Floating Voices is zero-carbon, eco-educational barge programme supporting community-led environmental action across Ireland’s waterways.
The Story So Far
THE PROJECT BEGINNINGS
Inspired by artist Swoon’s Swimming Cities project which sailed along the Hudson and Mississipi Rivers in the US, Edel has adapted this model to deliver Floating Voices in Ireland. Floating Voices empowers communities across Ireland to design their own eco-art programmes by choosing the local water issues that matter most to them, and working alongside artists and scientists to find solutions together to tackle these issues.
OUR JOURNEY SO FAR
Floating Voices is the long-term vision and passion project of Edel Tobin, developed over the past four years in close collaboration with Irish communities, artists and scientists. What began as an idea has grown into a living initiative shaped through pilot programmes, a Floating Voices Festival, and ongoing work across Waterford and beyond. Alongside this work, key foundations have been built for the future of the project, including securing moorings across Ireland, supported by communities who have generously shared their time, knowledge and resources to help bring Floating Voices to life.
FROM WALLS TO WATER
Floating Voices is the next major project by Edel Tobin. Building on the work of Waterford Walls which reimagined urban spaces through art, Floating Voices extends this work onto Ireland’s waterways through collaboration, participation, and shared ownership.
LET”S BUILD THE BARGE TOGETHER
The Floating Voices zero-carbon barge has been designed by Waterford-based naval architect Rob Mc Connell of Prolines and is now ready to be built. This is the next step in bringing the project to life and we now need your support to raise the funds to build it
Climate change is local. It's in...
our rivers
Our biodiversity
Our Community
Our water quality
Your voice matters
Just as Waterford Walls inspired communities to reimagine public spaces and buildings through creativity, Floating Voices brings that same vision from the land to Ireland's waterways.
It is a platform where communities can have their voice heard on climate change, working alongside artists and scientists to explore local water issues, inspire action, and create positive environmental change together.
Shared voices
Since 2022, our Floating Voices artists and scientists have had the privilege of working alongside communities across Ireland, listening to their stories, exploring their local waterways and discovering the positive impact that creativity can have in inspiring environmental action.
Every programme is shaped by the voices of the communities involved, celebrating the people, places and waterways that make each one unique.
Today, that journey continues through our Shared Island Programme, connecting communities across Waterford, Derry and Antrim to explore the future of our shared coastlines and waterways together.
Community-led workshops
Exploring waterways through hands-on learning.
Artists + scientists together
Collaboration rooted in local knowledge.
Water quality + biodiversity
Real issues, explored in a creative way.
Flooding + resilience
Turning concern into action and understanding.
Made with communities
Not for communities. With them.
Shared artworks + shared learning
Outcomes that carry responsibility and hope.
See The Impact
Explore the stories, creativity and environmental action already taking place in communities across Ireland. Hear directly from the people, artists and scientists behind Floating Voices and discover the difference the project is already making.Now imagine that impact reaching every waterway in Ireland.
The Floating Voices zero-carbon barge will become a travelling classroom, creative hub and living archive, bringing together art, science and community voices while showcasing the inspiring work created by communities across the country. As a free public resource, it will travel Ireland's waterways for generations, inspiring more people to care for and protect the places they love.
