Earth Speakr is a first of its kind participatory AR-based digital artwork developed for and with kids. Through augmented reality, children can animate the world around them and speak up for their local surroundings and the planet. At earthspeakr.art, adults can create AR ‘Loud Speakrs’, sharing children’s messages and encouraging others to listen to what they have to say.

The work pushes the limits of augmented reality, blending together real-life textures and augmented face features in search of the magical moment where objects actually come to life in front of your eyes.

The Convention of the Rights of the Child (Article 12) states that kids have the right to participate in decision-making processes, in particular when they are affected by them. Children are the future. They will live on this planet long after today's decision makers are gone. Yet, nobody asks for their opinion about the future of the planet. We wanted to change that.

But how do you engage kids across 27 countries to co-create a work of art? And how do you make sure this artwork becomes strong enough to make people in power listen? Together with the artist Olafur Eliasson, we created an inclusive artwork for and with the kids of the European Union. Commissioned to commemorate the German Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the work set out to cast light on the unified reality of a shared future regardless of language or latitude.

When it comes to the climate crisis, politicians are the ones calling the shots. But children are the ones who will live through their decisions, so why don’t they get a say?

The idea was to create an EU-wide movement through art, creating a shared public space for kids’ voices to be heard.

Earth Speakr gives a voice to both kids and the planet, inviting today’s decision-makers and global leaders to listen. The artwork enables children to personify objects and leave messages in the world using their facial expressions via the free app. Adults can view the messages in AR and share a curation of messages anywhere in the world.

By using the world as a canvas to give a voice to their thoughts, we pushed the limits of AR and created a shared moment and a new benchmark of EU community for the future of the continent.

- Artwork Kick Off: 14 November 2019

- Cultural insights and strategic direction for the artwork: 14 November - 31 December 2019

- Artwork concept development, creative ideation and kids workshops for proof of concept: 2 January - 31 March 2020

- APP + Web UX Architecture, UI production and GDPR/ legal requirements: 1 February - 31 May 2020

- APP + Web Creative production and technical POC ARKit/Unity/Native: 1 February - 31 March 2020

- Strategy and architecture for moderation: 1 February - 31 February 2020

- iOS Development: 1 April - 31 May 2020

- Android Development: 1 May - 15 June 2020

- Website development: 1 May - 15 June 2020

- Monitoring tool development: 1 March - 1 June 2020

- User Test App + Web: 1 May - 31 June 2020

- QA App and web: 1 May - 31 June 2020

- Content Production and translations: 1 February - 1 June 2020

- Editorial content management: 1 June - 1 July 2020

- EU Launch: 1 July 2020 (the same date Germany started their presidency of the Council of the European Union - which this artwork was commissioned to commemorate)

The ambition was to give children artistic freedom to breathe life into inanimate objects. Blending together real-life textures and augmented face features, we pushed AR in search of magical moments where objects come to life in front of your eyes.

The app uses the latest versions of Apple’s ARKit and the TrueDepth API, which makes it possible to capture accurate movements of users' eyes, mouth, and face, and apply these movements to the 3D animated avatar face.

For phones not supported by the TrueDepth API, Earth Speakr uses the Hyprface tracking SDK, which allows for real-time motion capture on them, including Android operated devices.

The camera images and resulting depth data are only used for creating the avatar message, and using ARkit on iOS and ARCore on Android we make it possible to apply the avatar messages to real objects in AR and experience other messages in AR.

The use of textures, dynamic lighting and reflections make the objects feel relatable. And the face and voice controls create emotion. For newer devices, we use two cameras simultaneously and real-time camera mapping, giving kids the freedom to control the faces on an object in real-time.

With Earth Speakr, children across Europe gained a political voice. They have created messages to air their concerns and hopes, creatively share ideas, or support international environmental days such as World Clean Up Day and the Global Climate Strike.

With individual messages bringing local environments to life, the artwork reveals a global picture of hyperlocal views, united in the framework of the artwork.

Our ambitions were to create a movement that inspired children to be engaged, and for adults to listen. We had high expectations, and we exceeded them with the project being the biggest pan-European art project ever.

The numbers speak for themselves: participation in over 60 countries (incl. all EU), 850+ press features, 61.6 million people reached through PR, 450k downloads, 2.5+ million messages listened to. This success culminated in UN Live adopting and expanding it beyond the EU, creating a platform for kids all over the world.