The Future We Want
The United Nations marked its 75th anniversary at a time of great disruption for the world.
In the face of all the challenges that erupted, it is essential that we come together and discuss our priorities and how we can build the future that we want for all of us.
In order to do so, earlier this year the Perception Change Project of the Office of the Director-General of UN Geneva ran an online art contest titled “The Future We Want”.
The contest aimed to foster a conversation about what kind of future we want for our world and how we can empower youth to work towards it.
Permanent Missions to the UN in Geneva were invited to submit an artwork by an artist from their country. 44 artworks were submitted in total, representing all 5 continents.
The public were then invited to vote for their preferred artworks via a dedicated website; close to 17,000 votes were cast from around the globe.
The 10 artworks that received the most votes were reviewed by an international jury of nine art-knowledgeable children, formed with the support of UNIS and WFP.
The youth jury selected the 3 overall winners of the contest:
“Wall” by Sigita Maslauskaitė-Mažylienė,
submitted by the Permanent Mission of Lithuania.
“Diversity Crowd” by Luigi Olivadoti,
submitted by the Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein.
“The future that we dream - a harmonious world of coexistence”
by Zhao Peizhi, submitted by the Permanent Mission
of the People's Republic of China.
The Director-General of UN Geneva, Ms. Tatiana Valovaya, selected an additional winner from the remaining short-listed artworks: “Maria Bertha” by Leca Araujo,
submitted by the Permanent Mission of Brazil.
A book about the 3 winners will shortly be published and the winner of the Director-General’s prize will also be invited to display a solo exhibition of their wider body of work in the Palais des Nations. Many of the submitted artworks were displayed in the Palais des Nations for over a month.
The exhibition was then installed in the D10 art space to allow the broader public to enjoy it from 15 December 2020 until 15 January 2021.
