Earth Speakr is a collaborative artwork by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. The artwork takes the form of an app and a website that invites kids to speak up for the planet and for adults to listen to what they have to say. The primary ambition of the artwork was to provide kids around the world with a platform for speaking up and for discovering and listening to the concerns of their peers in other countries. It also speaks the 24 official languages of the European Union and can be accessed throughout the world. Earth Speakr strived to foster a supportive space in which kids feel seen and heard, and it offered a collective artistic experience for all.
Kids use the Earth Speakr app to record their ideas about the wellbeing of our planet. Adults are to this day invited to participate by listening to the messages, sharing these with others, and amplifying the powerful messages kids have made. The messages made in the Earth Speakr app are by kids aged 7–17 years, between the launch of Earth Speakr, 1 July 2020, and 30 November 2021. Over half a million people around the world have downloaded the Earth Speakr app. More than 70 languages have been spoken within the app, from more than 120 countries around the world. The messages have been listened to by the public over 3 million times. Now all the kids’ messages can be heard on the Earth Speakr website. ‘Art and culture provide a space, a meeting point, to connect and share perspectives, while celebrating differences. When engaging with a work of art, you can gain a sense of feeling listened to, seeing your ideas reflected in the form and structure of an artwork. To me, this two-way exchange is essential. Earth Speakr is an artwork made by kids who express themselves creatively about the climate and their own future. The artwork invites you to listen to their brilliant, funny, and, not surprisingly, heartbreakingly honest messages.’ – Olafur Eliasson, 2021