Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Expo 2010, Expo 2012, and Expo 2020

This week, the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee issued a new document "Another U.S. Deficit - China and America - Public Diplomacy in the Age of the Internet," which includes a great deal of information about United States participation in Expo 2010, the committee's call for a US Pavilion at Expo 2012, and support for re-joining the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) to help a US bid for Expo 2020.

Here's the synopsis at the beginning of the document (page 12):
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Many Americans now view World Expos as antiquated affairs. The rest of the globe does not, and U.S. ambivalence towards participationunduly offends the host nations. Given that more than 7,000,000 Chinese visited the U.S. Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo in 2010, the lack of effort caused by unnecessary hesitation and delays on the part of the Obama Administration only squandered an unprecedented opportunity to put our best foot forward to an audience over 10 times the size of the number of Chinese who visit the United States in a single year. Although large crowds streamed in, many were disappointed by the low-tech and rather ordinary exhibits inside which failed to demonstrate American technological, scientific and commercial expertise. Those same mistakes should not be repeated in the lead up to the 2012 Expo in Korea. Given recent interest
by Texas and California in hosting the 2020 Expo, the U.S. should seek immediately to re-join the Bureau of International Expositions in order to bid for the 2020 Expo. Consideration should be given to repealing legislation limiting U.S. government involvement in Expos, an action that would give the private sector greater confidence in our efforts and lead to more coherent funding.
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I'm glad to hear that Congress is looking into the issue of United States participation in world's fairs. Needless to say, I wholeheartedly support the US rejoining the BIE, our country's participation in Expo 2012, and the bids for Expo 2020.

I take a bit of an exception to the Obama Administration being blamed for US Pavilion delays, however, since it was under the Bush Administration that things had stalled. Later in the document, they do point out that it was Hillary Clinton's State Department that finally got the ball rolling.

I think this document brings us a few steps closer to rejoining the BIE, having a US Pavilion at Expo 2012 in Yeosu, and security government support for an Expo 2020 bid.

The full report can be downloaded at:
http://lugar.senate.gov/issues/foreign/diplomacy/ChinaInternet.pdf

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Since I wrote this shortly after receiving the document, I've had a chance to read more. As such, here's an addendum:

In the main body of the document, it does refer to Hillary Clinton's efforts to save the pavilion and recognizes the difficulty of continuity between the two administrations. That leads me to think the synopsis on page 12 (of the PDF... labeled page 6) blaming the Obama Administration could be a typo. Later, they refer to the Bush Administration's failure to have a US Pavilion at Hannover's Expo 2000. That's clearly a mistake since George W. Bush did not come into office until January 2001.

Yeosu, South Korea to Host Expo 2012

The members of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) voted today selecting Yeosu, South Korea as the host for the 2012 International Exposition. Yeosu beat out two competing cities: Wroclaw, Poland and Tangier, Morocco.

Both Yeosu and Wroclaw had previously competed for Expo 2010, losing to Shanghai, China.

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.