Expo 2008, Day 1

Today was the first day of my six day visit to Zaragoza, Spain's Expo 2008.

I am posting photos of my visit to ExpoMuseum's Expo 2008 Photos Page as I go along.

Today's highlights included a wonderful presentation at the Andalusia film that mixes video, lasers, and water to give a great sense of the region. This pavilion also demonstrates one of the things I most appreciate about good pavilion design in that it incorporates real people into the presentation. It makes it far more personal and compelling.



Austria also has a delightful pavilion that plays on the same humanistic theme. After proceeding up a ramp, you enter into a theater with a large inflated snow globe. It's actually only 1/4th of a globe reflected against a long mirrored wall. Inside the globe are fans and fake snow to give the illusion of a snow globe. A guest is selected by the pavilion staff as people are being seated. Moments later, the guest appears in the globe with a companion dancer dressed in traditional Austrian clothes. They dance a waltz for the audience. It was wonderful to watch the audience react.



The Basque region of Spain used an interesting bit of technology where guests grasped suspended umbrellas with video displays projected on them. The handle of the umbrellas controls the images.



Not surprisingly, China's pavilion had on display its plans for Expo 2010.



The Belgium pavilion, conversely, looked back 50 years to its own Expo 58.