Voices for the future is an immersive art installation by New Zealand-based artist Joseph Michael. Produced in collaboration with environmental charity Project Pressure, and the permanent mission of New Zealand, the installation lit up the United Nations General Assembly and Secretariat buildings in New York ahead of the UN’s Climate Action Summit and global school strikes, September 2019.

VOICES FOR THE FUTURE opens with an iteration of Joseph Michael’s artwork, Antarctica: while you were sleeping and showcases powerful visuals of an iceberg slowly crashing down the sides of the 500-foot tall United Nations building, bringing the remoteness of the Antarctic to the core of urban New York.

Composer Rhian Sheehan has created a musical soundscape, which together with Michael’s work reflects how icebergs crack, shift and breathe, revealing their fragility.

Part two of the installation, visualised by Joseph Michael, features the voices of the six young advocates addressing their hopes and fears for the future, in relation to the climate crisis.

Each of the six voices spoke one of the six official UN languages and represented one of the six populated continents: Ahmed Badr - Arabic (North America), Greta Thunberg - English (Europe), Jason Guan - Mandarin (Oceania), El Mehdi Zairi - French (Africa), Karen Miluzca Pérez Panduro - Spanish (South America) Sasha Shugay - Russian (Asia).

To support the messaging, the second act is accompanied by the music of Brian Eno, as well as music by Rhian Sheehan.

"Voices for the Future - was a compelling visual prelude to the Climate Action Summit that combined a visual depiction of climate change, a collapsing iceberg, with the voices of six young people expressing their expectations and demands for a future in which leaders rise to the challenge through climate action. Art is a great medium that crosses the boundaries of language and culture as did Voices for the Future.”

Luis Alfonso de Alba, Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the 2019 Climate Action Summit