The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 29: César Corona on Public Diplomacy and World's Fairs

Episode 29 of the World's Fair Podcast is now available for download as an MP3 or via iTunes. In it, Urso Chappell and John McGregor talk to César Corona about the role of public diplomacy at international expositions.

Find out more about César Corona's projects at InternationalExpositions.org.

Listen to this podcast as an MP3.

Subscribe to this podcast.

Listen to other episodes of the World's Fair Podcast.

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 9: World's Fair Legacy Sites with Jason Griffing

In Episode 9 of The World's Fair Podcast, hosts Urso Chappell and John McGregor talk with Jason Griffing about the former sites of world's fairs as well as memorabilia collecting.

Listen to this podcast.

Subscribe to this podcast.

You can leave feedback to the podcast by calling +1-650-ASK-EXPO

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 1

Our second episode of The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 1, is now available for download.

In this episode, John McGregor and I talk about some of our favo(u)rite pavilions:

- The Netherlands at Expo 2000,
- Japan at Expo 88,
- Canadian Pacific at Expo 86, and
- Morocco at Expo 92.

Download directly at WorldsFairPodcast.com or via iTunes.

Links to items discussed in the podcast:
- Photos of the Netherlands at Expo 2000
- Rainbow War on DVD

The World's Fair Podcast, Episode 0

I'm pleased to announce that Episode 0 of The World's Fair Podcast is now live.

In Episode 0, John McGregor of Foundation Expo 88 and I discuss world's fairs in general, the nomenclature, and the how world's fairs are still relevant.

The audio isn't that great yet (which is why this is episode "zero"), but subsequent episodes should sound much better.

To subscribe via iTunes, got to:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=346502335

Alternatively, you can listen to the episode through your web browser at:
http://www.WorldsFairPodcast.com/

I'd love to hear what people think. Please let me know what you'd like to hear in the future. In future episodes, we'll be interviewing both fans and professionals involved in expos in the past and future.

Exhibits About Future Expos

A conversation over on WorldsFairCommunity.org made me think about exhibits about future expos at an existing expo.

I remember seeing an exhibit about Expo 85 near the exit of the Japan Pavilion at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville. As a high school student, I so wished I could afford the $1985.00 for their cheapest travel package. I believe they also had an ad in the guidebook, something I've seen in other guidebooks.

At the 1984 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Canada devoted a lot of space to Expo 86. I remember getting my first Expo 86 souvenir pins there in New Orleans.

The Germany Pavilion at Expo 98 in Lisbon had a huge section about Expo 2000 including a motion simulator ride where you went underwater in Lisbon and then surfaced and flew over the Expo 2000 site in Hannover.



Even though China hadn't won Expo 2010 yet, the China Pavilion at Expo 2000 promoted its bid for Shanghai. 2010 seems so far in the future back then.



Not surprisingly, the China Pavilion at Expo 2005 devoted a lot of space to promoting Expo 2010. They also showed a large film in their pavilion at Expo 2008.

At that same expo, next door the Korean Pavilion promoted its bid for Expo 2012, which it would end up winning.



Korea promoted Expo 2012 at Expo 2008 with an exhibit and a host that described the plans to guests. She actually spent a lot of time talking to me (in English) about the history of expos. Italy also promoted Expo 2015 at their Expo 2008 pavilion.

Another side topic to this would be Olympics being promoted in pavilions.



In these photos, Paris promoted their 1992 Olympic bid at Expo 86 and Italy promoted the 2008 Winter Olympics in Torino.

Anyone else remember any others?

Estonia at Expo 2010

As far as I can tell from an online translator, "varjatud linnad" means roughly "interurban undercurrent." That would certainly match the visuals and Expo 2010's theme.

Estonia always has great world's fair pavilions and this preview of their Expo 2010 pavilion looks to be no exception.

As a graphic designer, my favorite world's fair pavilion brochure of all time was the Estonia Pavilion's brochure at Expo 2000 in Hannover entitled "A Dozen Questions about Estonia." It was very colorful, clever, and tongue-in-cheek.

CORRECTION: I've since learned that this was only a proposal for the Estonia Pavilion and that another entry won. Still, if one of the losing entries is this interesting, we can only guess how compelling the final pavilion will be.

Expo 2010 UK and US Pavilions

Expo 2010 begins in less than three years. With an expected 200 countries and 70 million visitors, it's not surprising that plans are well underway to develop impressive pavilions.

A fascinating example of what we have to look forward to comes in the form of the United Kingom Pavilion's plans which has already begun with a design competition. The six final designs (shown above) were announced in July.

The United States Department of State has yet to select the firm that will create its pavilion, but the expected price tag is $100 million. Under U.S. law, federal funds can't be used to for the pavilion's construction or staffing, so there is likely to be a race to collect the funds in time for planning and construction. Otherwise, the United States could suffer a repeat of its Expo 2000 experience, canceling participation at the last moment due to lack of funds.

Larger versions of the above illustrations are available here.

Expo 2012 Wroclaw Video

The folks in Wroclaw, Poland bidding for Expo 2012 have updated their web site and added this amazing video. A larger size with better resolution is available on their site here.

A Wroclaw world's fair would certainly be the first to feature a Hall of Serious Fun. It makes me wonder what 19th Century world's fair designers would think of us in 2007 as they designed their Halls of Agriculture and the like. I, for one, am ready for a Hall of Serious Fun. In many ways, that's what I like about world's fairs. They're serious fun!

The Hall of Tranquility reminds me much of a trend I've seen in recent years in exposition design. World's fairs can become one building of overstimulation after another. Expo 2000 in Hannover, Germany featured a chill-out space called Scape, which was a welcome respite from the rest of the pavilions. I noticed that same year that Austria and India both included areas where you could relax and escape lights and sounds. I hope to see this trend continue.

Wroclaw is competing against Yeosu, South Korea and Tangier, Morocco to host a small 3-month exposition in 2012. So far, I've been impressed with all three presentations, although the new Wroclaw video presentation doesn't seem to match the bid logo that was created earlier.