The United Nations Foundation and ARTECHOUSE, a leader in technology driven art innovation, have joined forces for the United Nations (UN) 75​th​ anniversary and are inviting people to ​Voice Our Future ​through an unprecedented, extended reality experience premiering on June 26th for UN Charter Day on the ARTECHOUSE app. It is free to download on the App Store and Google Play. This project is supported by the UN Foundation’s long-time partner, Verizon.

The​ Voice Our Future ​app​ ​consists of three extended-reality experiences​ – it augments the user’s environment while guiding them to consider some of the most critical challenges of our time, including human rights, gender equality and climate action. ​Framed in the broad context of ​then, now​ and ​next, the app is​ envisioned as a series of interactive missions that empowers users to share their vision for the future with the UN.  

“At ARTECHOUSE, we use technology to create artistic expressions that not only help people think about the world we are in now, but also consider what it can become,” ​ shared Sandro Kereselidze, founder and Chief Creative Officer of ARTECHOUSE ​ . “We are on a mission to build a sustainable, healthier and more compassionate world with creative skills that we have and couldn’t be more thrilled to collaborate with the UN Foundation on this anniversary project.”

Inspired by the UN75’s Shaping Our Future Together initiative, and ​the urgency of building back better through the Sustainable Development Goals agreed to in 2015 by all member countries of the UN, the project invites audiences to reflect on the past, find their “voice” and be part of a larger dialogue the UN is facilitating for a refreshed vision of the future.  

The extended reality experience developed, designed and produced by the ARTECHOUSE creative team hopes to inspire individuals to find and use their voice to create global progress through local action: 

 ● THEN: The Lessons We’ve Learned: ​Television has been the most impactful invention of the 20th century in terms of dissemination of information and news, and global discourse. The “THEN” portion uses this fact as an anchor to summon a multitude of television sets where one can spend time reflecting on some of the key messages and lessons from the past around ​topics of peace, progress, solidarity and global partnership. Quotes from leaders like Eleanor Roosevelt, Kofi Annan, Malala Youzafsai and Greta Thunberg are featured in this segment. 
 ● NOW:​ ​The Voice Within You: ​The segment dedicated to the present uses the most defining technologies of today to shift the story toward the user. Internet and mobile technologies, AI and facial recognition are all highlighted as the camera is now turned to the user, and his/her/their face will become a palette for a narrative art activation that will help the user find their voice.  
 ● NEXT:​ ​Voice The Future We All Want: ​Utilizing​ ​natural language processing (NLP) the user can experience how one’s voice can make an impact by adding his/her/their own message to help grow “the future we want”. As the user is invited to plant the seeds of the future with their own voice,​ ​a forest grows, creating a message-generated ecosystem imagined in seventeen colors to correspond to the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.  

Users can further the reach of their voices by completing the ​UN75 survey, ​helping to inform the UN’s thinking and priorities. Reflections from both the app and the survey will contribute to a truly global picture of a world where we all thrive.  
 
Sandro Kereselidze, concludes, ​ “Digital innovation is a powerful tool for sparking discovery and amplifying dialogue, something that matters more in 2020 than ever before. We hope we can all use this campaign to pause for a moment and reflect in what we really want for our collective future.”  
 
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