To witness is to be fully present to another's reality without retreating into distance or the comfort of looking away. An act of conscious witnessing asks us to hold space for what is difficult or unresolved, without making the experience about ourselves.

This week's dispatch explores how art and design help us witness experiences beyond our own. We ask how VR is making the human cost of the climate crisis tangible to something bodily encountered. In Yinka Ilori's 'Chairman', chairs become witnesses, carrying personal and collective stories

of identity and belonging. At Palestine Design Week 2026, design bears witness to injustice while questioning what should be preserved and then built in its aftermath. Tanya George's signage design and lettering become sites shaping everyday stories, reminding us of the need to reclaim public space and attend to the narratives inscribed within.

A recurrent question emerges: what might change if we truly learned to witness?