ExpoMuseum - The World's Fair Museum

Expo Zaragoza 2008 opened on 14 June and will remain open for 3 months. Over 100 countries are participating in the BIE-recognized exposition with a theme of water and sustainable development. ExpoMuseum reviews the exposition in our blog.

In the next seven years, the planet will see four world's fairs: two in Europe and two in Asia. Each continent will host both a smaller "recognized" expo and the larger "sanctioned" expo.
Expo 2008 is currently open. See the above item and our blog.
Shanghai hosts Expo 2010 with opening ceremonies in less than two years. Under the theme "Better City, Better Life," it will run six months, host pavilions from perhaps as many as 200 countries.
The coastal town of Yeosu, South Korea won the right to host a small exposition themed around oceans in 2012. It will run for three months.
On 31 March 2008, the Bureau International des Expositions announced that Milan, Italy would host Expo 2015 beating rival Izmir, Turkey. Milan's expo will be focused on the theme "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life." It will run for six months.

2008 marks the 50th anniversary of Brussels' Expo 58, the first world's fair held after World War II. An exhibition entitled "Expo 58, Between Utopia & Realty" runs from April to October it the recently renovated Atomium in Belgium's capital city.

With less than two years left before the opening of Expo 2010 on 01 May 2010, pavilion designs are shaping up. Here are some of the more prominent designs released so far.

From top left to bottom right:the China Pavilion, the Canada Pavilion, the United Kingdom Pavilion, the Switzerland Pavilion,the Australia Pavilion, and the Poland Pavilion

With the selection of cities to host Expo 2012 and Expo 2015, no North American city will be able to attempt a bid for an exposition until 2017 at the soonest. 2017 will mark 31 years since North America hosted its last exposition, Expo 86 in Vancouver, Canada. 2017 also will mark 33 years since the United States' last world's fair in 1984.

Popular opinion in North America holds that international expositions are simply no longer held. With an entire generation having grown up now having never known a world's fair, this is unsurprising. The chart below illustrates the frequency of international expositions among the continents.

International Exposition Frequency, by Continent (graph)

Europe, home of the first international exposition of 1851, suffered a similar 34-year gap between 1958 to 1992. This was followed by the four expos held since then and two planned to be held between now and 2015.

Even World War II resulted in a worldwide gap of only 18 years between 1940 to 1958.

Toronto, Ontario attempted to secure provincial and federal funds in order to place a bid for 2015, but was unable to meet the November bidding deadline. It is unclear right now when a North American city might attempt a bid again, but there are hopes of bids by a Canadian city for 2017 and/or a U.S.A. city for 2020.

The United States has an additional hurdle if it is to ever hold another world's fair. The U.S. Congress pulled out of the Bureau International des Expositions by withdrawing funds for membership in recent years and would need to re-join to bid.

If you know of any expo-related web sites that aren't listed on ExpoMuseum.com, feel free to email: Links@ExpoMuseum.com.

ExpoMuseum now has a mailing list group on Yahoo! groups to discuss world's fairs... past, present, and future. I invite you to join the dialogue or ask a question. We now have over 500 members with a wide breadth of world's fair knowledge, interest, and experience. It's located at: /www.ExpoMuseum.com/discussion

Urso Chappell
4 July 2008

P.S., Feel free to email me at: Urso@ExpoMuseum.com

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