A World's Fair (commonly called World Exposition, or simply Expo) is large international festival of arts and sciences. Participating countries present artistic and educational displays in national pavilions to showcase world issues or their country's culture and history. Such is the scale of these events that they are sanctioned by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) in order to control expense and to avoid any clashes with other expositions and large international events, such as the Olympics.
The origins of world's fairs lay in a French tradition of national exhibitions, and the success of the French Industrial Exposition in 1844 lead to the adoption of such events by neighbouring European countries. The idea made its way to the United Kingdom, which held the "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations", better known as simply "The Great Exhibition", in 1851. This event set down the precedent in terms of scale and content, which expanded beyond a single topic and included exhibits on wider aspects of society, including art-and-design education, international trade and relations, and tourism. This format was later copied by several other cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Paris, who held numerous world's fairs.
The rising popularity of the world's fair concept brought conflicts of schedule and interest. In 1928, a convention to schedule regular World's Fairs was created, and the BIE was created to coordinate World's Fair organization. Soon after, the themes that typified world's fairs began to change. An international exhibition in New York in 1939-40 began a shift from the unveiling and showcasing of new technologies and practices to exhibits relating to human and cultural experiences. This paradigm continued after the Second World War, and term 'Expo' for world's fairs was coined in 1967 at Montréal's International and Universal Exposition, or Expo 1967.
Eventually, the idea that world's fairs were a great vehicle to advertise countries became prominent, and the pavilions began to carry greater cultural and historical references to the countries that displayed them. Today, world's fairs employ not only nation branding, but throwbacks to the old paradigms of world's fairs, showcasing new and innovative technologies, and reflections on the prevailing human condition and experience.
There are three types of world's fair as set out by the BIE:
The BIE also recognizes the Milan Triennial Exhibition of Decorative Arts and Modern Architecture (also Triennale di Milano, Milan Triennale, or Triennale di Milano International Exhibition) for historical reasons, provided that it retains its original features. The Triennale showcases modern decorative and industrial arts. In 2019, the XXII Triennale focused on design approaches that explore the relations between humans, nature and other species.
Name | Type | Location | Dates | Theme |
---|---|---|---|---|
style="text-align: center;" | Expo Beijing 2019 | Horticultural Exposition | 🇨🇳 Beijing, <small>China</small> | |
style="text-align: center;" | Expo 2020 | Universal Exposition | 🇦🇪 Dubai, <small>United Arab Emirates</small> | |
style="text-align: center;" | Floriade 2022 (dead link: January 2023) | Horticultural Exposition | 🇳🇱 Almere, <small>Netherlands</small> |