Almedalen is Sweden’s biggest and most important annual political venue. In a limited and crowded area, politicians, lobbyists and journalists get together to discuss tomorrow’s politics. The problem is that the regular young person whose future is being discussed is nowhere to be heard during this very week. Crossing Boarders is a foundation working to create attention about equality, society participation, and ultimately to make those silent voices heard. Young individuals, who for different reasons don’t have the opportunity to attend Almedalen, have minimal chances to get their voices heard. Crossing Borders wanted to change that.
Their strategy was to make the limited space work in their favor, by communicating young voices in a way never seen before. They brought the voices of youth from all over Sweden live to Almedalen, displayed on a dress. Unfiltered and in real-time. The Twitter Dress was made. It’s a dress, connected to the internet, powered by an Arduino that aggregates tweets on LEDs in the fabric. Young individuals in Sweden could tweet using the hashtag #Twitterklänning with their opinions. Dreams and thoughts were displayed in front of the eyes of the decision makers in Sweden. Voices from young persons were collected through an open event on Facebook and communicated with many youth organisations. A large amount of young voices were received on topics such as equality, racism and housing shortage.
Impact:
46% of Almedalen visitors had heard about the dress and 5 ministers of the Swedish government met the dress (and the founder).
Video case:
https://vimeo.com/73940189