Each new season of The Witness runs from the March equinox to the September equinox. It includes regular meetings between the groups and communities involved, as well as field research, documented and shared weekly on our multimedia platform.

Each year, at the end of the six months of fieldwork, research groups are encouraged to organize an event at the project site, to thank everyone and share the fruits of their documentation work, thus enhancing the community, its knowledge and know-how, and giving everyone the opportunity to reflect on certain aspects of their reality, while broadening their perspective by also sharing projects developed elsewhere in the world. 

This ceremony of gratitude and acknowledgment can take different forms in different contexts and communities. We call this practice an Openlab. It may take the form of : 
- a performative installation featuring research fragments generated during field research 
- a workshop inspired by Pauline Oliveros' The Witness text score
- a transversal conversation organized between one community and another
- a collective action imagined by the community members themselves

Openlabs are also developed in partnership with universities, leading to the development of programs for young artists and researchers, facilitated by one or more members of The Witness team and network.

Furthermore, The Witness Openlabs' frequent participation in events and festivals offers community members, artists and researchers involved in projects around the world the opportunity to deepen their collaboration, meet diverse audiences and further amplify indigenous voices.

Relying on the open text score The Witness, A Solo Duet with an Imaginary Partner, a Duo, or an Ensemble, three open strategies for listening, attuning, and responding to ourselves and to one another, as an organizing principle, each iteration of The Witness Openlab (offered since 2018) can take a different form.

Strategy I - Attention to Oneself
The first phase of the workshop explores personal and collective practices, local knowledge and know-how that contribute to the partial restoration of vital links with the worlds of the different beings co-dwelling on Earth, including and surpassing human societies.

Strategy II - Attention to Others
In the second phase, participants are introduced to conscious movement, open architecture and deep listening practices developed by communities around the world to stay attuned to the living world rather than dominate it.

Strategy III - Attention all over
The third step proposes giving equal attention to one's own practice and that of another community, expanding the field of listening as far as possible to weave strategies together.

Facilitators
The Witness Openlab is a workshop facilitated jointly by a head researcher of a The Witness project, a member of the community who participated in the field project, and, when appropriate, Julie Beauvais, director of The Witness.