Discussion: Expo Milano 2015 - Superficial Entertainment or Global Think Tank?
- Frank Kaltenbach
In the age of the World Wide Web, it would seem that there is no longer a need to bring together the world's newest inventions in one place. But the hosts of this year's Expo have not exploited the opportunity to radically reinvent it - to move it away from being a showcase for national achievements toward a role as a global think tank. In the media there is either no coverage whatsoever of the event, or polemical reporting. Has the expo format hastened its own obsolescence, or is the Expo Milan a success after all? Jacques Herzog explains, "We are not interested in events with pavilions that try to outdo each other. But because the theme Feeding the Planet is so important to us, in 2009 we accepted the commission to design the master plan." In cooperation with Stefano Boeri, Rick Burdett,and William McDonough he developed a design that stipulated the themes - responses to global challenges - the respective nations were to address. How can we get people to eat healthful food? How can we sustain regional traditions and diversity in foodstuffs in light of global monopolies on seed and environment-damaging monocultures?
