
online (click for the Zoom link)

JULIE BEAUVAIS

Julie Beauvais is an opera director, transdisciplinary artist and educator based in Switzerland and India. Her body of work ranges from theater, choreography and opera to field research, community projects and new forms of opera. Her creations exploring open architecture, conscious movement, and radical listening have been presented and exhibited internationally since 2001.
After graduating from Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris in 2000, Beauvais co-founds several companies in the United States, in Switzerland and in Denmark. For seven years, she explores forms of epic theatre in diverse political contexts. The work leads to long term collaborations with Brazilian, Mongolian, and Nicaraguan companies.
In 2006, she begins staging operas and soon focuses on the contemporary repertoire. She creates a platform for her experiments by founding BadNewsFromTheStars*, a transdisciplinary laboratory of innovative convergences to explore and deepen the art of listening. Together with her collaborators, Beauvais explores new perspectives on trans-territorial cooperation for sustainable development in the context of emerging challenges and shifting paradigms.
Since 2018, she directs The Witness, a postactivist opera weaving together the Earth's changing messages and the voices of indigenous wisdom holders. From 2020 to 2022, she founds and co-directs Sonic Matter – Experimental Music Platform based in Zurich. In 2021, she initiates ALTER- Altitude Laboratory I Transition Experiments I Research, a high-altitude residency program nurturing collaboration among artists, researchers and local inhabitants that responds to environmental crises in high-mountain communities.

web

ALTER Residency program

BadNewsFromTheStars*

CHAOBA THIYAM

Chaoba Thiyam is a multidisciplinary artist and an independent researcher from the state of Manipur in Northeast India. He is the creative director of an art-space called SIYOM and heads a folk music ensemble under the same name. Conceptualized as a space, SIYOM symbolizes the womb, the wellspring of creative spirit. It is an inspirational space, a confluence of creative forces encompassing the whole range of art forms, from the traditional to the unconventional, from the structured to the experimental.
With a passion for archiving the Manipuri folk narratives and oral traditions, he engages in diverse interdisciplinary activities, through the development of the local artistic community to promote and preserve the rich cultural heritage of Manipur. He has worked and connected with younger artists and the vibrant pool of youth for the transmission of folk wisdom through activities such as listening sessions, dialogues, visual and audio documentation, music interaction and performances, and environment consciousness.
As part of his project Resilient Roots and Healing Hearts, he is dedicated to humanitarian and social work pertaining to various issues existing in the society. Through his music and art-based activities, he connects with the people at disability homes, de-addiction centres, orphan and old-age homes, and relief camps in an effort to make the healing process and transformative journey possible.

Secondary sources

The Witness (Instagram)

The Witness Field Projects

The Witness Research Fragments

The Witness OpenLab

The Witness Research & Art Network

Documenting the Chopi people's connection to nature. Giving back to the Communities (2023, video)

Imphal Talkies & The Howlers. When the Home is Burning (2014, music)

Imphal Talkies & The Howlers. Eisu Nangi Nachani (2019, music)

Siyom. Saana Eshei (2021, music)

Siyom. SABIGI KHUTTA SANOUNA PAI (2022, music)

Epu gi Lam Eben gi Loubuk (Grandfather’s Land Grandmother’s Paddy Fileds) (2021, video)