Buongiorno! Hola! Sawadika! Al salam aleikum! Hello! Bom Dia! Sveiki! If you were wondering how to visit 145 countries in one day, I will tell you – the answer is in Milan. And it is called Expo.
The current Universal exposition started on the 1st of May and will last for six months. The central theme is Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life. More than 140 countries partecipate in the event and each one of them provides possible solutions to the planet’s greatest issue – the future of food.
Of course, as soon as I heard what would the theme be, I pictured infinite booths of street food from all over the world. It is not exactly like this actually. Every partecipant has its own pavilion which, in most of the cases, reflects the most innovative architectural trends. Inside you can find screens and tecnological devices that will guide you through the country’s efforts and achievements for a more sustainable living.
There is 1.1 million square meters of exhibition area and in 9 hours I only saw half of it. At the end of the day I had such a backache, even wearing my most comfortable shoes ever, that I got home almost crawling. But, in return, I managed to eat something-undefined-but-good from Bangladesh, papaya salad from Laos, Korean sweet, Turkish tea and Italian aperitivo (I left the best for next time, aka the appetizing Iranian food that I quickly spotted and the Nutella concept bar, that I was too tired to try figuring out where the entrance was).
I already have my top 5 most impactful pavilions which are the UK, Oman, Iran, Estonia and UAE. Pictures from the last four will be coming in the next post.
P.S. Almost every country has a motto conceived for the event. You will see it after the country’s name and the dash.
Media and Expo Centre
Ireland – Origin Green Ireland: Working with Nature
The spirit of Ireland brough to life through maxi screens
The (still unfinished) pavilion of Nepal
Traditional Nubimian home
Angola – Food and Culture: Educate to Innovate
Bamboo structure
Three floors and a terrace. The structure is made from sustainable materials and can be easily disassmebled and reused
The role of the woman is central in the Angolan society
Contemporary art – painting on swords
And now I know how the coconut palm is born
Bahrain – the land of one milion palms
The pavilion boasts 10 distinct fruit gardens
The theme is Archaeologies of Green
Historic artefacts that date back thousand of years
Promo video on the wall
What fruit you will bear depends on when you visit the Expo
Details of Enel’s (Italian power provider) construction
South Korea – the pavilion is constructed with the architectural theme of the “Moon Jar”, a traditional pottery vessel in the shape of the full moon.
You are what you eat is the theme
Questions that Koreans try to answer utilizing highly advanced science and technology in the fields of food, environment, and human physiology.
See more of this robots in action in my video http://youtu.be/cUyw_2pwMbk
Vietnam – Water and lotus
Thailand – Nourishing and Delighting the World
The constructions reminds the traditional rice farmers’ hat – ngob
Check out Thailand’s visual presentation in my youtube chanel – https://youtu.be/qf5PlANOn7c
China – Land of Hope, Food for Life
The underlying theme is the pursuit of balance between mankind and the environment, between humanity and nature.
Argentina – Argentina feeds you
Tanzania – within the spices cluster
Afghanistan – Eating for Longevity, Afghanistan Amazingly Real
Vanuatu
United Kingdom – Grown in Britain: Shared Globally
The design is inspired by the unique role that the hives have in our ecosystem
Who wants to sit in the garden?
Brazil – Feeding the World with Solutions
a tensile netted plane invites visitors to climb and experience the structure from different perspectives
plant species that are cultivated in the country
Bangladesh – Sustainability in Rice Production for Better Life Under Changing Climate
Belarus – The Wheel of Life
Entertainment area with traditional songs and dances (plus degustation of typical products)
Lithuania – Well of Knowledge: Experienced Future
Malaysia – Towards a Sustainable Food Ecosystem
The pavilion takes the shape o four different seeds
Check Malaysia’s pitch here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJOSJK8K9WI
Malaysia is one of the 17 mega-diverse areas of the world
Belgium – Belgium’s conviviality has a sustainable future
“Aperitivo” at Terrazza Martini – not exactly what I expected. I chose one of the non alcoholic cocktails from the list but the waiter told me there was only orange or grapefruit (not mentioning the word juice at all). I ordered grapefruit, expecting some kind of fruit based cocktail but I got a plain bottled juice Pago instead.
What do you think? Is it how you have imagined it? Did you see you country?
Cool, you already made it to the expo! I have been there for only half a day and I didn’t see all of the pavilions. But after reading your post, it feels like I have seen a lot more of the Expo now 🙂 So thanks for sharing. I actually have been to my country’s pavilion. I think the Swiss have an interesting concept. They have free coffee, biscuits, small packets of salt and water and you can take as much as you want. But they are not going to refill. So, you really have to think of other visitors as well. It makes you thinking about behaving in a more sustainable way.
Actually, now that you make me think about it, I noticed this recurrent theme of ‘sharing’. I’m afraid that the Swiss pavilion will run out of stock very soon with all the school groups that are around (during my visit they accounted for 60-70% of the visitors) and I’m not sure they don’t believe in the concept of sustainability? did you manage to see uae’s pavilion? The Japanese one was still overcrowded, with more than an hour of queue – I don’t think I will ever get there.
Haha I think so too 😀 They will probably run out of stock pretty soon. But at least they have put some containers up high, so the kids can’t reach it 😉 But anyway, can’t blame them. To be honest, I haven’t been to the uae’s pavilion because I was too tired at that point. The expo is very exhausting. But I thought it looked very nice and interesting from the outside. Have you been inside yet? What was their message?
UAE was my pavilion, actually I didn’t mean to go inside but since at 6:30 pm they were only around 200 people in queue I decised to take the chance. Unfortunately I had already run out of memory both on my phone and camera and I wasn’t able to record their video that was very engaging. The message however, is learn from the past and use what their land has to offer ( camel milk, plants that grow in salt water, study alternative energy sources so that they can coop with scarce water, food and resources, and most inportantly share this knowledge with the world because not only the Emirates will experience these problems.
This sounds very interesting. Too bad you ran out of memory. But the expo will last until end of October. I will probably get to come back to Milano and have a look at all the pavilions I have missed during my first visit.
Let me know when yoy come and lets go for some vegan ice cream!
That sounds lovely 🙂
Fascinating post and wonderful pictures. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you for reading it!
Wow – great shots! I love the landscape, love the plants, and love the exhibits! *slow clap*
Cool, you already made it to the expo! I have been there for only half a day and I didn’t see all of the pavilions. But after reading your post, it feels like I have seen a lot more of the Expo now 🙂 So thanks for sharing. I actually have been to my country’s pavilion. I think the Swiss have an interesting concept. They have free coffee, biscuits, small packets of salt and water and you can take as much as you want. But they are not going to refill. So, you really have to think of other visitors as well. It makes you thinking about behaving in a more sustainable way.
Actually, now that you make me think about it, I noticed this recurrent theme of ‘sharing’. I’m afraid that the Swiss pavilion will run out of stock very soon with all the school groups that are around (during my visit they accounted for 60-70% of the visitors) and I’m not sure they don’t believe in the concept of sustainability? did you manage to see uae’s pavilion? The Japanese one was still overcrowded, with more than an hour of queue – I don’t think I will ever get there.
Haha I think so too 😀 They will probably run out of stock pretty soon. But at least they have put some containers up high, so the kids can’t reach it 😉 But anyway, can’t blame them. To be honest, I haven’t been to the uae’s pavilion because I was too tired at that point. The expo is very exhausting. But I thought it looked very nice and interesting from the outside. Have you been inside yet? What was their message?
UAE was my pavilion, actually I didn’t mean to go inside but since at 6:30 pm they were only around 200 people in queue I decised to take the chance. Unfortunately I had already run out of memory both on my phone and camera and I wasn’t able to record their video that was very engaging. The message however, is learn from the past and use what their land has to offer ( camel milk, plants that grow in salt water, study alternative energy sources so that they can coop with scarce water, food and resources, and most inportantly share this knowledge with the world because not only the Emirates will experience these problems.
This sounds very interesting. Too bad you ran out of memory. But the expo will last until end of October. I will probably get to come back to Milano and have a look at all the pavilions I have missed during my first visit.
Let me know when yoy come and lets go for some vegan ice cream!
That sounds lovely 🙂
Fascinating post and wonderful pictures. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you for reading it!
Wow – great shots! I love the landscape, love the plants, and love the exhibits! *slow clap*