With more than 700 languages spoken in a mere 300 square miles of land, New York City is the most linguistically diverse place in the world, and a new moving sculpture in Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza pays homage to that diversity in a unique visual and auditory way. “Your Voices” by artist Es Devlin features 700 glowing cords to represent each of those 700 languages, positioned between glowing arcs which rotate while a multinational soundscape plays, adding to the Holiday landscape currently adorning Lincoln Center. Made in association with the Endangered Language Alliance, which has created an interactive map showing the locations across the city where each of the 700 languages are spoken, the piece intends to “evoke the way our perspectives are enriched and shaped by experiencing the linguistic structures and identities of others” while a soundscape composed by contemporary composers Polyphonia plays text from EM Forster’s 1910 novel Howards End in multiple overlaid languages, stating: “Only connect, and live in fragments no longer.”
“Your Voices” by Es Devlin
![Your Voices 2.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518a56c0e4b0f73b5500b4b6/1671130610479-L2D9H19FNSL554H1SXS1/Your+Voices+2.jpg)
![Your Voices 4.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/518a56c0e4b0f73b5500b4b6/1671130610479-46A7PE0HTDKK4T9QTLF8/Your+Voices+4.jpg)