Shanghai Expo - time to put the boot in

A BBC report this morning had attendance at less than half of the organiser's predictions. Even the May Day holiday had people staying away in droves.

The British Pavilion shows what happens when you put idiots in charge of artists.

Apparently the building was designed to provide a place for 'calm reflection and contemplation'. You know - the quality that we all know the Chinese people are noted for    

That explains why on entering the building you see nothing - there is nothing there to disturb your conscious thoughts.

And that explains why one Chinese guy said that after queuing for 4 hours to get into the building he was not happy to see nothing. He most probably felt rather uncontemplative.

A photo of the pavilion, however, shows that the British have not lost their ability to tell people to get stuffed in an understated way. The building's design seemed to have been inspired by a bum in the classic pose of rejection.

Not just any bum - it looks like a Chinese girl's bum to me.  

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it isn't full of nothing, it has about 5000 of the rarest seeds on the planet and they made it into a beautiful sort of cathedral

it is a very rare example of britain being world class and showing why people still give a fuck about britain. i'm not a patriotic sort, but i do love how britain is full of excellent artists and design people and architects and so on, and i think the british thing reflects that.

what should be inside?

it has about 5000 of the rarest seeds on the planet and they made it into a beautiful sort of cathedral

ummmm ..... I guess I am not into seed watching. I suppose it might be marginally more exciting than watching grass grow.

I do, however, like looking at the stars at night. That does not mean to say I would travel to Shanghai, pay a lot of money for a ticket and stand in a queue for 4 hours just to look at the stars.

what should be inside?

A bus. Not just any bus ... it should be the bus they used in the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. To me that summed up the design and artistic expression of Britain in the 21st Century - memories of the 1960's bastardised by advertising agency crap.It was enough to make the whole world cringe.
 
{I just made that last part up because New Zealanders do not know anything about culture or art - as the 'motherland' constantly reminds us.}   






   

A bus. Not just any bus ... it should be the bus they used in the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. To me that summed up the design and artistic expression of Britain in the 21st Century - memories of the 1960's bastardised by advertising agency crap.It was enough to make the whole world cringe.
 
{I just made that last part up because New Zealanders do not know anything about culture or art - as the 'motherland' constantly reminds us.}   

you are really clutching at straws here

britain has the best pavillion because it is a specialised economy with the best universities in the world and the best architects and so on, britain is not a superpower but it is famous around the world as somewhere that does things well, and the pavillion illustrates that. for design i would say japan 1, britain 2

unfortunately you grew up on an island in the middle of nowhere with more sheep that humans, but that isn't britains fault

as the 'motherland' constantly reminds us

Another reminder to the colonies?

unfortunately you grew up on an island in the middle of nowhere with more sheep that humans, but that isn't britains fault

Looks like New Zealand is going to rewrite its history! 

i liked lord of the rings and flight of the conchords, braindead was ok when i was a teenager...

I was not having a go at Britain when I raised the issue of its pavilion at Expo. My concern was for the poor bastards who queued for hours to see very little - or very little of what they hoped to see.

The architecture of the British pavilion is rated as No1 of the foreign pavilions by Chinese people attending expo. The attention it has drawn has led to led crowds queuing to see what is inside. An idea of the length of the queue can be found here:
http://shanghaiscrap.com/?p=4937

My shots were aimed at those responsible for this situation.

At the same time I took a cheap shot at the architecture because in that photo (maybe taken during construction) it did remind me of a Chinese girls bum - still does!

PS the best thing to come out of Britain's colonisation of NZ is ..... Marmite !       

i was just talking about it with my students and they are pretty nonplussed about the whole thing, too busy etc

i want to see it because i've never been to anything that big before and shanghai is only 2 hours away but i can't imagine it being that good tbh

That building is hideous.

I remember being in awe as an 8yr old at the expo in Brisbane. Thought it was spectacular (from an 8yr olds perspective) 

{some ideas to fill in time while waiting for the jug to boil}

Maybe the problem is that EXPO as a concept has become an anachronism in the 21st Sentury.

From what I can remember expos were created to show off the advances of an industrialised society. People could go along and see machinery and inventions that had a real 'wah' factor because they had never seen them before.

This continued through the later 20th Century with the latest technology allowing expos to showcase inventions of the 'future.'

Technology is now such a part of our lives that changes are incremental and we are made aware of them as they happen.

So what is left to showcase at an expo. The 'environment' was an easy choice - who can say no to that one!

The problem is that after queuing for hours I do not think people are going to go:
* wah! Look at the water.
* wah! Look at the tree.
* wah! Look at the seeds.

So, what should be the focus of an expo? I think that Chinese people still have limited opportunies to travel overseas and were hoping that they would be able to find out about life in other countries. I quess that means things like architecture, music, food, religion, culture, lifestyle, etc.

I think that these are the things I would like to see at an expo 

 

well, there will be important stuff going on behind the scenes. and for the countries who turn up it is really good for industries like architecture and to be sure lots of trade will be done, but it isn't for the benefit of punters who pay to go and queue it's like the F1 where you go as a fan and get to see the cars fly past you. it isn't like the football where you can boo if it's rubbish

must admit, i find the fact that my students are as nonplussed as me by the reality of the whole thing incredibly reassuring

I think you make some good points X.

I have memories of an amazing culture experience from home.. but once again, i was only 8 so I was very probably easily amused. 


Perhaps now it's just gotten so big and so diverse with the focus on too many things? Maybe Expo every year should have a theme: The Future, Past People, Culture in the 21st Century.

Pat of the prblem is that the Shanghai Exp, at sme point, did have a theme.

World Expo 2010 is the occasion for China to bring the world at home, and for the world to feel at home in China. By dedicating a 5.28-square-kilometer area at the core of the city to exhibitions, events and forums on the Expo theme, "Better City, Better Life," Shanghai hopes to build a powerful and lasting pilot example of sustainable and harmonious urban living.

I guess that at some stage some countries lost the plot.

All is not lost Lone Traveller. There is still magic to be found at Expo. Some clues are to be found in: "15 Shanghai World Expo Pavilion Secrets"
http://cnreviews.com/life/travel-tourism/shanghai-world-expo-pavilion-secrets_20100511.html

Australia gets some kudos for:
Secret No. 2: The Most “I-Want-To-Be-The-Number-One” Pavilion

Why am I not surprised at that? 

At first, I was disappointed to see the British pavillion - a massive hedgehog. But then, after finding out more (the seed thing) I thought it was quite cool and innovative.

It is true that in the last decade there has been a surge in 'far-out' creative design which I guess has put us right back on the map - gone are the 1960s high rise towers and Milton Keynes style eye-sores, in favour of cooler, more ergonomic designs such as the Millennium Dome (which was a huge talking point in the UK) and anything with Lord Norman Fosters' fingerprints (he designed the German Reichstag, Beijing's new Capital Airport and lots of Olympic'ky style buildings).