World Voices Project

The intention of World Voices Project is to be presented throughout the United States and throughout the world as an audio installation exhibited in a variety of venues. It's our goal that museums, corporations, governments, NGO's, colleges and universities, and any other entity or group, present World Voices Project in their respective locations. 

SOUTH STREET SEAPORT
For the premiere exhibit, World Voices Project was given a two week period to exhibit in the generous space of the third floor atrium at The South Street Seaport on Pier 17 by General Growth Properties (GGP). The nature of the third floor atrium space presented certain acoustical and visual challenges to an audio installation.

A jungle of headphones hung from a 30' x 16' grid and were labeled by language. Another tag told the listener where the language comes from , its etymological roots and how many people in the world speak the language. Each headset was fed the audio track via an MP3 player loaded with each language, played on a loop.

On the windows a semi-transparent map of the world informed the listeners where the languages come from. 

A banner hanging from the 25 foot cathedral ceiling welcomed visitors to the space. 

You can download the above images in high-resolution by clicking here and here.

The short version text of the entire declaration, and the contributors to the project, will be printed on 3-fold fliers that the listeners can read while listening to the installation, and take with them when they leave.

Other Installation Concepts:

World Voices Project may be mixed in a variety of ways and new voices and languages can be added at any time. The recordings can be presented in a space with speakers suspended from above, housed in individual Soundtubes™, or amplified through hyper directional speakers known as Holosonic™ speakers. The nature of the Soundtube™ and Holosonic™ speaker allows each listening area to be distinctly separate from the next, with minimal audio seepage beyond the speaker circumference. When you stand in the "audio beam" it sounds as if the voice is inside your head. When you step a few feet further, the voice fades away.

But alternative technology may be employed depending on the presentation venue. It can be presented outside using concealed or camouflaged speakers, and it can be presented using conventional surround sound speakers. Wherever the location, the declaration will either be posted or projected in English, or the local dominant language; on the walls, the ceiling, and the floor, so that regardless of the language being spoken it will be understood by the majority of visitors.

The techniques of presentation shall remain flexible so that the possibility of many different venues may be explored. Pictured above is a hypothetical venue using pyramid and dome screens with back projection to highlight the text. These come in various sizes. The speakers are pictured above in white for the purpose of this image but in reality would be nearly invisible.

We are looking for venue spaces in New York and cities around the world. If you know of a space you think would be appropriate, please let us know. We welcome your ideas and suggestions.