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, adopt World Voices Project as their own and present it 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. T

Aungle of headphones  hung from a 30' x 16' grid and were labeled by language. Another tag told the listener where the language comes from , it etymological roots and how many people in the world speak the language.

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. On it  read “WORLD VOICES PROJECT : The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Spoken in a Mosaic of Languages”.

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.

Contributors so far:

- General Growth Properties
- The Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
- The Puffin Foundation
- The Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the U.N.
- The Consulate General of Sweden
- The Consulate General of Norway
- The Consulate General of the Republic of Croatia
- The U.K. Mission to the U.N.
- Generous Design Contributions by ArchiCulture.net

NEWS: The Director of the United Nations Regional Information Centre in Brussels is pushing to have World Voices presented at the European Parliament conference in October. Already a college in Lancaster, PA has inquired about presenting the exhibit.

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.