Published on November 03, 2021
GOOGLE ARTS AND CULTURE AND PROJECT EVERYONE CREATE VIRTUAL GLOBAL GOALS EXPERIENCE TO BRING VOICES OF THE WORLD TO LANDMARK CLIMATE SUMMIT
- ‘Voices for Change – A Global Goals World’ brings to life voices from across the world in support of climate action
- Thousands of voices were gathered from 60 countries in collaboration with civil society groups and activists
- By creating a generative virtual world in low poly 3D, it is a unique digital experience that harnesses 3D spatialized audio, emergent animal behaviours and 3D dynamic animated rendering in-browser to enable an immersive experience into people’s voice contributions.
As the COP26 Climate summit takes place in Glasgow, Project Everyone and Google Arts & Culture launch Voices for Change – A Global Goals World – a unique digital experience – in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The launch of the 3D experience is the culmination of a campaign which has gathered thousands of voices around the world in support of bold action at COP. It is designed to underline that none of the Global Goals – from poverty to gender equality – will be achieved unless climate action is addressed.
It is the legacy piece of Forest for Change – an installation of 400 trees in June 2021 in the heart of London by world renowned artist Es Devlin – to raise awareness of the Global Goals. As part of the interactive experience at the Forest, visitors were invited to choose a Goal and record a message of the change they wanted to see in the world. Thousands did so – with Goal 13: Climate Action coming out as the most popular Goal.
The campaign has been run in collaboration with civil society organisations including Action for Sustainable Development, CARE International, the Diana Award, Earthrise, Global Citizen, HelpAge International, Humanity & Inclusion, the ONE Campaign, One Young World, Restless Development, The Scouts, the SDG Action Campaign and the World’s Largest Lesson who have gathered voices from over 60 countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
These voice contributions will now populate a magical Global Goals World launched to coincide with COP26. The unique virtual ecosystem is populated by trees, water and other natural elements in 3D, each voice is connected to a Global Goal, which is in turn connected to an element in the ecosystem – a leaf, a bird, a firefly, water droplets. The viewer will hear different voices as they move through the 3D space, exploring around 1500 of the contributions and discovering what the change is that people want to see in the world.
The voices were played at the official opening of the World Leaders Summit on 1st November in front of Heads of State from around the world. They will also be showcased at events across Glasgow, bringing voices from around the world directly to decision-makers.
The virtual world can also be viewed on the web at www.voicesforchange.world. It will live on after COP representing a highly original, beautiful, and democratic presentation of the public’s passions and concerns at a unique moment in history.
Kate Garvey, Co-founder of Project Everyone said:
“We’re proud to team up with Google Arts and Culture and civil society organisations around the world to create this powerful and unique representation of voices for change. The Global Goals provide the World’s To-Do List to tackle the climate crisis and deliver sustainable development for all. This experience serves as a reminder of what is at stake for all the Goals and the passion and commitment of people around the world for decisive climate action”
Amit Sood, Director Google Arts & Culture said:
‘We are excited that through this collaboration with Project Everyone, technology can be used to harness a powerful message and to bring this campaign and these voices to life in a unique virtual world for anyone to explore online. ‘
Azeez Tobi Abubakar, youth activist and COP26 delegate from Nigeria said:
‘It’s really important that leaders hear the voices of people around the world calling for action. So many people can’t be at COP itself and this campaign has helped to bring together voices from all corners of the world – many of those who are on the frontlines of the climate crisis. We hope it can play a small part in increasing pressure on our leaders to act’
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Voices for Change -a Global Goals World’ can be viewed at www.voicesforchange.world
- A short film about the project can be viewed here
ABOUT PROJECT EVERYONE
Project Everyone is a not-for-profit creative communications agency co-founded by Richard Curtis, Kate Garvey and Gail Gallie. It creates campaigns and supports partners to raise awareness, inspire action and drive accountability for the Global Goals, because they are the best roadmap towards a better future for people and planet. They create advocacy campaigns, content, programmes and events – telling stories that help multiple sectors engage with the Goals. This engagement from civil society, corporations, educators, philanthropists and activists will then in turn drive politicians to focus on achieving the Goals, and thus accelerate progress towards a green, just and equal world for all by 2030.
www.project-everyone.org / www.globalgoals.org
ABOUT GOOGLE ARTS & CULTURE
Google Arts & Culture puts the treasures, stories and knowledge of over 2.000 cultural institutions from 80 countries at your fingertips. If Google’s mission is to make the world’s information more accessible, then Google Arts & Culture’s mission is to make the world’s culture accessible to anyone, anywhere. It’s your doorway to explore art, history, and wonders of the world. Discover stories about cultural heritage ranging from Van Gogh’s bedroom paintings, Puerto Rico’s heritage, Sports in Australia or the women’s right movement to ancient Maya temples, Japanese Food and Indian Railways.
ABOUT THE UN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
On 25 September 2015, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, 193 world leaders committed to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (or Global Goals). These are a series of ambitious objectives and targets to end extreme poverty and hunger, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change, by 2030.
