Universal Exhibition Research Articles

Signs of Americanization: The United States and the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867

On the occasion of the Exposition universelle of 1867 the term Americanization first appeared in France. Jules and Edmond Goncourt feared that the exhibition would lead to “the Americanization of France”. My article explores the opposition between the rather unspectacular US-section at the exhibition on the one hand, and the image of an emerging world power on the other. I argue that the notion of Americanization had a threefold function. Firstly, it did not refer to a specific geographic zone, but served as a master discourse absorbing all the phenomena of unfolding French modernity. Secondly, the concept of Americanization transferred the fears, apprehensions and uncertainties of this French modernity outside of France and turned the USA into a culprit for the apparent rationalization of French culture. Third, in claiming Americanization was the key to economic success, the process of industrialization was accelerated and French ambition for leadership over the world reaffirmed.

Universal Exhibition Understanding and its Effects on Architecture

18. yüzyılda büyük bir hızla atılım sağlayan Sanayi Devriminde hızlı kentleşme, beraberinde bir kaos yaratmıştır. Bu nedenle kentsel yaşamın iyileştirilmesi adına toplu konut çalışmaları gerçekleştirilmiş, fabrikalarda yaşanan problemlerin aşılabilmesi ya da en aza indirgenebilmesi için çeşitli sendika grupları kurulmuş ve ülkeler arasında had safhada bulunan rekabet ortamı çeşitli etkinliklerle dizginlenmeye, belki de daha da arttırılmaya çalışılmıştır. İşte gelişimin emekleyerek ancak hızlı bir gayretle devam ettiği bu dönemde başını İngiltere’nin çektiği büyük bir organizasyona imza atılmıştır. Bu imza, evrensel sergilerdir. İlk kez 1851 Londra’sında Kristal Saray ile karşımıza çıkan evrensel sergiler, ilk dönemlerinde rekabet ortamı içerisinde kendini gösterme çabası, prestij göstergesi olarak değerlendirilirken mimari yaklaşımları da bu tema ile doğru orantılı ilerlemiş ve dönemin yeni mimari teknikleri, demir-çelik ve cam gibi mimari unsurları yapı veya yapı gruplarına dahil edilerek yeni ve deneysel çalışmalara olanak sağlamıştır. Zaman içerinde dünya ve toplumda yaşanan olumlu veya olumsuz olaylar -savaşlar, yeni çağa giriş, dünyanın geleceği kaygısı- evrensel sergilerin ve mimari tasarımlarının şekillenmelerinde etkili olarak çeşitli temaları ve bu temalar ile ilişkili olarak serginin gerçekleşeceği kenti, kent içerisinde belirlenecek organizasyon alanını ve sergi binalarını etkilemiştir.

Gusts of revulsion: Édouard Verreaux's imperial tableaux at the Exposition Universelle of 1867

AbstractUnlike the vast majority of large‐scale showpieces exhibited at nineteenth‐century universal exhibitions, Édouard Verreaux's taxidermy group, Lion Attacking a Dromedary, has defied the odds and has survived well past its initial public display in the Tunisian section of the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris. In the context of its original ethnographic display in a space dedicated to the promotion of French colonialism, Verreaux's ambitious taxidermy tableau would have been understood as a representation of authentic life in Tunisia. This illusion of authenticity issued from the object's expert mimicking of the period's artistic conventions for depicting the relationship between people and animals in North Africa by artists such as Horace Vernet, Eugène Delacroix, Antoine‐Louis Barye, and others. Instead of paint or plaster, Verreaux's composition took the form of an uncanny assemblage of body parts taken from a camel, two lions, and an anonymous human: in so doing, Verreaux used the tragic material of living beings to create a literal interpretation of the aesthetic tropes of French orientalism; with this world's fair showpiece, he thus violently bridged the theoretical and material divide between art and life. In this essay, I take these conjunctions between the “real” and the imaginary as a point of departure for discussing the feigned credulity of Lion Attacking a Dromedary. I contend that Verreaux's Lion Attacking a Dromedary should be considered as an imperial tableau, that is, as a didactic object that participated in training nineteenth‐century viewers to be what the historian Ariella Azoulay has called “imperial citizens” by drawing equivalences between nature and culture, and between representation and reality.

Italy also had its South Kensington Museum

The article aims to bring to light a recent discovery with respect to the history of Italian pedagogical museums: 12 years before the official opening of what is recognized as the first. Since 1862, in Turin, a section of the Royal Industrial Museum has been dedicated to the collection of books and teaching materials to the primary and secondary schools. This collection was a direct expression of the London Universal Exhibition of 1861, from which the Royal Commissioners returned with the idea of copying the South Kensington Museum. The article reconstructs the history of the collection and its exposure, following its evolution until its disappearance. The aim of this article is to offer a significant piece of the history of the historical-educational heritage in Italy and its musealization.

A FREE AND OPEN-ACCESS GIS FOR THE DOCUMENTATION AND MONITORING OF URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE AREA OF THE EXPO 2015 EXHIBITION IN MILAN

Abstract. Mega-events imply several city transformations at different scales that could be challenging to be identified and documented. The impacts of such events like Universal Exhibitions are difficult to be identified and tracked in space and over a long period of time. This paper discusses the use of open-source geospatial technologies as innovative tools in support of urban planning and management of digital cities, analysing in particular the case of an international exhibition in the urban landscape. A GIS-based approach is used to design a spatially enabled database, which is essential for implementing advanced analytics in modern smart cities. The pilot project proposes the design and implementation of such georeferenced database for monitoring the urban transformations of the area used for Expo 2015 Milano (Italy). The potential of GIS environment in the consultation process, which allows to obtain different interactive views and to make selections and queries of the data, is explored. The paper also discusses the possibility of publishing such prototype on a shared platform, allowing a larger non-technical audience to follow the urban evolution of the area in a diachronic perspective.

Visual construction of collective memory virtual museum in small and medium-sized towns

This article is committed to building a virtual museum suitable for small and medium-sized cities and tow8ns to preserve and inherit collective memory, and try to explore a universal path for the display, dissemination and renewal of regional culture. The project hopes to harvest a practical visual scheme of virtual museum, excavate and update the cultural role and cultural significance of tangible material heritage, through narrative setting and cultural component integration to make the public to see or understand the disappearing history again and generate a pleasant or interesting thematic virtual space experience perception, so as to create a new cultural context with inclusiveness and vitality. At the same time, the project tries to build a universal exhibition system to serve the innovative development of small and medium-sized town museums, even become an example of cross-border integration and innovation of art management in the context of artificial intelligence.

Review of Women in International and Universal Exhibitions, 1876-1937 edited by Myriam Boussahba-Bravard and Rebecca Rogers

Book review

The Maréorama in the 1900 Universal Exhibition: a simulated Mediterranean voyage from the banks of the Seine

ABSTRACT This article presents an exploration of the mechanisms that underpinned simulacrum in the 19th century. To do so, I take as a case study an attraction presented at the Universal Exhibition of 1900: the multi-sensory panorama known as the Maréorama. This device offered audiences the experience of a half-hour boat trip across the Mediterranean Sea. In this paper I shall argue that this simulation combines period-relevant codes that link with other artistic and cultural practices of the period – early cinema, prestidigitation, Wagnerian ‘total work of art’ – and a component of technological innovation oriented towards perfecting multi-sensoriality. This combination turned the Maréorama into one of the most sophisticated mimetic immersion devices at the time, blending the tradition of the great rotundas with the effects of mobile panoramas. Other features of this panorama were the physical shocks generated by the motion of the supporting platform and the interactive role assumed by the spectator, which, along with the mimesis, added an element of fiction. I shall argue that the simulation of new realities was stimulated by the imaginaries generated by contemporary novels such as Julius Verne’s, which illustrated future scenarios and the exploration of unknown landscapes. The Maréorama allowed the spectator to travel across the Mediterranean from the shores of the Seine in a record time. Panoramas, including the Maréorama, became exponents of the utopian capacity of conquering the world, overcoming the limitations of time and space.

WORLD’S FAIRS IN THE SERVICE OF NATIONAL BRANDING – THE STATE OF RESEARCH, KEY ELEMENTS OF EXHIBITORS’ PRESENTATIONS, EXEMPLIFICATION OF IMAGE-BUILDING ACTIVITIES

World’s fairs (Expos) are nowadays perceived as so-called mega events, which are attended mainly to build a desired image of exhibiting countries. The article aimed at exploring literature to determine the extent to which the concept in question has been examined by researchers. Furthermore, the author’s intention was – based on experience gained during participation in the last Expo editions – to identify the main presentation components which have a bearing on image-related effects. This constitutes a practical implication of this work. Marketing activities performed during universal exhibitions were exemplified based on the exhibition activity of Poland. A literature review demonstrated that Expo did not receive a lot of researchers’ attention – especially in terms of creating the image of exhibiting countries. Therefore there is a research gap which should be closed, in particular, in the context of combining expo participants’ activity with experience marketing.

Democracy and Theatre in Catalonia Since 1975

Democracy and Theatre in Catalonia Since 1975

“Wings of Freedom”: Petr Miturich and Aero-Constructivism

The article focuses on the aerodynamic experiments of Petr Vasil’evich Miturich (1887–1956), in particular his so-called letun, a project comparable to Vladimir Tatlin’s Letatlin, but less familiar. Miturich became interested in flight during the First World War, elaborating his first flying apparatus in 1918 before constructing a prototype and undertaking a test flight on 27 December 1921—which might be described as an example of Russian Aero-Constructivism (by analogy with Italian Aeropittura). Miturich’s basic deduction was that modern man must travel not by horse and cart, but with the aid of a new, ecological apparatus—the undulator—a mechanism which, thanks to its undulatory movements, would move like a fish or snake. The article delineates the general context of Miturich’s experiments, for example, his acquaintance with the ideas of Tatlin and Velemir Khlebnikov (in 1924 Miturich married the artist, Vera Khlebnikova, Velemir’s sister) as well as the inventions of Igor’ Sikorsky, Fridrikh Tsander, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and other scientists who contributed to the “First Universal Exhibition of Projects and Models of Interplanetary Apparatuses, Devices and Historical Materials” held in Moscow in 1927.

The Collecting History of an Early Christian Lead Vessel: From Carthage to the 1867 Paris Universal Exhibition

This article is based on research into the archaeological collections exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. In the course of that research, various documents were found relating to an Early Christian lead vessel, discovered in Carthage and since disappeared, that attracted the attention of many scholars at the time. This article aims to trace the history of the vase from its discovery to its exhibition in Paris through illustrations and published and unpublished documents. Archival data are drawn on to offer a description of the lost vase’s iconography that is as complete as possible.1

The “Expo” and the Post-“Expo”: The Role of Public Art in Urban Regeneration Processes in the Late 20th Century

In 1998, the Lisbon Universal Exhibition—Expo’98—led to an urban regeneration process on Lisbon’s waterfront. Following the example of other cities, this event was a pretext for rethinking and replacing a depressed area and for reconnecting it with the Tagus river through the creation of a set of new spaces for common use along the water. It was promoted as a public art program, which can be considered quite innovative in the Portuguese context. In view of this framework, this article aims to debate the relationships between public art and the dynamics of urban regeneration at the end of the 20th century. For that, it will analyse: (1) Expo’98’s public art program, comparing its initial assumptions with the final results; and (2) the impact of this program, through the identification of the placement of public art before (1974–1998) and after (1999–2009) the event. Although most of the implemented works did not (intentionally) explore aspects of space integration nor issues of public space appropriation, Expo’98’s public art program originated a monumentalisation of Lisbon’s eastern riverfront, later extended to other waterfront areas. At the same time, it played an important role in the way of understanding the city and public space that decisively influenced subsequent policies and projects. It is concluded that public art had a significant role in urban processes in the late 20th century, which is quite evident in a discourse of urban art as space qualifier and as a means of economic and social development.

Аrhitektura v izkustvoto—izkustvo v arhitekturata

<i>Аrhitektura v izkustvoto—izkustvo v arhitekturata</i>

Cultural events and heritage policy for the Milan Expo 2015: experimental intersections between mega-event and city

ABSTRACT The article observes the case of the Expo 2015 by focusing on side cultural events and heritage. By critically drawing on mega-event and smaller event literature, it is argued that new experiments beyond the mega-event itself affected Milan’s transformation and repositioning. In particular, the contribution provides new evidence about the connection between the uncertain planning process for the Universal Exhibition 2015 and the enhancement of historic places in both the host city and region. Furthermore, it discusses Milan’s urban and regional development trends and agendas turning toward leisure tourism and festivalization in this period.

Patterns of specialization and economic complexity through the lens of universal exhibitions, 1855-1900

The complexity of a country's product mix is related to its economic growth. This paper extends this key insight from the economic growth literature to the second half of the 19th century, by reconstructing Revealed Comparative Advantages (RCA) and Economic Complexity Indices (ECI) for tens of polities, including both independent countries and colonies. It does so by exploiting product-polity information from the catalogues of five universal exhibitions, held in Paris in the second half of the 19th century (1855, 1867, 1878, 1889, 1900). For this period, exhibition data are available at a more disaggregated level than export data, on which RCA and ECI are typically based. This is the first application of ECI to the pre-Second World War era. A significant relation is observed between ECI, the level of GDP per capita, and the latter's long-run growth. Furthermore, the evolution of RCA and ECI reveals processes of structural change and economic development, notably the emergence of Germany and Switzerland, which developed along the technological paradigms of the second industrial revolution and thus attained positions of technological and economic primacy.

Exhibiting Coca-Cola at universal exhibitions

ABSTRACT In this article, I will focus on a specific product that has been present in universal exhibitions since the 1930s: Coca-Cola. I will address the evolution of promotional narratives associated with the brand by examining the Coca-Cola exhibits in the world’s fairs from 1933 to 2015. The case of Coca-Cola is itself interesting insofar as it illustrates a number of tendencies since the mid-twentieth century in both the form and content of brand narratives. I will show how these narratives exemplify different versions of “the global” by highlighting industrial production in the 1930’s, international distribution and consumption in Brussels 1958 and New York 1964/65, and sustainable development as well as individual consumer experience in Shanghai 2010 and Milan 2015.

The Agroecological Approach as a Model for Multifunctional Agriculture and Farming towards the European Green Deal 2030—Some Evidence from the Italian Experience

Agroecology can be considered an approach to farming and food systems which integrates the use of ecological principles and biological cycles methods of the traditional systems to the design and management of sustainable agriculture. Despite some differences mainly due to specific national developments on the topic, today there is a substantial convergence in the belief that the term agroecology reconciles three dimensions: scientific discipline, social movement, cultural practice. Beyond the deep-rooted French experience, at the level of the European Union (EU) there is no clear strategy for agroecological practices and action plans. In the Italian case, a first step forward, especially in terms of initiatives, was taken following the universal exhibition “EXPO 2015 Milan” while with respect to the promotion of agroecological practices, some positive feedback is ascribable to the experience of the Bio-districts. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the model adopted by the Italian multifunctional farms can be considered precursory with respect to the approach that, from a theoretical point of view, identifies agroecology. The Italian system on farms diversification would seem to show it has somehow anticipated the new European Green Deal strategy for the next ten years due to the simultaneous presence of key elements that concern not only agricultural practice but also ethical and social aspects by involving farmers and communities that insist on the territory. Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategies recognize a new and important role for the agriculture and agri-food sectors and to invite farmers to engage consumers’ interest. The study also considers some characteristics of the farmers, such as the level of education and the economic sector in which they were employed before devoting themselves to the agritourism business but also the ability to develop multi-actor and multi-level networks. The analysis of these determinants would allow them to place different professional skills at the service of the primary sector that tend to positively influence the organization and farm performance. At the same time, the farmers’ skills are influenced by different sectors of activity such as participation in research projects or even in local initiatives with public and private actors. This allows the agroecological approach to be put into practice in a conscious (or unconscious) way.

¿Un cronista provinciano? Dos textos desconocidos de Rubén Darío en El Orden de Tucumán

Hand in hand with recent theoretical and empirical developments related to the notion of archive, the field of Spanish American Modernism Studies is currently undergoing a stage of profound transformation. The validity in Literary Studies of a “new” philology not only highlights problems in the editions of classical texts from the fin de siècle period, but also invites researchers to review the clichés associated with this movement. In this sense, the case of Rubén Darío (1867-1916), whose texts remain in a state of notable precariousness, is exemplary. This article comments and recovers two unknown chronicles published in El Orden, a local newspaper in the Argentine province of Tucumán, that were written by this author. Besides their evident documental value, these texts, which were conceived at the farewell to his residence in Buenos Aires in 1898, acquire relevance if they are connected to the concerns that Darío will cultivate on his imminent trip to Europe. On one hand, they can be read as yet another episode of Buenosairean “calibanism”; on the other hand, they can be understood as an anticipation of a critical perspective towards the mythification of the concept of progress in the Parisian Universal Exhibition of 1900.

The invention of the Swiss house: engineers, ethnographers and artists to the discovery of the Alpine vernacular construction

“At the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1900, Switzerland presented itself to the world by exhibiting an imaginary synthetic village, making the conflicting features of the various Cantons – which for a few decades gathered under the flag of the Confederation – the founding elements of its national identity. These features were based on the cultural core of the “idem Alpine feeling” defined by the primitive cantons of Alemannic language, Catholic religion, and mountain economy. Not being able to express an authentic image by drawing on the nation’s historicized heritage, the focus is on popular architecture. The Alpine House has built and nurtured a resilient narrated “myth” which, in its architectural form of “chalet” typical of the Bernese Oberland, has helped feed a generalist image of considerable pro-motional and commercial success for Switzerland and its industry. In the twentieth century, during the industrial growth of the nation, campaigns of survey and inventory of the rural and bourgeois “heritage” tried to scientifically systematize the heterogeneous disciplinary approaches that had undertaken the interpretation of the Alpine house in the previous century. Social, economic, and cultural functions are the raison d’être of the vernacular construction and are expressed in the lexicon of typological, constructive, and decorative elements. The specific linguistic and cultural affiliations translate not only into different materials, techniques, and forms of construction but also into different settlement models in the territory. An unwavering mythology has been built and, paradoxically, the national identity has been modelled on the assumption that Germans are “assemblers” of logs, and Latins are “builders” who use stone.”