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THE ARTS:
EXPO 2000
Basic
Needs
In the Lap of Plenty
Ignored
in the initial months, the event on sustainable development at Hannover
in Germany is now drawing crowds. A journey through its most evocative
pavilion.
By
S. Kalidas in Hannover
 People:
Despite the reports of a marketing failure and dismal attendance at the
Expo 2000, the express train from Munich to Hannover is full. German families,
French tourists, American backpackers, hordes of school children, groups
of ubiquitous Japanese tourists with their mandatory Handycams, even desi
businessmen and shopkeepers. If between June and September they ignored
this mega event, now with just three weeks remaining it would seem the
whole world wants to be in the German city at once.
Nature: The
sun had been playing hide and seek with clouds throughout the four-hour
train ride but at the specially constructed station close to the Hannover
fair grounds it was out and shining. Its warm golden afternoon glow bathing
the newly washed green of trees, shrubs and grass. Some man-made structures
emulate natural and organic forms. And to lend just that touch of irony,
even the square-cut logs of wood are painted silver-grey to give the impression
of steel.
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| The
supermarket shopfloor dipicting the consumerist orgy in the installation
by British artist Graham Rawle |
Technology:
Then come the series of elevators, mechanised walkways, overhead cable
cars, giant computerised screens for information and entertainment, a
glut of gizmos, gadgets-all metal, neon and laser-of the kind that would
dazzle even the most hardened eye. Welcome to "Humankind-Nature-Technology:
A New World Arising", the theme of Expo 2000 which wants to place
sustainable development at the centre of its agenda for the future.
Taking the
enormous size of the expo and the range of aural, visual and textual content
it offers, it is not possible to even taste a segment of it in a couple
of days. What remain in the mind's eye are fleeting impressions of the
overall layout-the landscaped patches of green, the still shallow pools
of water, the wide avenues bustling with people, the bars, the eateries
small and big, the colour, the music, the energy.
After an
initial lacklustre response, this weekend the attendance peaked at 250,000
visitors. Crowds and queues were everywhere. Even at the gates of the
pavilions with most uninspiring facades. Hello! Look at that marvellously
crafted Bhutanese temple and in its shadow the aircraft hangar housing
the Indian contingent. The Nepalese have created their own hybrid of Hindu-Buddhist
iconography, the Filipinos have made their home in an amazing structure
made entirely of bamboo and the Colombian structure draws its design from
a forest.
Pg.2
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