I’ve been reading the book Devil in the White City by Erik Larson which chronicles the building of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. As well as a serial killer who worked down the street from it. It’s a fascinating read. So imagine my “Huh.” when I happened upon a show on PBS about this year’s World Expo in Shanghai, China. (Side note: not sure why it’s no longer a “fair” and now an “expo”. Wikipedia, what do you think?
Wikipedia says the official organizing body, the International Exhibitions Bureau, starting using the term “expo” in the 1960s. Sounded more highfalutin, I suppose.)
I’ll be honest: I missed the beginning of Shanghai World Expo. Don’t know the name of the woman who hosted. But I came in while she was visiting France’s Pavilion. Its theme is the five senses. You can watch French chefs prepare French food. You can stand under “scent cones” and smell France. And they even concocted a perfume (or “parfum” to be French) especially for the Expo.
Finland’s pavilion looks like a giant toilet, I’m not going to lie. It’s supposed to be modeled after some rocks with holes in them, I believe. But the cool thing is the surface “scales” are recycled paper and plastic. But yes, it still reminded me of a toilet. So juvenile…
Next up was an incredibly attractive German architect explaining their pavilion called “Balance City”. Inside of this beautiful man’s building is a giant LED covered orb that responds to sound and swings back and forth. I wonder what kind of light show I would get from the orb if I ever met that architect.
The Danes brought the actual Little Mermaid statue!
The Dutch didn’t build one structure but instead created what they call “Happy Street”. I will refrain from any marijuana or Red Light District joke because I’m sure they have been made already.
China’s pavilion is the largest, of course. It contains 30 sub-pavilions, representing China’s provinces and some cities. This expo’s Eiffel Tower is a humongous, upside down red pyramid that’s two football fields wide at the base. It will be a permanent structure in Shanghai. Most of the Expo’s buildings will be torn down but weirdly enough, the Finnish commode may become a restaurant somewhere.
And leave it to Japan to have a robot playing the violin.
So what did I learn from Shanghai World Expo? There’s a Shanghai World Expo. Also, the Shanghai pavilion has a 360 degree movie where the audience is on a moving hydraulic platform. It’s nine minutes long but the wait is a few hours. And the vertigo must be incredible! Finally, according to Toyota and the Japanese pavilion, we will all be commuting in futuristic wheelchairs. While robots play violins.
