Volker Barth (ed.)

Innovation and Education at International Exhibitions

Innovation et Education dans les Expositions Internationales

© Bureau International des Expositions 34, avenue d’Iéna, 75116 Paris

Le BIE remercie les auteurs dont les textes figurent dans ce recueil de lui avoir donné l’aimable autorisation de les reproduire. Tous droits de traduction, de reproduction et d’adaptation réservés pour tous pays (à des fins commerciales). La loi du 11 mars 1957 n’autorisant, aux termes des alinéas 2 et 3 de l’article 41, d’une part, que les « copies ou reproductions strictement réservées à l’usage privé du copiste et non destinées à une utilisation collective », et, d’autre part, que les analyses et les courtes citations dans un but d’exemple et d’illustration, « toute représentation ou reproduction intégrale, ou partielle, faite sans le consentement de l’auteur ou des ayants droit ou ayants cause, est illicite » (alinéa 1er de l’article 40). Ne peut être vendu.

Les vues exprimées par les auteurs n’engagent que la pensée de ceux-ci et non les avis et opinions du Bureau International des Expositions. The points of view expressed by the authors represent their way of looking at things and not the opinions or convictions of the International Exhibitions Bureau.

© 2007 Bureau International des Expositions

Préface Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales, Secrétaire Général du Bureau International des Expositions

A l’occasion du 75ème anniversaire du Bureau International des Expositions, le Bulletin du BIE est consacré au thème « Innovation et Education dans les Expos »

L’innovation et l’éducation sont les deux mots clés des Expos, ils révèlent à eux seuls les deux intérêts majeurs des Expos à la fois pour les organisateurs, les participants et le public.

Le but principal des expositions est un but d’enseignement et d’inventaire des moyens dont dispose l’homme pour satisfaire les besoins d’une civilisation en faisant ressortir les progrès réalisés et les perspectives et solutions pour l’avenir.

Depuis Londres 1851 jusqu’à nos jours les Expos ont toujours été les vecteurs privilégiés des innovations comme nous le démontre ici 9 historiens qui ont accepté de contribuer à ce numéro commémoratif du Bulletin en offrant leurs vues internationales.

Au XIXème siècle, les innovations et l’éducation ont trouvé une plate-forme idéale et de grande amplitude car internationale : les Expos. L’éducation est même une classe très spécifique de la classification des expositions internationales. Les participants du monde entier ont bien compris que les Expos étaient à la fois des lieux d’exposition, des lieux d’échanges et de communication et surtout des lieux de promotion nationale.

De nos jours le monde est plus global et les thèmes des Expos le sont aussi, la classification des différentes branches de l’activité humaine visant à faire l’inventaire des progrès réalisés a été remplacée par des concepts globaux et unificateurs. L’Education est plus que jamais à l’ordre du jour et les innovations sont étroitement liées aux programmes de développement durable et de qualité de vie dans les pays du monde entier.

Qu’il s’agisse d’innovations techniques, institutionnelles ou culturelles toutes ont su trouvé leur place et leur sens au cœur des Expos.

M. Nakamura (Expo Aichi 2005), M. Blasco (Expo 2008 Zaragoza) et Prof. Zhou (Expo 2010 Shanghai) nous font de même partager leur point de vue et je les remercie pour leur contribution ainsi que l’ensemble des auteurs.

L’innovation et l’éducation perdureront dans le monde étonnant et captivant des Expos et le BIE s’en assurera toujours afin de perpétuer la qualité, l’intérêt et le succès des Expos.

5 6 Table of content / Sommaire

Vicente Gonzalez Loscertales Préface 5

Volker Barth Présentation 9

Anthony Swift Edification and Pleasure at International Expositions, 15

1851-2005

Volker Barth Technique, politique et spectacle: L’ascenseur 51 hydraulique de M. Édoux

Daniel Hedinger Fighting a Peaceful War: Japan at World Exhibitions in 71 the 1860s and 1870s

Noah W. Sobe Attention and Spectatorship: Educational Exhibits at the 95 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco 1915

Brigitte Schroeder-Gudehus L’éducatif et le mercantile: La convention de 1928, les 117 expositions et les foires

Carlos Martínez Valle Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevilla’s 131 & Eugenia Roldán Vera Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929

Daniela Bambasova Bruxelles, 1958 : La Lanterne magique, un exemple 157 d’innovation audiovisuelle à but éducatif

Laura Huntoon Innovations in the Sustainability of the Built 181 Environment at Lisbon 1998: New Motifs in Educational and Entertainment Programming

Epilogue Innovation & Education of EXPO2005 Aichi, Japan 203 Toshio Nakamura

Expo Zaragoza 2008: Un verger de connaissance et 209 d’innovation Jeronimo Blasco Jauregui

Education and Innovation of Expo 2010 Shanghai China 223 Hanmin Zhou

About the authors 227

7 8 Présentation

Volker Barth

Dès leurs débuts au milieu du XIXe siècle, les expositions universelles ont eu pour vocation de familiariser un public international avec les derniers progrès accomplis dans tous les secteurs de production. L’universalité de ces événements hautement médiatisés devait résulter d’une participation étrangère massive ; les différentes sections nationales faisaient fonction de pièces d’un puzzle dont l’image montrait un monde d’ores et déjà compris comme unité globale. Cette approche délibérément planétaire n’allait pas de soi à un moment où, à la veille de la première globalisation moderne, les continents n’étaient guère liés par des voies de communication, les pays en dehors de l’Europe demeuraient toujours largement inconnus et une grande partie de l’Afrique n’était qu’une tâche blanche sur les cartes des géographes européens.

Au-delà de leur internationalité, les Expos pouvaient prétendre à être universelles puisqu’elles mettait en scène des cultures, certes nationales, mais visiblement à la poursuite d’un même et unique but : l’amélioration et la progression constante dans l’ensemble des activités humaines. Bref, au sein des expositions universelles, les pays participants adhéraient à l’idée de progrès entendue comme force originaire et intrinsèque du développement humain. Les expositions s’engageaient à décrire et mesurer ce progrès de façon objective. Leur tâche consistait en rien de moins qu’à visualiser le progrès pour tous et partout, aussi bien sur le plan technique et scientifique qu’artistique et social.

Avec sa mise en exposition selon ce concept positiviste, chaque objet se transforma en indicateur du progrès universel. Dans ce sens, tous les objets rassemblés devaient nécessairement représenter une innovation dans leur domaine respectif. Après tout, le progrès ne connaît pas de temps mort. Il poursuit son ascension constante et linéaire vers un stade final utopique qu’il ne se préoccupe guère de définir. L’objet nouveau dont les qualités ne dépassent pas celles de son prédécesseur ne peut symboliser le progrès. Il indique, bien au contraire, la maintenance du status quo ennemi juré des expositions universelles.

Ainsi, l’innovation n’est nullement l’exception mais bien la règle au sein des expositions qui nous intéressent ici. Au sein d’une exposition qui, grâce à une participation internationale, se proclame universelle et cherche à prouver l’omniprésence du progrès planétaire, l’innovation ne peut pas non plus se restreindre aux seuls procédés techniques. Elle ne concerne pas que les seules machines dont la place se réduit d’ailleurs au fur et à mesure que les Expos avancent dans le XXe siècle. A l’intérieur de l’exposition, le terme « innovation » se réfère à la réalisation matérielle d’une idée novatrice. Elle désigne une quête d’amélioration et de perfection, les deux espoirs fondamentaux à l’origine de ce concept, ô combien optimiste, qui est le progrès. Selon les expositions, le progrès est partout à l’œuvre ; il imprègne toutes les activités humaines. C’est de lui qu’il s’agit chaque fois qu’un homme essaie de perfectionner son travail, chaque fois qu’il réfléchit à un problème qui n’a pas encore trouvé de solution. Mais attention : si progrès il y a, il ne dépend pas de cet honorable souci du mieux, mais bien de sa réalisation matérielle. Le progrès ne doit pas rester un vœu pieux

9 voire une espérance déçue ; ce n’est pas l’intention qui compte mais bien le résultat. A l’instar des expositions universelles, le progrès est quelque chose de concret. Il se manifeste par le biais d’une nouvelle manière artistique de représenter un paysage tout autant que par l’intermédiaire de la haute technologie. Sans cet objectif global du progrès, les expositions n’auraient jamais pu revendiquer la désignation universelle. Par conséquent, chaque Expo doit comporter d’un très grand nombre d’innovations les plus diverses.

Les expositions universelles montrent un monde réduit à la taille d’un village global ; un monde unifié par des préoccupations et des espérances qui sont les mêmes pour tous. Comme l’idée du progrès prétend que n’importe quel problème va nécessairement trouver sa solution, l’Expo est extrêmement attractive. Par contre, le progrès se montre inflexible sur un point : cette solution est une et indivisible, la perfection qui se dessine à l’horizon sera la même partout. L’universalité ne laisse guère de place aux particularités régionales ou nationales.

Cependant, pour pouvoir progresser dans un futur plus léger et plus facile dans lequel l’homme utilisera le monde à sa guise pour profiter, sans souci des immenses richesses qu’il offre, il est indispensable que le plus grand nombre prenne connaissance des innovations récentes. Le progrès ne peut réserver ses fruits qu’à quelques initiés, il doit les mettre à la disposition de tous. Son ambition et sa portée sont illimitées. C’est précisément la raison pour laquelle le progrès a une connotation morale forte et explicite ; promesse d’un futur meilleur, morale du progrès ces deux aspects signifient clairement l’importance d’œuvrer pour sa réalisation. Le progrès exige que tout le monde s’y implique parce que c’est de cette manière que l’homme remplit son devoir et sa vocation sociale.

Par conséquent, tout le monde doit être au courant des derniers progrès et des innovations ultimes afin de pouvoir participer à leurs nouveaux engendrements. En d’autres termes, l’éducation en tant que communication du stade actuel du progrès, est un ingrédient fondamental ou bien le germe des progrès futurs. L’éducation est la base du progrès ; elle assure son dynamisme en mettant la population à contribution et en l’entraînant dans son sillage.

Les expositions universelles se voulaient les grandes manifestations du progrès, elles cherchaient à y contribuer doublement : d’une part, en collectionnant, rassemblant et systématisant les dernières innovations de toute sorte ; d’autre part, en fournissant d’énormes efforts didactiques et éducatifs dans le but d’informer sur ces innovations un public aussi nombreux que possible sur ces innovations. Depuis leurs origines, les expositions se consacraient à la tâche gigantesque de vulgariser et de populariser l’ensemble des arts, sciences et techniques. Les premières expositions universelles se voulaient explicitement de vastes entreprises d’éducation et, par conséquent, d’importantes contributions au progrès général. Leur universalité concorde avec la conviction ambitieuse de s’adresser à tous et à chacun.

Ainsi, éducation et innovation peuvent être définis comme les deux piliers de ce médium fortement novateur qu’est l’exposition universelle. Très modestement, le présent volume ne veut montrer que quelques fragments de cette histoire longue de 150 ans qui est en train de se poursuivre. La taille

10 des expositions du XIXe et XXe siècle coupe court à toute prétention d’exhaustivité à cet égard. Il ne peut s’agir que des quelques exemples qui ont été choisis avec pour intention principale la sensibilisation des lecteurs à la multitude d’approches, de perspectives et d’interrogations inhérentes au sujet de l’innovation et de l’éducation dans les expositions universelles et chez lesquels, je l’espère, le présent volume contribuera à provoquer, stimuler et engendrer d’avantage l’intérêt.

Comme le montre Anthony Swift dans sa contribution à ce bulletin, qui avec son survol de 150 ans d’histoire des expositions fait guise d’introduction, la relation entre innovation et éducation est aussi symbiotique que contradictoire. L’innovation, surtout si elle n’est pas accompagnée des d’explications complémentaires, est une chose difficile à comprendre. Or, comme chaque exposition relève du domaine éducatif, elle doit choisir des méthodes didactiques susceptibles de faire passer l’information. En même temps, chaque présentation dans un espace public est nécessairement une mise en scène. Elle engendre des formes théâtrales qui risque à tout moment d’éclipser l’effet éducatif recherché. Ainsi les expositions universelles ont été, tout au long de leur histoire, des lieux où la frontière entre éducation et divertissement fut constamment renégociée. Anthony Swift relate cette relation ambivalente en insistant plus particulièrement sur deux points. Premièrement, afin d’attirer les visiteurs, les Expos ont toujours eu tendance à pencher vers des formes de présentation spectaculaires. Le mélange des spectacles les plus divers assurait leur notoriété et les distinguait clairement des musées. Deuxièmement, l’exaltation de l’objet individuel allait pendant très longtemps de pair avec la fête du progrès en général. C’est seulement au seuil du XXIe siècle que les expositions universelles commencèrent à leur tour à interroger le progrès et à mettre en doute ses résultats. Aujourd’hui, les Expos insistent sur le spectacle exceptionnel qu’elles procurent à leur public tout en déplaçant l’accent du progrès planétaire vers la préservation de la planète, de toute évidence mis en péril par une évolution technique en constante accélération.

Sur ce fond des grandes tendances des expositions universelles entre 1851 et 2005, les textes qui suivent illustrent surtout la complexité de la relation entre innovation et éducation.

Avec l’ascenseur hydraulique de Léon Édoux exposé à Paris en 1867, Volker Barth prend l’exemple de la première présentation en France d’une machine qui a changé le monde par la suite. Cet appareil bizarre démontre comment le public s’appropriait les innovations à sa guise surtout quand l’objet en question était mystérieux et de prime abord inintelligible. Bien que l’éducation, en tant que transmission de l’information, ne soit nullement assurée, cette petite partie de l’exposition ne peut être qualifiée d’échec car le public fut non seulement émerveillé par le spectacle, mais il dépassa le vide explicatif en utilisant la machine pour stimuler son imaginaire et pour altérer sa perception. Ici, une des premières Expos montre déjà une capacité qui se révélera décisive pour le succès populaire des expositions universelles et peut-être encore plus décisive pour leur survie dans le siècle actuel : leur qualité comme site d’expérimentation de l’imaginaire et de l’utopique.

Mais pour pouvoir figurer dignement dans ces grands tournois de progrès, chaque pays devait préparer sa section avec soin. Surtout pour des nations qu’on qualifierait aujourd’hui comme étant en développement, cela nécessita d’importants efforts de modernisation avant même de se

11 présenter à l’étranger. Daniel Hedinger nous propose l’exemple du Japon et de sa présence aux expositions dans les années 1860-1870. Il analyse comment l’espoir de pouvoir concurrencer les leaders du monde industriel déclencha le rassemblement et la collection des innovations récentes au niveau national. En même temps l’auteur décrit la quasi impuissance des premières sections japonaises à dépasser les apprioris européens bien en place. Au-delà du XIXe siècle, l’exotisme reste sans doute souvent plus attractif pour l’Occident que l’image d’un pays cherchant à se développer selon des modèles européens. En ce sens, l’article de Daniel Hedinger illustre un dilemme général plus actuel que jamais pour les nations extra-européennes : celui de trouver une troisième voie entre la modernisation à l’occidentale qui fait trop facilement abstraction des traditions plus anciennes et un « exotisme volontaire » au seul service de l’imaginaire de l’Occident.

Noah W. Sobe démontre dans son article que l’approche visuelle fournie, n’est pas seulement décisive pour l’image d’un pays que le public garde dans l’esprit mais aussi pour l’efficacité d’une exposition sur le plan éducatif. Ainsi, la principale question qui se posait aux organisateurs du Panama-Pacific International Exhibition de 1915 à San Francisco fut celle de savoir comment attirer l’attention du public pendant toute la durée de sa visite dans l’ensemble des sections. Selon les responsables à l’aube du XXe siècle, une exposition ne pouvait être à la fois une vision et une contribution au progrès que si les visiteurs gardaient en tête les images qu’elle construisait. La simulation et la stimulation du progrès ne résultaient pas simplement de la présentation du grand nombre d’innovations. Elles dépendaient de l’apprentissage, de l’éducation que le public recevait en regardant, en interrogant et en interagissant avec ses innovations multiples. Noah W. Sobe voit le prototype de ce concept de l’exposition de 1915 dans l’école modèle de Maria Montessori où une façon hautement innovatrice de capturer l’attention des enfants fut mise en scène devant le public adulte afin qu’il l’applique pendant le reste de sa visite.

Les sections dédiées aux différentes méthodes éducatives occupaient depuis 1851 une place de prédilection dans toutes les expositions universelles. Une place centrale légitimée par le sacro-saint trios de ces mouvements internationaux : innovation – éducation – progrès. Or, les expositions universelles ne furent pas les seuls endroits où ces concepts étaient visualisés, négociés et finalement définis. Brigitte Schroeder-Gudehus attire notre attention sur la concurrence grandissante entre Expos et foires qui atteindrait un premier point culminant au début du XXe siècle. Hormis un certain conflit commercial entre les expositions qui avaient fait de l’interdiction de vente un des leurs principes de base et les foires précisément créées dans le but de stimuler le commerce, ce fut la notion d’« éducation » qui devint décisive pour séparer les deux. Bien sûr, les opinions à propos du comment et du pourquoi de l’éducation divergeaient lourdement. Ainsi, une certaine rivalité franco-britannique marqua les négociations avant la création du Bureau International des Expositions à Paris en 1931. Néanmoins, comme l’explique Brigitte Schroeder- Gudehus, l’éducation deviendra l’élément central de la Convention de 1928 pour assurer la survie des Expos au plan international. Désormais l’« éducation » garantissait leur originalité par rapport aux foires, définissait leur identité au sein du mouvement progressiste et fixait à la fois leur façon d’imaginer le monde et la vision du futur qu’elles voulaient fournir.

12 Avant même la création du BIE, l’exposition Ibéro-américaine de Séville en 1929 procurait un autre exemple concernant la place centrale qu’occupent les innovations dans le champ de l’éducation au sein des expositions internationales. Carlos Martínez Valle et Eugenia Roldán Vera présentent la section mexicaine qui, tout comme le Japon du XIXe siècle, nécessitait d’abord un grand effort national pour collectionner et systématiser les objets et les informations susceptibles d’être présenté sur l’autre rive de l’océan atlantique. Avec la perspective de l’exposition de Séville, la réforme éducative entreprise par le Gouvernement du Mexique s’accélérait. Cet exemple illustre une fois de plus combien les Expos sont des plateformes d’échange : non pas d’échange d’objets mais celui infiniment plus important et plus durable des idées, des concepts et des visions du monde. Un bon nombre d’intellectuels espagnols chercha à copier et à appliquer la reforme mexicaine dans leur propre pays. Ainsi, Carlos Martínez Valle et Eugenia Roldán Vera démontrent aussi que l’innovation possède toujours un élément décidément politique. Finalement, un objet est jugé novateur et utile selon les convictions du spectateur, l’objet est alors considéré comme une innovation au sens positif du terme. En Espagne en 1929, l’éducation à la mexicaine se transforma ainsi en moyen de lutte contre la dictature espagnole naissante.

La question de la politique des innovations et des leçons éducatives qui en découlent fut particulièrement virulente lors des expositions tenues pendant la guerre froide. Daniela Bambasova prend l’exemple de la « Lanterne magique » du pavillon tchèque à Bruxelles en 1958. Le régime communiste présenta un spectacle audiovisuel hautement innovateur avec son mélange des formes artistiques les plus diverses dont la popularité assura sa survie, à Prague, jusqu’à aujourd’hui. Or, les directeurs artistiques de ce spectacle furent non seulement des artistes de renommée internationale mais aussi des opposants, plus ou moins ouverts, du régime. La vision idyllique du quotidien communiste qui apparut sur les écrans fut ovationnée par le public qui, contrairement aux attentes des hommes politiques tchèques, n’y décernait aucune propagande. Daniela Bambasova interroge ainsi le mécanisme à l’œuvre dans une innovation technique et artistique dont un public largement composé de ressortissants du bloc de l’ouest fut enthousiasmé précisément parce qu’il faisait abstraction de son message politique intrinsèque.

Laura Huntoon nous emmène avec l’exposition de Lisbonne en 1998 dans le passé récent des expositions universelles. Quarante ans après Bruxelles ’58 qui marqua avec le fameux Atomium l’apogée internationale de la confiance placée dans la technologie nucléaire comme source énergétique du futur, Lisbonne ’98 se distingua par la mise en question de cet optimisme nucléaire et la quête des énergies alternatives. L’exposition s’engageait sur les plans les plus divers, à sensibiliser le public sur les risques que notre civilisation court en abusant sans retenue des ressources naturelles de la planète. En analysant les différentes façons d’adresser cette problématique et les mesures didactiques utilisées pour informer le public, Laura Huntoon s’interroge, entre autres, sur la capacité des structures de divertissement d’une exposition à incorporer sous une forme ludique le message didactique recherché.

Finalement, trois hauts responsables de la dernière exposition tenue et des deux expositions futures déjà programmées nous familiarisent avec les concepts d’innovation et d’éducation

13 appliqués à Aichi 2005, Zaragoza 2008 et Shanghai 2010. On constate que le souci pour le développement durable est désormais le centre de préoccupation des expositions universelles.

Ces dernières contributions illustrent sans ambiguïté la nouvelle vocation des expositions universelles à devenir des acteurs planétaires forts et visibles dans la lutte pour l’environnement. L’optimisme presque illimité que le XIXe siècle plaça dans le progrès a aujourd’hui cédé sa place à un scepticisme grandissant envers l’abus et la destruction massive de la nature. Les expositions resteront les hauts lieux des innovations de toutes sortes et des vitrines globales des progrès techniques et scientifiques. Mais la tâche principale des expositions du XXIe siècle sera de démontrer comment ces progrès pourront s’accorder à long terme avec la responsabilité infiniment plus importante de protéger notre planète. Progrès et préservation ne seront possibles sans des innovations concrètes et l’éducation de l’ensemble de la population sur les très graves risques que l’humanité court si elle n’arrive pas à accorder ces deux objectifs d’une façon acceptable et profitable pour tous.

______

NB : Chaque article est résumé en anglais à la fin de celui-ci. Each article is follow by an abstract in French.

14

Edification and Pleasure at International Expositions, 1851-2005 Anthony Swift

15 16 Edification and Pleasure at International Expositions, 1851-2005 Anthony Swift

Assessing the results of Chicago’s 1933 -34 Century of Progress Exposition, the New York Times s lamented that it had been a show rather than a lesson:

Most of the visitors have taken it much as they would a motion- picture show. Carnival features have been exploited out of all proportion, and the fair is held responsible for the epidemic of naked dancers who have captured even the smallest of country roadhouses. Scientific and industrial exhibits, except in transportation, have not had either the magnitude or originality of the 1893 exposition, and while curiosity has been satisfied and something added to the general knowledge of the millions of visitors, it is doubtful if invention has been stimulated or business Chicago 1933 (education building) efficiency enhanced to any important degree.1

This was not a new complaint. The character of international expositions is both educational and theatrical, and tensions between their virtuous didactic aims and the often sensational displays have always existed.2 The organizing principles of the exhibits and explanatory texts seek to create a comprehensible order that can be easily apprehended, but expositions are also spectacular events that create a virtual world for visitors to temporarily inhabit, one in which visual sensations often appeal to the emotions rather than the intellect. They evolved simultaneously with and share many of the traits of other institutions that promote knowledge, consumption, and pleasure. Technologies of display, education, and entertainment were and are transferred back and forth among expositions, museums, department stores, and amusement parks, all of which impart various forms of knowledge and understanding through display and performance, by bringing together objects and peoples that do no ordinarily exist in the same time and space. 3 Expositions produce didactic narratives by using classification systems that organize knowledge into categories and hierarchies, but they draw the attention of the public and elicit its curiosity by creating spectacles.

Nineteenth-century international expositions were imbued from the start with a strong belief in the possibility of educating the population about industrial techniques and progress by showing them things and processes, but with time their educational purposes began to be

1 McDermott, W. (1934): “Fair’s Aftermath Worrying Chicago”, New York Times, 28 October. 2 International expositions that do not have selling merchandise as their primary aim, and are thus distinct from trade shows, are usually called “world’s fairs” in American English and “international exhibitions” in British English, although “exposition” is also sometimes used. In French they are known as “expositions universelles” or “expositions internationales". Since the 1960s the term “expo” has become fairly standard. The Bureau International des Expositions prefers the term “exposition”, which I will use as a general term except when referring specifically to those that were called “world’s fairs” or “expos”. 3 Harris, N. (1978): “Museums, Merchandising, and Popular Taste: The Struggle for Influence”, in: Quimby, J.: Material Culture and the Study of American Life, New York, 140-178.

17 Edification and Pleasure at International Expositions, 1851-2005 Anthony Swift

overshadowed by the pleasures of the spectacles they purveyed. Beginning with the Paris exposition of 1878, they increasingly offered visitors immersion in a kind of total theater experience in theme areas such as the exotic Cairo Street and the nostalgic Old Paris or ethnic villages that displayed living people form faraway lands in a simulation of their “natural” environment. Modern theme parks, including Japan’s “foreign country villages,” have their roots in the nineteenth-century expositions.4 Timothy Mitchell has argued that by producing the effect of the real world, nineteenth-century expositions taught visitors to apprehend the world as an exhibition. In other words, reality was what could be exhibited.5 By the end of the century, the advent of cinema made it possible to exhibit the illusion of reality as electrification transformed the fairground into a magical landscape of sensation.

After the First World War, the earlier cult of machine-led industrial progress gave way to a cult of scientific progress, rational planning, and consumer technologies. Didactic exhibits that attempted to educate the public about the benefits of science and planning – as well as commercial exhibits that sought to sell consumer goods – began to adopt the strategies of entertainment to convey their messages. Animated, interactive, and audio-visual displays made a visit to an international exposition a technologically-enhanced experience that acted on the senses as much as on the mind, one where people were carried mechanically through displays that moved and talked. The emphasis was on technology’s ability to improve human life, although its social implications also began to receive attention. Large corporations promoted themselves as the bearers of technological progress with lavish displays of mass- produced consumer goods, while the new political ideologies that emerged during the interwar years, communism and fascism, used the expositions to challenge liberal capitalism and demonstrate their own versions of progress. In 1931 the International Bureau of Expositions (BIE) was established, the product of a broad international agreement that there was a need to regulate the frequency and content of international expositions.

In the postwar period, the ideological conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union manifested itself at the expositions through intensely competitive displays of their respective social and technological achievements, centering on the “space race”, a trope that has survived the Cold War and continues to be a fundamental part of each nation’s self- presentation to international audiences. In the 1960s, some expositions began to include exhibits that challenged the complacent belief that technological and scientific progress are synonymous with human progress. Of course, expositions continued to reflect larger cultural and political trends, and postwar anxieties about nuclear war, environmental degeneration, and global poverty gradually entered their lexicon. They have increasingly brought attention

4 Kasson, J. (1978): Amusing the Millions: Coney Island at the Turn of the Century, New York. Nelson, S. (1986): “Walt Disney’s EPCOT and the World’s Fair Performance Tradition”, Drama Review 30, 106-146. Findlay, J. (1992): Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture After 1940, Berkeley. Harris, N. (1997): “Expository Expositions: Preparing for the Theme Parks”, in: Marlin, K. (ed.): Designing Disney’s Theme Park: the Architecture of Reassurance, Paris, 19-28. Hendry, J. (2000): The Orient Strikes Back: A Global View of Cultural Display, Oxford. 5 Mitchell, T. (1989): “The World as an Exhibition”, Comparative Studies in Society and History 31, 217- 236.

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to the negative consequences of technology and mass consumption, in an approach to education that sometimes focuses on critical thinking rather than the delivery of information. At the same time, advances in electronic technologies have created ever more sophisticated visual spectacles as well as new possibilities for interactive displays that are frequently hailed for their educational possibilities but all too often deliver sensation rather than edification. Disney has added a kind of permanent expo in Florida (EPCOT) to its entertainment empire, its techniques imitated in dozens of “little Disneys” around the world. With the advent of possibilities for communication and the exchange of information that were unimaginable even two decades ago, the media increasingly questions whether great international expositions have become dinosaurs, irrelevant in the electronic “global village”. Still, the crowds flock to them, even to those that are deemed “failures” because they do not meet the financial expectations of accountants and politicians. This article examines the dynamic relationship between education and entertainment at international expositions since their inception in 1851.

The Great Exhibition

London 1851

Education was central to the first international exposition, London’s 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations. Indeed, one of the main differences between it and earlier trade fairs was its educational ethos.6 Like the national manufacturing expositions that had been held since the late eighteenth century, as well as the educational exhibitions of mechanical inventions and scientific discoveries sponsored by British mechanics’ institutes beginning in 1834, the Great Exhibition was intended to instruct the broad public. It sought not only to demonstrate to producers the benefits of free trade, to acquaint scientists with new instruments, to bring new raw materials to the attention of industrialists, and to improve industrial design by acquainting manufacturers with foreign products, but also to educate the general population about the technological advances and their benefits.7 To this end, which

6 Kusamitsu, T. (1980): “Great Exhibitions before 1851”, History Workshop 9, 70-89. 7 On the educational agenda of the Great Exhibition, see Auerbach, J. (1999): The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Nation on Display, New Haven, ch. 4. Other recent works on the exhibition include Davis, J.

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reflected the pervasive Victorian belief in improving or “rational” recreations, admission prices were reduced on “shilling days” to attract the artisanal classes.8 Not only were exhibits labeled with explanations and commentary, but several hundred attendants were on hand to explain and demonstrate the workings of machines.9 In short, the exhibition, much like the Encylopédie of the French Enlightenment, aimed to disseminate knowledge in order to change the way people thought. In keeping with the enterprise’s educational spirit, the official three-volume catalog listed nearly every exhibit and contained extensive commentaries and illustrations, while experts’ reports and lectures on the lessons of the exhibition were also published.10

The contents of the Crystal Palace, Joseph Paxton’s path-breaking glass and iron exhibition building, were a mixture of innovation and novelty. The exhibits were classified in four categories—raw materials, machinery, manufactures, and the fine arts—and thirty subcategories. Among the many innovations on display were photography in the French section; a sewing machine, mechanical harvesters, Colt revolvers in the American section; Nasmyth’s giant steam hammer, an electric telegraph, and gas oven in the British section. Exhibits on sanitation and improved housing for the working classes emphasized the ability of industry and technology to improve the quality of everyday life, a theme that would become more prominent at later expositions. For one British commentator, the Great Exhibition was “more of a school than a show,” while a guidebook called it “an industrial encyclopedia”.11 Notwithstanding the exhibition’s educational goals, the physical arrangement of the displays was often random and confusing to the visitors who beheld the vast assortment of machines, models, agricultural produce, and art that filled the Crystal Palace. Exhibits were organized according to their national origin, and only the British section attempted to follow the ordering scheme of the official catalog, which made systematic comparison nearly impossible. A Russian chemistry professor, complaining that eye-catching objects were placed much more conspicuously than those of equal interest but less visual appeal, called the exhibition “a world of chaos”.12 The problem of how to choose among, much less find and comprehend, the multitude of things to see at world’s fairs is one still all too familiar to any expo visitor.

(1999): The Great Exhibition, London. Purbrick, L. (ed.) (2001): The Great Exhibition of 1851: New Interdisciplinary Essays, Manchester. Bosbach, F./Davis, J. (eds.) (2002): Die Weltausstellung von 1851 und ihre Folgen, Munich. 8 See Bailey, P. (1978): Leisure and Class in Victorian England: Rational Recreation and the Contest for Control, 1830-1885, London. 9 Royal Commission for the Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (1852), First Report, London, Appendix, 8. 10 The Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of 1851 (1851), 3 vol., London. Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition, Delivered before the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, at the Suggestion of H.R.H.Prince Albert (1852-53), 3 vol., London. Reports by the Juries on the Subjects in the Thirty Classes into which the Exhibition was Divided (1852), London. 11 Mahew / Cruikshank (1851), 160-161; Tallis, J. (1852): Tallis’s History and Description of the Crystal Palace, and the Exhibition of the World’s Industry in 1851, vol. 1, London, 314. 12 Kittary, M. (1851): Londonskaia vsemirnaia vystavka. Dnevnik russkogo puteshestvennika, St. Petersburg, 31-32. For similar comments see The Times, 04.06.1851. Thompson, Z. (1852): Journal of a Trip to London, Paris, and the Great Exhibition of 1851, Burlington (Vt.), 99.

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The Great Exhibition was a great spectacle as well as a learning experience, for it contained many items whose main purpose was to amaze and delight the crowds. The sensations of the exhibition included the Koh-i-noor diamond, the queen of Spain’s jewels, giant malachite doors from Russia, a collection of stuffed animals from Württemberg, and a crystal fountain in which flowed eau de cologne. A recreation of a Gothic medieval court, hardly a testament to the age of steam, stood near the center of the Crystal Palace. Edification and entertainment went hand in hand in the section devoted to working machinery, where the public could witness the manufacturing processes by which raw materials were transformed into finished articles. Visitors crowded around protective iron railings to see cotton made into cloth, newspapers printed, and medals stamped in a noisy demonstration of mechanized production.13 The spectacle2x of machines in action was an esthetic pleasure – the sight of the locomotives led an American observer to exclaim: “Oh how I like to look upon those mighty iron arms heaving up and down or moving backwards and forwards at every heave of the steam giant’s breast.”14 In keeping with the emphasis on education and self- improvement, however, low-brow entertainments were kept out.

Of course, the exhibition did not merely educate the public about the benefits of new technologies and scientific innovations. Like the expositions that followed, it also celebrated nationalism and empire, and suggested that Europeans had attained a higher level of civilization than other peoples.15 According to Thomas Richards, the exhibition advanced a middle-class vision of a commodity culture and gave birth to modern advertising practices.16 Tony Bennett argues that the Great Exhibition, together with the public museums and department stores that appeared in the mid-nineteenth century, was part of an emerging “exhibitionary complex” that disciplined the crowd by exposing it to the improving influence of middle-class culture and enlisted the working classes in the project of progress. While it is unclear whether the Great Exhibition disciplined working-class visitors (contemporary accounts invariably emphasize the orderliness of the crowds that flocked to see the Crystal Palace, suggesting that they may have learned their manners elsewhere), Bennett contributes a valuable insight into the hegemonic function of this and later expositions in cultivating popular identification with the ideology of progress and its promise that advances in science and technology would provide solutions to social problems. Public exhibitions were, among other things, noncoercive exercises in the social power to organize knowledge and

13 The drawing power of the machinery in motion is described in many accounts. See, for example, Mahew / Cruikshank (1851): 1851; or, the Adventures of Mr. and Mrs. Sandboys and Family who came to London to ‘Enjoy Themselves’ and to see the Great Exhibition, London,160-1. 14 Scientific American 6 (1851), 31 May, 290. 15 Grennhalgh, P. (1988): Ephemeral Vistas: The Expositions Universelles, Great Exhibitions and World’s Fairs, 1851-1939, Manchester, 52-81, 112-41. 16 Richards, T. (1990): The Commodity Culture of Victorian England: Advertising and Spectacle, 1851– 1914, Stanford, 17–72.

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manufacture consent, in which education and art overlapped with propaganda and advertising.17

It is important to recognize, however, that this social power was not entirely directed or controlled by the state or commercial elites. International expositions were and are shaped by diverse forces within civil society – business leaders, community organizations, cultural elites, and entrepreneurial entertainers. Nor were their ideological messages always accepted by the gullible masses. During the Great Exhibition, for example, working-class publications challenged its vision of industrial progress, arguing that workers were excluded.18 While ideologies and their disseminators have received the most scholarly attention, visitors’ responses to exhibitions are equally important if we are to understand their impact.19 It is worth remembering, too, that international expositions have attracted their fair share of critics, and that the organizers have seldom had the last word.20

International Expositions before the First World War

The Great Exhibition and its Crystal Palace soon spawned imitations, leading to a succession of international expositions, each vying to be bigger and better than the last. Major expositions were held in Paris (1855, 1867, 1878, 1889, 1900), London (1862, 1871-74), Vienna (1873), Philadelphia (1876), Chicago (1893), Brussels (1897, 1910), and St. Louis (1904), as well as dozens of smaller ones in Europe, the Americas, Australia, and Asia. They celebrated international peace, national events, commerce, and progress, but education was invariably cited as a primary reason for vast expenditures that not infrequently failed to result in the anticipated financial returns. Delegations of workers attended the expositions to take in the technological and moral lessons on offer, on trips often arranged by their factories or governments. The loudly proclaimed educational benefits of expositions co-existed with the need to attract sufficient numbers of visitors to make the events financially viable, and an increasing variety of popular entertainments found a place on the exhibition grounds along with the didactic displays. As Antonin Proust, one of the planners of Paris’s 1889 exposition universelle, noted, it was vital to “offer visitors an ensemble of suitable diversions to attract

17 Bennett, T. (1988): “The Exhibitionary Complex”, New Formations 4, 73-102. See also Yengoyan, A. (1994): “Culture, Ideology and World’s Fairs”, in: Rydell, R. W. / Gwinn, N.E. (eds.): Fair Representations: Fairs and the Modern World, Amsterdam, 62-83. 18 Gurney, P. (2001): “An Appropriated Space: The Great Exhibition, the Crystal Palace and the Working Class”, in: Purbrick, 118-122. 19 Among the handful of studies that focus on visitors’ experiences rather than the objectives of exhibition organizers are Benedict, B. (1994): “Rituals of Representation: Ethnic Stereotypes and Colonized Peoples at World’s Fairs”, in: Rydell / Gwinn, 28-61. Clevenger, M. (ed.) (1996): Indescribably Grand: Diaries and Letters from the 1904 World’s Fair, St. Louis. Walden, K. (1997): Becoming Modern in Toronto: The Industrial Exhibition and the Shaping of a Late Victorian Culture, Toronto. Niquette, M. / Buxton, W. (1997): “Meet Me at the Fair: Sociability and Reflexivity in Nineteenth-Century World Expositions”, Canadian Journal of Communications 22, 81-113. 20 Even a brief perusal of the voluminous commentary on expositions reveals that they have always provoked dissent. Karl Marx, Charles Dickens, Théophile Gautier, Ida B. Wells, Henry Adams, and Walter Benjamin are among their best-known critics.

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them and keep them there.”21 By the end of the nineteenth century it seemed as though the public’s desire for ever more sophisticated spectacles had overwhelmed exhibition organizers’ lofty aims for moral and intellectual instruction. Advances in display technologies fused entertainment and enlightenment into an experience of “infotainment” orchestrated through the magic of electricity.

Paris’s 1867 exposition universelle was one of the most ambitious nineteenth-century attempts to create an educational exposition. The commissioner general, Frédéric Le Play, broke with the organizational principle established at the Crystal Palace, where exhibits were arranged along national lines and the participating nations were free to organize their displays as they chose. Le Play asked each nation to order its exhibits according to the exhibition’s official categories so that they could be placed alongside those of other countries to facilitate comparison of like objects. The elliptical main exhibition hall, designed by the engineer Jean-Baptiste Krantz, was composed of a series of seven concentric rings, with a large Gallery of Machines located in the sixth ring. Each nation’s industrial products were arranged along lines radiating from the center and intersecting the concentric bands. The classification system aimed to present a complete picture of human activity throughout the world from prehistoric times to the present.22 Another of Le Play’s innovations was the use of thematic displays. A section devoted to the “History of Work” placed the entire exposition in a historical and evolutionary perspective, constructing a narrative of material progress led by European civilization and creating the illusion that scientific knowledge could order and control the world.23 The innovations displayed in 1867 included the ball-bearing, distilled petroleum, an electric dynamo, a rocking chair, artificial limbs, a gigantic Krupp cannon, a working model of the Suez Canal, and a hydraulic elevator that carried fairgoers to the top of the main building for a view of the exhibition grounds and the city.24 Daily demonstrations of new diving equipment showed the public that men could remain underwater for several hours in an iron tank.25 Jules Verne incorporated some of the inventions he saw at the exposition in his 1870 novel Twenty-Thousand Leagues under the Sea. As at the previous three international expositions, one of the star attractions was the Gallery of Machines, a veritable encyclopedia of technology that made technical and human progress synonymous as well as a potent symbol of humanity’s newfound power to subjugate the natural world.26

21 Cited in Rebérioux, M. (1983): “Les ouvriers et les expositions universelles de Paris au XIXe siècle”, in: Le livre des expositions universelles 1851-1989, Paris, 201. 22 Le Play, F. / La Commission Impériale (1869): Rapport sur l’Exposition Universelle de 1867 à Paris, Paris, 5-16, Appendix 5. Blake, W. (ed.) (1870): Report of the United States Commissioners to the Paris Exposition 1867, vol. 1, Washington, 13. Le Play’s organizational principles were not subsequently adopted in other countries, although they were used at the 1878 Paris exhibition. 23 De Lasteyrie, F. (1867): L'Histoire du travail à l'Exposition universelle, Paris. 24 See Volker Barth’s article in this volume. 25 Gautier, H. (1867): Les curiosités de l’Exposition Universelle, 1867, Paris. 26 Callon, C. / Kohn, F. (1867): Exposition universelle de 1867 à Paris. Rapports du jury international, publiés sous la direction de M. Michel Chevalier. Machines, instruments et procédés usités dans divers travaux, Paris.

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The exposition had a social emphasis, too. The 1855 exposition had included a display of inexpensive domestic products, and in 1867 the concept was expanded and made one of the ten classification categories, Group Ten – “Objects specially exhibited to improve the physical and moral condition of the population,” which comprised articles whose purpose was to improve the physical and moral conditions of the lower classes. This category reflected both the influence of the Saint-Simonian idea that industrial progress should benefit to all classes as well as Napoleon III’s self-styled role as protector of the working classes.27 There were exhibits devoted to education, libraries, clothing, furniture, kitchen implements, and food products as well as examples of low-cost housing for workers, including a “house for 3000 francs”.28 It is unlikely, however, that these paternalistic displays had the desired effect on their intended audience. The state-subsidized worker delegations to the exposition had a great deal to say in their reports about the importance of the right to form unions and their mistreatment by employers, but virtually ignored the exhibits organized for their benefit.29

The innovations at the 1867 exposition were not only technological or conceptual. It introduced an exhibition layout that revolutionized the look of world’s fairs. The first international exposition to incorporate separate national pavilions in diverse styles, international restaurants, two aquariums, and sideshows, it occupied a large park created on the Champ de Mars, with a separate agricultural section located on the Ile de Billancourt. Among the structures dotting the exhibition grounds and infusing them with a festive atmosphere were picturesque Austrian chalets,, Mexican and Egyptian temples, a Japanese bamboo house , a Tunisian palace, and a British cottage. The public could learn about American education in an Illinois schoolhouse.30 It was also the first exposition to remain open in the evening, thanks to gas lighting, and to include non-European peoples as part of the exhibits, such as the Egyptian bazaar with its native craftsmen and camel attendants. A transportation system consisting of excursion boats, or bateaux mouches, enabled fairgoers to do a bit of sightseeing on the river Seine on their way to the agricultural exhibits.31 The educational and social ideals of Le Play notwithstanding, pleasure and diversion were essential components of the 1867 exposition, which some commentators found too much like a fairground or bazaar. The “great vice” of the exposition, according to Victor Fournel, was that its many amusements and spectacles dazzled the eye instead of appealing to the mind, distracting the crowds from any thought of serious study of the exhibits.32

27 On Saint-Simonian influence on French expositions, see Hermann, T. (2000): “L’Exposition universelle, un reflet de la philosophie saint-simonienne”, in: Mabire, J.-C. (ed.): L’exposition universelle de 1900, Paris, 105-36. 28Ducuing, F. (ed.) (1867): L’Exposition Universelle de 1867 Illustrée, Paris, vol. 1, 85, 146-7, 174-5. Sellali, A. (2005): “Les habitations à bon marché”, in: Les Expositions universelles à Paris de 1855 à 1937, Paris, 73-6. 29 Rancière, J. / Vauday (1988): “Going to the Expo: The Worker, His Wife and Machines“, in: Rifkin, A. / Thomas, R. (eds.): Voices of the People: The Social Life of “La Sociale“ at the End of the Second Empire, London, 23-44. Rebérioux (1983), 206-7. 30 Guide officiel à l’Exposition universelle de 1867 (1867), Paris, 111-4. 31 Ducuing, vol. 1, 24-5. 32 Fournel, V. (1867): “Voyage à travers l’exposition”, Le Correspondant, 25 July.

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From the1880s specialized international industrial and trade exhibitions, such as Paris’s 1881 International Exposition of Electricity, became increasingly important venues for the presentation of new technologies and products to commercial customers and distributors. The great world’s fairs and international expositions, however, continued to address their displays to both the general public

and specialists, instructing visitors about the Paris 1889 workings of steam engines, electric dynamos, and the processes of production, as well as astonishing them with feats of engineering such as the 1889 exposition’s 300-meter Eiffel Tower. The expositions also directed growing attention to non-technical education and the concept of social progress. In 1873 the Vienna exposition introduced new exhibition categories such as medicine, the living conditions of the common people, and women’s and children’s education. The Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 and the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893 devoted entire pavilions to the achievements of women in the arts, sciences, and humanities, and a number of other expositions had women’s sections, which often reiterated traditional views of female domesticity but also challenged assumptions about women’s place in the public sphere.33 To the earlier exhibits of low-cost housing and consumer goods were added exhibits on public health issues. At the 1889 exposition, where a large section was dedicated to social economy and hygiene, the city of Paris conceived a remarkable didactic demonstration consisting of two physically identical buildings, the “maison salubre” and “maison insalubre,” in order to illustrate the fundamentals of good hygiene and sanitation.34 The 1878 Paris exposition organized a series of congresses on scientific and social issues, one of which debated the rights of women and their role in society, while another adopted Braille as the international system of touch reading. National and international academic conferences on important contemporary issues had become a standard component of the major international expositions by the end of the nineteenth century and greatly facilitated the exchange of ideas and knowledge.35 At the 1900 Paris exposition, for example, some 127 congresses were held on subjects including medicine, public health, and education for the disabled.36

Anthropological displays, which were ostensibly educational but did more to reinforce existing prejudices and justify colonialism than to enlighten, were a prominent feature of expositions

33 Sirk, L. (1990): “Vienna 1873”, in: Findling, J. / Pelle, K. (eds.): Historical Dictionary of World’s Fairs and Exhibitions, New York, 51. Paine, J. (1976): “The Women’s Pavilion of 1876”, Feminist Art Journal 4, 5-12. Weimann, J. (1981): The Fair Women, Chicago. Sear, M. (2002): “Fair Women’s Worlds: Feminism and World’s Fairs 1876-1908”, in: Barth, V. (ed.): Identity and Universality. A commemoration of 150 years of Universal Exhibitions, Paris, 19-34. 34 Havard, L. (1890): La maison salubre et la maison insalubre à l’Exposition universelle de 1889: étude sur l’exposition du service de l’assainissement, Paris. 35 Fuchs, E. (1996): “Wissenschaft, Kongressbewegung und Westausstellungen: Zu den Anfängen der Wissenschaftsinternationale vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg“, Comparativ 6, 157-78. 36 Rapport general sur les congrès de l’Exposition (1906), Paris.

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in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, as were commercial sideshows exhibiting “ethnic villages” populated by colonial peoples and native Americans. Of course, colonial displays had been an important presence at expositions since the Great Exhibition. One of the star attractions of the 1878 exposition was the “Street of Cairo”, a collection of shops and a bazaar where North Africans served visitors in a meticulous recreation of an Egyptian street.37 The “Street of Cairo” was such a success that it reappeared in 1889 with “Egyptian” belly dancers and was a feature at virtually every international exposition until the First World War, emulated to some extent by no less exotic historically-themed attractions such as “Old Paris”, “Old Brussels”, and even “Old St. Louis”, in which visitors could experience the illusion of stepping back in time. In 1883, Amsterdam’s International Colonial and Trade Exposition became the first exposition to make empire its focus and to include replicas of villages that were inhabited by colonial peoples.38 Although peoples of other cultures had long been exhibited in Europe and the United States, the international expositions added a scientific gloss to such displays.39 The objects exhibited at the 1878 and 1893 expositions became the basis of permanent anthropological museums in Paris and Chicago, a testament to their perceived educational qualities.40 A combination of science and sensationalism, decontextualized exhibits of non-European cultures and peoples provided a vivid contrast with the advanced technologies on display; a contrast that seemed to justify western civilization’s claim to superiority and its colonial projects. At the same time, however, the popularity of both ethnic villages and historical recreations of European and American cityscapes suggests that there was also some degree of nostalgic fascination with the pre- industrial past.

At the 1904 St. Louis Louisiana Purchase International Exposition, the United States government countered criticism of its decision to annex the Philippines by sponsoring a “Philippine Reservation” where, in addition to historical, cultural, and economic exhibits, visitors could see nearly 1200 inhabitants of the recently acquired colony and the efforts being made to enlighten

St Louis 1904 them. Native Filipino peoples were grouped

37 Mitchell (1989), 217-36. Çelik, Z. / Kinney, L. (1990): “Ethnography and Exhibitionism at the Expositions Universelles”, Assemblages 13, 35-59. 38 Bloembergen, M. (2006): Colonial Spectacles: The Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies at the World Exhibitions, 1880-1931, Singapore, 50-105. 39 The development of anthropological human exhibits at world’s fairs parallels a change in commercial human exhibits, which began in the 1870s to emphasize their scientific and educational credentials. See Dreesbach, A. (2005): Gezähmte Wilde: die Zurschaustellung “exotischer” Menschen in Deutschland 1870-1940, Frankfurt, 48-49. Sibeud, E. (2002): Une Science Impériale pour l’Afrique? La Construction des Savoirs Africainistes en France, 1878-1930, Paris. Bergougniou, J-M. / Clignet, R. / David, P. (2001): “Villages Noires” et visiteurs africains et malgaches en France et Europe (1870-1940), Paris. 40 Greenhalgh (1988), 82-111. Rydell, R. (1984): All the World’s A Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916, Chicago, 55-68, 111-25, 137-50, 160-83. Pradel de Grandry, M.-N (1983): “Découverte des civilizations dans l’espace et dans le temps”, in: Le livre des expositions universelles, 289-96.

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according to contemporary anthropological categories on the basis of their supposed stage of civilization. The ostensibly progressive influence of American rule was demonstrated by a school in which “savage” tribes could be observed receiving instruction. Philippine Scouts and Constables at the exhibition served as a foil to the semi-naked, dog-eating Igorots and as proof of what benign tutelage could potentially achieve. The message was that unlike the former colonial ruler, Spain, the United States was accomplishing a mission of bringing civilization and progress to the primitive islanders. The lesson was undermined to some extent, however, by the excessive attention the press and the public focused on the Igorots’ loincloths and dietary practices. The fairground environment blurred the distinction between the educational and the sensational. In addition to the extremely popular Philippine Reservation, the exposition contained over a dozen commercial theme villages that beckoned to fairgoers, who seem to have often viewed the Reservation as simply another titillating experience that confirmed their existing stereotypes about “savage” peoples.41 In effect, the Philippine exhibition became a blend of education, propaganda, and voyeurism.

The development of electrical power and the technologies dependent on it had a major impact on the expositions and their representational strategies during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Until the 1870s, they sought to educate largely through displays of static objects and working machinery. Unlike steam technology, which the eye could see and operated according to relatively easily understood principles, electricity was an invisible source of power, mysterious and magical. Increasingly, only specialists could comprehend the workings of industrial machines, and the public’s attention was instead captured by technologies that transmitted sound or light and by sideshows that employed the same technologies to produce simulated environments. Some critics claimed that degenerate pleasure, not instruction, had become the expositions’ main purpose. The noted economist Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, for example, contended in 1895 that expositions had lost the pedagogical ethos of 1867; instead of furthering technical education and progress they merely satisfied the multitude‘s taste for “disgusting amusement”.42

Beginning with Alexander Bell’s public demonstration of the telephone at Philadelphia in 1876, the cult of the machine was gradually eclipsed by the cult of electricity and the marvels it made possible. The inventors of electrical technologies were hailed as geniuses and heroes, their inventions celebrated for their promise to transform everyday life. In 1878 Thomas

41 Kramer, P. (1999): “Making Concessions: Race and Empire Revisited at the Philippine Exposition, 1901-1905”, Radical History Review 73, 74-114. AFABLE, P. (1997): “The Exhibition of Cordillerans in the United States during the Early 1900's”, The Igorot Quarterly 6, 19-22. Clevenger, M. (1996): “Through Western Eyes: Americans Encounter Asians at the Fair”, Gateway Heritage 17, 42-51. Macmechen, T. (1904): The Pike, St. Louis. In his study of the reception of representations of Fiji islanders at international exhibitions Ewan Johnson convincingly shows that, irrespective of the varied intentions of display organizers, visitors “saw what they wanted and, in so doing, reconfirmed their ‘knowledge’ of Fiji.” Johnson’s argument has obvious implications for our understanding of the public’s reception of exhibits of foreign cultures. See Johnson, E. (2005): “Reinventing Fiji at 19th-Century and Early 20th-Century Exhibitions”, The Journal of Pacific History 40, 23-44. 42 Leroy-Beaulieu, P. (1895): “Les grands inconvénients des foires universelles et la nécessité d’y renoncer”, Économiste français 7 (December), 731.

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Edison amazed Paris fairgoers with his phonograph and by lighting the Avenue de l’Opera with electricity, and he was feted as the “king of light” in 1889, where all 493 of his inventions were on display. From the 1880s onward, ever more elaborate electric light shows were an important feature of expositions. Illuminated fountains were a sensation in 1889, while in 1900 spotlights shot powerful beams of electric light into the skies over Paris. Electricity not only illuminated expositions and created spectacles, but was also harnessed to the purpose of display. Initially buildings were lit up, then their interior spaces, and by 1900 electricity was being used for multimedia productions. In addition, it moved visitors’ bodies through space. At the Gallery of Machines in 1889 one could view the humming machinery from moving platforms suspended above; in 1893 Chicago’s giant Ferris Wheel afforded a vista of the entire fairgrounds and the city beyond. Moving sidewalks were employed in 1893 and 1900 to transport visitors around the exhibition grounds. At the Chicago Columbian Exposition electricity first gained its own pavilion, where the Tower of Light beckoned fairgoers to an educational exhibit on the manufacture of electric lights.43

Science soon cloaked itself in fantasy, offering more illusion than edification. Rather than instructing the public, it was more often used to make magic at the Paris world’s fair of 1900 and its successors. If for Paul Morand electricity was “the plague and the religion of 1900”, it was also a “fairy” that possessed miraculous powers to produce phantasmagoria.44 The ten projectors and 360-degree screen of the Cinéorama took visitors on an aerial voyage across Europe, the Maréorama offered a Mediterranean cruise that simulated the sights, smells, and motion of sea travel, while Loie Fuller was a big hit with dance

performances in which she employed colored lights and electric Paris 1900 arc lamps. The Gallery of Machines, one of the engineering marvels of the 1889 exposition, was now used as a hall for the projection of films, while the Eiffel Tower sparkled with thousands of incandescent lights in seeming recognition that the wonders of electricity were the new lords of the show.45 As in Chicago seven years earlier, the largest piece of machinery at the 1900 exposition was a Ferris Wheel – technology at the service of pleasure. To be sure, technological innovations such as the x-ray, a wireless magnetic recorder, and electrically-powered automobiles were on display and the ten classification categories included “instruction and education” and “social economy, hygiene, and social assistance”. In the latter category was W.E.B. DuBois’s “Exhibit of American Negroes”, which refuted racial stereotypes with a collection of materials on African-American

43 Nye, D. (1994): “Electrifying Exhibitions, 1880-1939”, in: Rydell / Gwinn, 140-56. Beauchamp, K. (1997): Exhibiting Electricity, London, 125-57, 181-91. 44 Morand, P. (1900): 1900, Paris, 68-9. 45 On the 1900 Exposition universelle, see Mandell, R. (1967): Paris 1900: The Great World’s Fair, Toronto. The Gallery of Machines spanned more than 100 meters without internal supports. More than the Eiffel Tower, which was based on techniques long applied in railway and bridge construction, it represented the pinnacle of contemporary engineering. See Stamper, J. (1989): “The Gallery of Machines of the 1889 Paris World’s Fair”, Technology and Culture 30, 330-53.

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history, literature, and education.46 Yet the exposition was as much a city of dreams and illusions as an educational experience. The American historian Henry Adams, overwhelmed by the multitude of sights and sensations of the fair, described himself as “aching to absorb knowledge and helpless to find it”, while a French critic condemned the exposition for amusing the public rather than teaching it about science and technology.47

Notwithstanding such criticisms, later echoed in the work of mass-culture theorists, edification did not surrender to amusement entirely.48 Rather, the two existed in symbiosis. When, following Omaha’s 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, local businessmen and concessionaires opened its highly profitable amusement zone for a second season, the sideshows alone failed to attract sufficient visitors and the venture collapsed. As David Nasaw observes, “too many fairgoers believed in the balanced meal approach to pleasure: they abjured the ‘sweets’ along the midway until they had dutifully filled up with the main courses offered in ‘The Little City of the Beautiful’.”49 San Francisco’s 1915 Panama- Pacific Exposition, the last in the tradition of the nineteenth-century expositions, was an arsenal of the latest technologies of entertainment, with hour-long light shows and a “Joy Zone” with extensive attractions that included a five-acre working model of the recently- completed Panama Canal, in which moving seats carried visitors as they listened to recorded explanations from telephone receivers.50 Such audio-visual rides were to become a regular part of corporate pavilions after the war. Lest it be too readily assumed that San Francisco fairgoers were entirely seduced by the plethora of amusements and high-tech displays, however, it is worth noting that a study of visitors’ response to the exposition has made a strong case that most people were “intent on self-improvement”.51

Between the Wars, 1918-39

The expositions of the interwar years continued to preach the gospel of industrial progress, but they also manifested a new interest in the popularization of science and put more emphasis on social and cultural themes. The educational purpose of expositions was underlined in the 1928 international convention that established the International Exhibition Bureau (BIE) to regulate their frequency and scope.52 Antwerp’s 1930 International Colonial,

46 Dubois, W. (1900): "The American Negro at Paris", The American Monthly Review of Reviews, 22, November, 575-7. 47Adams, H. (1918): The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography, Boston, 379. Lair, M. (1901): “Après l’Exposition”, La Réforme Sociale 1 (February). 48 On expositions as products of the industry of mass culture, see Horkheimer, M / Adorno, T. (1972): “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”, in: Dialectic of Enlightenment, New York, 120- 67. Benjamin, W. (1970): “Paris, Capital of the Nineteenth Century”, Dissent 17, 442-3. 49 Nasaw, D. (1993): Going Out: The Rise and Fall of Public Amusements, New York, 69. 50 Benedict, B. (1990): “San Francisco 1915: Panama Pacific International Exposition”, in: Findling, J. / Pelle, K. (eds.): Historical Dictionary of World’s Fairs and Exhibitions, New York, 219-26. 51 Staar, G. (1983): “Truth Unveiled: The Panama Pacific International Exposition and its Interpreters”, in: Benedict, B. (ed.): The Anthropology of World’s Fairs: San Franciso’s Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, Berkeley, 156. 52 See the article by Brigitte Schroeder-Gudehus in this volume.

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Maritime, and Flemish Art Exposition and the Paris International Colonial Exposition of 1931, like the more insular British colonial exhibitions held in London (1924-25), Johannesburg (1936), and Glasgow (1938), celebrated empire much as had previous expositions, seeking to convince the public that colonies offered economic advantages and possibilities to the metropole. Science, however, was given pride of place at the expositions held in Chicago (1933-34), Paris (1937), and New York (1939-40), all of which emphasized its role in improving human well-being.53 The classification systems and theme zones of the 1930s reflected a growing anxiety – predating but exacerbated by the massive unemployment of the era – about the social implications of science and technology. The great machine halls vanished, to be replaced by thematic and corporate pavilions that sought to instill optimism about the future by employing entertainment technologies and advertising techniques to demonstrate how scientific and material progress could make life better. The encyclopedic organizing principles of nineteenth-century expositions, which had aimed to present a universalistic vision of progress, gave way in the twentieth century to more selective and particularistic concepts that reflected shifting contemporary concerns.

The aim of Chicago’s Century of Progress Exposition was to "attempt to demonstrate to an international audience the nature and significance of scientific discoveries, the methods of achieving them, and the changes which their application has wrought in industry and in living conditions."54 The main theme of the exposition was progress through science. Accordingly, the Hall of Science was its largest structure. In keeping with its accent on science, the exposition eschewed eclectic, historicist architecture and followed the example of recent world’s fairs by adopting the principle of modern and functional design, with decoration confined to color, illumination, and assorted towers and pylons. The National Research Council, representing the various fields of science, created a Scientific Advisory Committee to assist in putting together the exhibits of basic science and its principles. Visitors were encouraged to understand that the various branches of science were interdependent and that science achieved results through the experimental method. Among the multitude of educational exhibits were an explanation of the mathematical principles of the law of supply and demand, a massive periodic table, and displays on human evolution. The medical exhibits included a “Transparent Man” with visible organs, an idea copied at other 1930s expositions.55

Exhibits of applied science and industry were contributed by the participating corporations, who, in keeping with the fair’s educational emphasis, were instructed to focus on the

53 On scientific exhibits at the 1930s expositions, see Schroeder-Gudehus, B. / Rasmussen, A. (1988): “La science à tout faire: A propos des representations scientifiques et techniques dans les expositions universelles”, Protée 16 (Autumn), 49-56. 54 A Century of Progress Chicago International Exposition of 1933. Statement of its Plan and Purposes and of the Relation of States and Foreign Governments to Them (1933), Chicago. 55 Dacy, G. (1933): “Uncle Sam’s Scientists Display Their Contribution to Progress at Great World’s Fair”, Popular Science Monthly 122 (June), 9-11, 95. “Science at the Century of Progress Exposition in 1934” (1934), Scientific Monthly 39 (November), 475-8. For a general account of the exposition, see Findling, J. (1994): Chicago’s Great World’s Fairs, Manchester, 43-144.

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presentation of production processes rather than on finished products. As is so often the case at expositions, not all exhibitors followed the guidelines, but General Motors presented an automobile assembly line, Firestone demonstrated how tires are manufactured, while in the General Exhibits Building a machine produced souvenir cans for visitors. The Electrical Group Building contained an illuminated diorama entitled “Electricity at Work” that explained the varied uses of electricity. A Westinghouse exhibit not only displayed and explained, but interacted with visitors, offering them the opportunity to operate an X-ray machine and see the bones of their hands. Bell Telephone Company also went beyond mere display and gave fairgoers the chance to make free long-distance calls while others listened on receivers – a show that made the audience part of the performance.56 Naturally, the exposition had an amusement section with the usual assortment of sideshows, some of which attempted to adhere to its educational ethos, such as “The World of a Million Years Ago”, which featured animated dinosaurs and other animals in dioramas created with the assistance of the New York Museum of Natural History. Other entertainments, in a well-established tradition, catered to more puerile interests with dance performances by nearly nude women. The “rocket cars” of the Sky-Ride, which carried visitors from one side of the exposition to the other, made transportation into a sightseeing experience.57

Outside the entrance to the Science Hall stood a sculpture of “Science Advancing Mankind”, a large robot pushing forward a man and a woman. It aptly symbolized the exposition’s motto: “Science Finds – Industry Applies – Man Conforms”.58 In other words, humanity would have to adjust to an environment increasingly dominated by technology. Improvements in transport, communications, and medicine, together with an abundance of new consumer products, seemed to promise that the process of adjustment would not be too arduous. The Century of Progress Exposition did make an effort to reflect on the social implications of technological progress in the Hall of Social Sciences, but as one of the academics responsible for the exhibits admitted, they failed to offer “a really comprehensive measure and exhibit of social science progress”.59 Still, the Chicago world’s fair was an innovative attempt to integrate the popularization of scientific understanding into its celebration of industrial technology and consumer products, even if not everyone was convinced that the past century had really been one of progress for American workers.60

56 Rydell, R. (1993): World of Fairs: The Century-of-Progress Expositions, Chicago, 124-7. 57 Owings, N. (1933): “Amusement Features of the Exposition”, Architectural Record 73 (May), 355-62. Findling (1994), 118-32. 58 Official Guide Book of the Fair 1933 (1933), Chicago, 11. 59 Odum, H. (1933): “Notes on Recent Trends in the Application of the Social Sciences”, Social Forces 11 (May), 483. 60 Hutchinson, P. (1933): “Progress on Parade”, Forum 89 (June), 370-4.

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The 1937 Paris International Exposition of Arts and Technologies in Modern Life also highlighted the role of scientific research in human progress. Its Palace of Discovery, which strove to make pure science comprehensible to laypeople, housed extensive exhibits on physics, genetics, optics, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, surgery, medicine, and biology. Science was sometimes presented as a captivating spectacle worthy of a circus. An electrostatic generator produced thunderbolts and electric spheres out of which men appeared, and the public was also treated to enactments of scientific experiments with audio-visual commentaries as well as a demonstration of a recently invented digital calculating machine. Visitors could take part in some of the experiments. The beneficial consequences of science was explained in a hall devoted to “the liberation of man by scientific discoveries”, which contained displays that “allow you to measure visually how the discovery of steam power, aviation, and the radio have transformed and simplified the individual’s existence.”61 Technical, artistic, and general education were featured in the Palace of Instruction. On coming to power in 1936, the Popular Front government added six pavilions that addressed “social questions”: women, children, and the family, cooperation, safety, social welfare, hygiene, and youth projects. In the area devoted to athletic activities, the era’s preoccupation with eugenics found expression in an exhibit that “shows scientifically all that has been done or is proposed to improve the [human-AS] race,” words that now appear ominous in light of what the Nazis’ ambitions were soon to bring about.62

The scientific, social, and educational exhibits did not eclipse those that served commerce, however, and many national and corporate pavilions touted consumer goods and advanced technologies. The British pavilion, for example, displayed a contemporary kitchen and a new heat-resistant laboratory glass, while French firms showcased domestic gas appliances, fashion, furniture, perfumes, and one of the few innovations -- plastics. In addition, Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union each used the exposition to advertise the economic and social progress achieved by its respective ideology.63 Unlike the Century of Progress Exposition, the Paris exposition was somewhat ambivalent about progress and the ability of humans to adapt to all of the changes it seemed to entail. The Palace of Craft Trades, for example, symbolized the exposition commissioner’s desire to “highlight the work of man and not that of the machine”, the Rural Center demonstrated how the family farm could be modernized and made more productive while preserving its individual character, and folklore

61 Exposition internationale Paris 1937. Arts et techniques dans la vie moderne. Le Guide officiel (1937), Paris, 76. On the presentation of science at the Palace of Discover, see Namer, G. (1981): “Les imaginaires dans l’Exposition de 1937”, Cahiers internationaux de sociologie 70, 47-9. 62 Le Guide Officiel (1937), 68-70, 84-6,89, 92-3, 150, citation on 150. 63 Livre d’or officiel de l’Exposition internationale des arts et techniques dans la vie moderne. Paris 1937 (1937), Paris. On the Soviet Union’s participation in the 1930s world’s fairs, see Swift, A. (2007): ”Soviet Socialism on Display at the Paris and New York World’s Fairs, 1937 and 1939”, in: Kunst und Propaganda im Streit der Nationen, 1930-1945, Berlin, 120-29.

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was celebrated by numerous exhibits and activities.64 The French national pavilion, as Shanny Peer points out in her study of the exposition, “presented an image of France as a country still attached to its rural and provincial traditions, willing to adopt change yet unwilling to sever its ties to the past in order to embrace a standardized, mechanized future.”65

New York 1939

The New York World’s Fair of 1939-40 was more confident in celebrating a future of social and economic progress through science, technology, and rational planning. Its educational vision, in the words of one of the planners, sought to go beyond the timeworn motif of machine- led progress to examine how that progress could answer human needs: “Mere mechanical progress is no longer an adequate or practical theme for a world’s fair […]. We must tell the story of the relationship between objects in their everyday use – how they may be used and when purposefully used how they may help us.”66 According to the Official Guide Book, it “planned to be ‘everyman’s fair’ – to show the way toward the improvement of all the factors contributing to human welfare”. To achieve this goal the public would be shown “all the most promising developments of production, service and social factors of the present day in relation to their bearing on the life of the great mass of the people.”67 The exposition’s theme, “Building the World of Tomorrow”, was expressed in a central exhibit, “Democracity,” an animated multi- media voyage over a planned metropolis in 2039. The fairgrounds were divided into seven color- coded thematic zones: Community Interests; Government; Transportation; Communications; Production and Distribution; Food; and Amusements. With the exception of the Government and Amusement Zones, each had a focal exhibit that aimed not to simply celebrate technological

64 Labbé, E. (1938-1940): Exposition internationale des arts et techniques dans la vie moderne. Rapport général, vol. 1, Paris, IX. Le Guide officiel (1937), 145-8. 65 Peer, S. (1998): France on Display: Peasants, Provincials, and Folklore in the 1937 Paris World’s Fair, Albany (NY), 167. On the 1937 exposition see also Cinquantenaire de l’Exposition des arts et des techniques dans la vie moderne (1987), Paris. Herbert, J. (1998): Paris 1937: Worlds on Exhibition, Ithaca. 66 Hare, M. (1936): “Why Have a Fair?”, cited in Cusker, J. (1980): “The World of Tomorrow: Science, Culture, and Community at the New York World’s Fair”, in: Harrison, H. (ed.): Dawn of a New Day: The New York World’s Fair, 1939-40, New York, 6. 67 Official Guide Book of the New York World’s Fair 1939 (1939), New York, 41.

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progress but also to examine its social consequences and highlight the interdependence of all people in a complex society. In addition, the Community Interests zone contained focal exhibits on “Medicine and Public Health” and “Education and Science”. The Amusement Zone adjoined the main exposition area and featured the Parachute Jump and synchronized swimming at the Aquacade, both of which were very popular, as well as assorted rides, shows, “native” villages, erotic dancers, and historically-themed attractions such as “Merrie England” and “Old New York”.68

The focal exhibits used a mixture of the most advanced entertainment technologies – audio- visual shows and animation – and old-fashioned comedy to convey their educational messages. The climax of the Food Hall’s presentation, for example, was a giant egg in which an avocado with five glowing jewels climbed a mountain, lobsters flew inland, an aqueduct spewed roses into a desert, an eye blinked in a cave, and a clock inside a can raced backwards. This surrealistic composition, the narrator explained, signified the five food groups, the widespread availability of fresh products thanks to transportation, irrigation, “man’s victory over night- blindness through Vitamin A foods”, and that “canning has perpetuated harvest times”. The message, however, was not one of complacent satisfaction in progress achieved. Before leaving, visitors were inundated with illuminated newspaper headlines and photomontages depicting unsolved problems of food supply.69 Some exhibits incorporated interactive technologies. In the Production and Distribution Building visitors not only learned about economic inequalities but could push buttons to reveal the consumption patterns of Americans with different incomes, illustrated with illuminated photos. In the last section questions flashed along the walls. Among the dilemmas posed: “Can we improve the spiritual side of life as we did the physical apparatus? Can serious breakdowns be avoided in such a complex system?” Demonstrations of basic scientific processes and theories were staged at the Science and Education Building, which also employed animated murals and motion pictures, but on the whole the focal exhibits on pure science were rather weak.70

Responsibility for informing the public about applied science was given to the commercial exhibitors. Some firms mounted displays in the pavilions that contained focal exhibits. At the Medical and Public Health Building, for example, exhibits by pharmaceutical companies examined medical superstitions and the causes, preventions, and treatments of various diseases. The Transportation focal exhibit was actually part of the Chrysler Motors presentation – after seeing an audio-visual spectacular on the history of transportation that culminated in the simulated launch of a future rocket ship – visitors entered directly into the manufacturer’s display of its automobiles, where a 3-D movie showed dancing auto parts seemingly assemble

68 Ibid., 42-5, 85-6. “’Theme Center’ Dedicated for World’s Fair” (1937), New York Times, 17 August, 17. On the planning of the thematic exhibits see Cusker (1980), 3-15. On the Amusement Zone, see Official Guide Book (1939), 48-70. “Amusement Zone Starts to Boom” (1939), New York Times, 28 May, 21. One of the erotic shows, Bel Geddes’s “Crystal Lassies” is discussed in Rydell (1993), 140-3. 69 Official Guide Book (1939), 105. Cusker (1980), 10. 70 Official Guide Book (1939), 175-6, 196-7. On the conflicts over the presentation of science at the fair, see Kuznick, P. (1994): “Losing the World of Tomorrow: The Battle over the Presentation of Science at the 1939 New York World’s Fair”, American Quarterly 46, 341-73.

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themselves into a Plymouth model. If rocket ships were still a distant dream, Chrysler automobiles offered freedom of movement in the here and now, although some people may have wondered who would buy them if autogenic production did away with the need for a paid workforce.71 Most large corporations constructed separate pavilions. The General Motors Building staged the most popular exhibit at the World’s Fair, “Futurama”, in which the industrial designer Norman Bel Geddis used miniaturization, synchronized sound and light effects, animation, and moving chairs to simulate the experience of an “Aladdin-like” magic-carpet ride above a futuristic landscape of suburban affluence where automobiles sped along superhighways. The General Electric Building featured a model kitchen where labor-saving appliances came to life as well as a slightly more educational demonstration of the discharge of lightening. Among the other most popular corporate pavilions, the Eastern Railways offered a diorama of working trains and a pageant of rail transportation with a cast of 250 actors, Ford explained how industry applied basic science and showed the entire cycle of automobile production (pointing out that it accounted for one in seven American jobs), while at the Goodrich pavilion visitors could see stunt drivers perform on a test track or use push buttons and levers to operate demonstrations of rubber’s characteristics.72 Other notable corporate exhibits included demonstrations of synthetic speech, punched-card tabulating machines, television, fax machines, and a robot named Elektro that talked, sang, counted, and even smoked cigarettes. At the AT&T pavilion visitors could not only make long-distance calls but also learn how their voices sounded on the telephone and in face-to-face conversation. A reporter found these demonstrations of applied science “so easy to absorb at the World’s Fair that adult education proceeded painlessly.”73

The New York World’s Fair went further than any other 1930s exposition in breaking down the barriers separating entertainment, education, and advertising. The didactic focal exhibits employed the same representational techniques as did the commercial displays.74 Some exhibits controlled the experience by transporting the visitor automatically, others let him or her set the pace through interactive devices, but almost all used some combination of cinema, synchronized sound and light, animation, and special effects to get their message across and to create a sensory experience. The merging of education and entertainment at expositions was a process dating at least from the Great Exhibition, as I have argued, but it was completed in the 1930s. Since the 1960s, when sociologists and cultural theorists began to subject tourism to their scholarly gaze, it has been argued that mass tourism centers

71 Official Guide Book (1939), 168-73, 199-201. On the effacement of human labor in the interwar aesthetic of industrial efficiency, see Corwin, S. (2003): “Picturing Efficiency: Precisionism, Scientific Management, and the Effacement of Labor”, Representations 84, 139-65. 72 “What Shows Pulled at the Fair?” (1939), Business Week, 4 November, 22. Official Guide Book of the New York World’s Fair 1939 (1939), 184, 202-9. 73 Official Guide Book (1939), 77, 79, 82, 195. “Finger-Counting Robot”, (1939), Newsweek, 24 April, 28. “World’s Fair Visitors Amazed by Simplicity of Science in Novel Demonstration” (1939), New York Times, 4 May. 74 On commercial firms’ use of popular entertainments as an advertising strategy at American expositions see Marchand, R. (1991): “Corporate Imagery and Popular Education: World’s Fairs and Expositions in the United States, 1893-1940”, in: Nye, D. / Pedersen, C. (eds.): Consumption and American Culture, Amsterdam, 18-33.

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around “pseudo-events” like expos and other forms of self-contained and safe exploration of the unfamiliar and extraordinary, but this is hardly the new phenomenon it is often made out to be.75 In 1939 the commercial firms seemed to have the best shows, and this would prove to be the case in many subsequent expositions. According to marketing surveys conducted at the New York World’s Fair, the corporate pavilions were the most popular with visitors. Aside from the Parachute Jump and the Aquacade’s synchronized swimmers, “the Amusement Area was eclipsed by the showmanship of the exhibits in the main area.”76 Few of the focal exhibits were deemed to draw sufficient crowds either, and a number of them were converted for other uses during the 1940 season.77 Fairgoers, who statistically had higher than average levels of education and income, indicated that they found the commercial exhibits the most interesting, followed by the fair as a whole, the pavilions of foreign nations, and lastly the Amusement Area. The largely middle-class public wanted to learn something, concrete rather than abstract at the exposition, and expected the delivery of information and ideas to be interesting and fun.

Contemporary critics sometimes complained that the world’s fair was too oriented towards commerce, a point of view that resounds in a number of more recent academic studies.78 Yet some of the focal exhibits not only celebrated advances in the material conditions of life, but highlighted persistent social inequalities and raised questions that suggested the progress was not automatic. Many of the corporations, noted a journalist, “pioneered with exhibits which play down trade names and emphasize the social contributions of their professional calling to the average man and woman.” 79 The insurance and pharmaceutical companies, for instance, showed real changes in health and medicine that had and would have a major impact on life expectancy for much of the world’s population. As for the automobile companies, The New Yorker pointed out that, unlike at annual trade shows, they had emphasized entertainment over the business of selling cars.80 To be sure, the New York World’s Fair was, as Robert Rydell has argued with regard to the American expositions of the

75 Boorstin, D. (1964): The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, New York. In his influential work on tourism, for example, John Urry observes that at contemporary expos and other tourist destinations “education and entertainment are becoming merged, a process very much assisted by the increasingly central role of the visual and electronic media in both.” Urry, J. (2002): The Tourist Gaze, 2nd ed., London, 136. This statement could applied to any of the 1930s expositions. 76 Market Analysts, Inc. (1939): “Attendance and Amusement Area Survey of the New York World’s Fair 1939 Incorporated”, 22 August, New York Public Library (NYPL), NYWF39-40, Box 1051. Griffith, S. (1939): “Sales Promotion Material for World’s Fair 1940”, 24 October, ibid. The archives of the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair also contain survey information from the 1939-40 fair. See Needham and Grohmann, Inc. (1939): “A Comprehensive Survey of the New York World’s Fair”, NYPL, NYWF64-65, Box 682. The citation comes from this survey. 77 Due to the outbreak of the war in Europe, the 1940 season had a rather different character from the previous year. See Duranti, M. (2006): “Utopia, Nostalgia and World War at the 1939-40 New York World’s Fair”, Journal of Contemporary History, 41, 663-83. 78 The 1939 New York World’s Fair has received far more scholarly attention than other twentieth-century expositions. Among its critics, who emphasize its hegemonic influence in promoting imperialism, racism, corporate capitalism, and consumerism, are Sussman, W. (1980): “The People’s Fair: Cultural Contradictions of a Consumer Society”, in Harrison, H. (ed.): Dawn of a New Day: The New York World’s Fair, 1939-40, New York, 17-27. Rydell, R. (1993): World of Fairs: The Century-of-Progress Expositions, Chicago, 113,155-156, passim. Kuznick (1994). 79 Harding, G. (1939): “World’s Fair, New York,” Harper’s 179 (June), 193-200. 80 “Motors and Motoring” (1939), The New Yorker, 13 May, 722.

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1930s, “a powerful defense of corporate capitalism as a modernizing agency that would lead America out of the depression towards a bountiful future.”81 Yet its presentation of the human benefits of pure and applied science did not simply dupe the public, which shared the belief that technology could improve life because the washing machines, kitchen appliances, and automobiles on show were already widely available and had transformed everyday life in recent memory. The vision of carefree transportation over great highways was one that predated the world’s fair, not one foisted on audiences at General Motors’ Futurama. If during the 1939 season Futurama was the most popular corporate exhibit at the fair, with thirteen million admissions, the Soviet Union’s pavilion, despite its lack of consumer goods and spectacles, drew over sixteen million visitors to view its displays of the industrial and social progress achieved by Stalin’s five-year plans. This does not, however, mean that fairgoers came away thinking that socialism held the key to the future, any more than the popularity of Futurama indicates that General Motors succeeded in convincing them to trust in corporate science’s promises of consumer abundance.82 Of course, the international expositions of the 1930s reflected the economic, social, and political contradictions of the era, but they nonetheless attempted to address the social implications of technological progress, however unsuccessful their attempts appear decades later. By making entertainment an essential component of their educational and commercial exhibits, they also set the tone for the expositions of the second half of the twentieth century, which celebrated popular culture as much as they did progress, science, and commerce.

Postwar Expositions from Brussels to Aichi

Almost twenty-years passed between the New York World’s Fair and the first postwar international exposition, held in Brussels in 1958. During the interval a world war was fought in which military and industrial technologies annihilated millions. American scientists succeeded in creating the atomic bombs and were soon followed by their counterparts in the Soviet Union, Britain, and France. The world war was succeeded by a Cold War that threatened to erupt into a “hot” war, as it did in Korea in 1950, with the ever-present prospect of a nuclear conflict in which humanity’s scientific achievements might destroy the industrial civilization that international expositions had glorified for the past century. The Europe of nation-states was divided into two military blocs under the “protection” of the rival superpowers, a state of affairs graphically illustrated by American economic domination and the Soviet Union’s repression of uprisings in East Germany in 1953 and Poland and Hungary in 1956. Although the Suez Crisis of 1956 signaled the end of Europe’s ability to maintain the old imperial order by military means, new supranational institutions such as the OECE (1948), the Council of Europe (1949), and the European Economic Community (1957) offered hope for peaceful collaboration among the continent’s former enemies, at least in the West.

81 Rydell (1993), 115. 82 Needham and Grohmann, Inc. (1939). Swift, A. (1998): “The Soviet World of Tomorrow at the 1939 New York World’s Fair”, The Russian Review 57, 364-79.

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While the nuclear arms race cast doubts on the benefits of science, the opening of Disneyland in 1955 ushered in a new era in the industrial entertainment industry. Drawing on the themed attractions of earlier expositions and amusement parks, Disneyland combined them into a total themed environment on a permanent site. What was new was the “coherence and concentration of the experience”.83 International expositions responded by emulating the techniques of the theme parks to some extent, but they also faced competition from the proliferating international trade shows that since the late-nineteenth century had been usurping their traditional role in disseminating innovations in technology. As Ken Beauchamp observes, by the mid-twentieth century “world fairs had diverged to become largely festivals of entertainment and education, whilst the trade fairs had become purely technical and industrial, attracting buyers, sellers, designers and others to a specialist exhibition devoted to one aspect of technology.”84 Whereas in the 1930s the expositions’ recipe of scientific instruction, consumer education (or fantasy), and entertaining spectacle had met the challenge posed by the sideshows of their amusement areas, in the second half of the twentieth century the expositions gradually came to resemble Disney-style theme parks, with educational goals often tacked on almost as an afterthought.

The 1958 Brussels Universal and International Exposition was the last to call itself “universal” and also the last to include colonial exhibits. It embodied the anxieties and hopes of the immediate postwar era: the military, economic and cultural competition of the Cold War, the attempts by recently created international institutions to promote pacific solutions to global tensions and problems, the end of the colonial era, and the appearance newly- independent nations. The exposition’s theme was ”A New Humanism,” its plea for peaceful international cooperation underscored by pavilions representing the United Nations, Red Brussels 1958 Cross, the institutions of European integration, and even the Vatican. The exposition planners intended to draw attention to the problems facing humanity, such as the population explosion, poverty, and socioeconomic inequalities, and to the potential of scientific and technological advances to solve them.85 As in the prewar expositions, the popularization of scientific knowledge was one of the primary aims of the exposition. To a great extent, however, it was more of a public-relations exercise for the nuclear-power plants under construction in Europe and the United States, as well as a tournament between the superpowers. The Belgians tried to make a case for their colonial empire, even staging a lavish sound-and-light show called “Congorama” to demonstrate the

83 Marling, K. (1994): As Seen on TV: The Visual Culture of Everyday Life in the 1950s, Cambridge, Mass., 105. 84 Beauchamp (1997), 275. 85 Exposition universelle et internationale de Bruxelles 1958. L’organisation et le fonctionnement (1961), 20-22, cited in Le livre des expositions universelles 1851-1989 (1983), Paris, 167-8.

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progress they had brought to their African possession, then the world’s chief source of uranium.86 Given contemporary concerns about nuclear war, it is not surprising that the exposition emphasized the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, although plans to have a small atomic reactor on the fairgrounds had to be abandoned due to the public’s that it might emit hazardous radiation into the center of Brussels.87 The exposition’s signature structure was the Atomium, a giant model of a magnified steel crystal that symbolized the peaceful atom in the service of humanity.88 It was an optimistic vision that jarred with the colonial and Cold War propaganda.

The International Hall of Science presented the achievements of science over the past two decades and sought to interest both specialists and laypeople. The aim was to rehabilitate pure science in the nuclear era by distinguishing its role in the advancement of knowledge from the dangerous applications that knowledge had produced. One section, devoted to the popularization of science, had exhibits explaining the principles of physics, genetics, and chemistry along with films, lectures, demonstrations, and experiments illustrating the importance of fundamental scientific research. The exhibits in two other sections were aimed at a specialist audience. In addition to Belgium, fourteen foreign nations contributed exhibits, but not all countries were willing to adhere to the principle of international cooperation, making it difficult to integrate the various displays. In general, the presentations appear to have been over the heads of most people, despite the Belgian planners’ intent to make science accessible, and the Hall of Science was not a crowd-puller.89

Far more popular were the national and corporate pavilions, especially those of the Soviet Union and the United States, where national rivalry was in stark contrast to the exposition’s theme of international cooperation.90 Both countries sought to convince the public that they were devoted to the peaceful application of nuclear technology, but their display techniques were as different as the ideologies they propagandized. The Soviets, for example, explained that nuclear energy was safe to use by means of models and charts; the Americans domesticated it with a set of mechanical hands that permitted fairgoers to handle radioactive substances. One pavilion focused on industrial, scientific, and social progress, while the other celebrated mass consumption. As an American student journalist observed, “Russia has presented a formidable and rather frightening demonstration of her industrial and military prowess. The United States has tried the ’soft-sell’; technical exhibits are well-hidden and the

86 Commissariat Général du Gouvernement près l’Exposition Universelle et Internationale de Bruxelles (ed.) (1958): Les Participations Etrangères et Belges (Brussels), 235-54. Stanard, M. (2006): “’Bilan du monde pour un monde plus déshumanisé’: The 1958 Brussels World’s Fair and Belgian Perceptions of the Congo”, European History Quarterly 55, 267-98. 87 Waggonier, W. (1956): “Reactor banned at Brussels Fair”, New York Times, 19 July. 88 Guide officiel. Exposition universelle Bruxelles 1958 (1958), Brussels, 95-9. 89 Schroeder-Gudehus, B. / Cloutier, D. (1994): “Popularizing Science and Technology during the Cold War: Brussels 1958”, in: Rydell / Gwinn, 157-80. 90 On Soviet-American competition at the exposition, see Hixon, W. (1997): Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War, 1945-1961, London, 141-50. Haddow, R. (1997): Pavilions of Plenty: Exhibiting American Culture Abroad in the 1950s, Washington. Rydell (1993), 193-211.

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emphasis is on ‘the American way of life’.”91 The message – that Americans had achieved a democratic consumerism in which all shared in abundance – was put across through a spectacle of color televisions, domestic interiors, an IBM computer that answered questions in ten languages, polling machines that visitors could use to vote for their favorite Americans, and even a fashion show in which Vogue models presented affordable ready-to-wear garments. An exhibit on racial tensions located outside the main pavilion acknowledged that this land of plenty still had “unfinished work” to complete, but it was toned down after complaints by American congressmen. The most popular attraction was “Circarama,” a Disney-produced 360-degree film that gave audiences an aerial tour from New York to California. The effect was similar to that of the Cinéorama (that had entertained visitors to the Paris exposition fifty-eight years earlier.

A Russian journalist took a dim view of the Americans’ penchant for showmanship, telling her readers that the IBM computer functioned only for “the amusement of the public” instead of demonstrating its potential for information analysis and economic planning.92 The Soviet pavilion was certainly more serious in tone. Models of Sputnik satellites, an atomic reactor, and a nuclear-powered icebreaker advertised socialism’s acknowledged achievements in science and technology. There were also televisions, automobiles and other consumer goods, along with exhibits on automated production, social welfare, science, and education. As in the American pavilion, there was a cinema, but it offered only conventional documentaries and feature films rather than a technologically-enhanced audio-visual experience. The Soviet pavilion looked back to an older didactic exposition tradition of show-and-tell displays that informed rather than entertained. The American pavilion, where the celebration of popular culture and entertainment overshadowed the technical exhibits, was a prototype of the national pavilions that would come to predominate at future international expositions.

The other national pavilions, many of which used innovative engineering techniques on a scale not seen since the Eiffel Tower and Gallery of Machines had awed the world at the 1889 exposition, also eschewed the “soft-sell” approach in presenting their faces to the world and confined their entertainments to performances by visiting orchestras as well as theater and dance troupes.93 The exposition’s amusement park, however, used technology to provide more sensational pleasures such as a “rocket ship” that simulated a journey to the moon, while “Belgium in 1900” offered a menu of shopping, cabarets, and vaudeville shows in a historical fantasy environment.94 A quite different kind of show, and perhaps the most innovative use of technology at the exposition, was Edgar Varèse and Le Corbusier’s “Electronic Poem” at the pavilion the latter designed for Philips. The pavilion did not display

91 Miller, M. (1958): “Impressions of the Brussels Exhibition”, Harvard Crimson, 4 October, from http://www.thecrimson.com. 92 Shaginian, M. (1964): “Lesnitsa vremeni. Rasskaz o Vsemirnoi vystavke 1958 g. v Briussele”, in: Zarubezhnye pis’ma, Moscow, 296. 93 On the architecture of the exposition, see Devos, R. / De Kooning, M. (eds.) (2006): L’Architecture moderne à l’Expo 58, Brussels. 94 Waggonier, W. (1958): “Brussels Invites the World to Its Fair”, New York Times, 2 March, Travel Section.

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any of the corporation’s products, but instead showcased electronic technology in a new form of art, one that synchronized light, sound, color, and rhythm to produce a kaleidoscope of diverse images that flashed rapidly on the tent-like walls to the accompaniment of noises, sounds, cries, and music. Bewildering but also deeply moving, the eight-minute audio-visual poem was a reflection on civilization, nature, technology, harmony, despair, and hope that was both “a tribute to the marvels of electricity” and “a terrifying artistic expression of uncertainty”.95 The demonstration of “the marvels of electricity” had been standard fare at expositions since the 1870s, but the uncertainty of the human condition was a newcomer. Subsequent expositions would grapple, some more than others, with mounting uncertainties and the task of coping with the destructive environmental impact of human material progress. More often than not they continued to reassert faith in the ability of science and technology to solve any problem that caught the world’s attention.

While the Americans, having nothing to compete with Sputnik, had left their space program unmentioned in Brussels, the conquest of the cosmos became the theme of Seattle’s Century 21 Exposition. It aimed to promote science education and to showcase American science before the world at a time when many Americans were having doubts about their country’s ability to match Soviet exploits in space.96 The United States Science Pavilion, built with government and corporate funding, was composed of six linked buildingscovering several acres. It used innovative film techniques to convey the development of science and how it affected daily life, took visitors on a simulated journey into outer space, and exhibited models of space technology such as the capsule that had carried an American astronaut into space the previous year.97 It also featured a very popular children’s science laboratory, where “kids can poke their arms into plastic sleeves to see how heavy a grapefruit is on Mars, spin on a platform by tilting a giant gyroscope, make wave patterns in water tanks, and watch a 40,000-member ant colony go busily about its cutaway civic activities.”98 In accordance with the theme of the exposition, most of the foreign pavilions also housed scientific exhibits, although the Soviet Union declined to participate. Corporate exhibits ranged from the purely entertaining, such as Ford’s trip to outer space and its model of a nuclear-powered automobile steered by a computer, to IBM’s interactive lessons in how a computer reasons. The exposition, laid out much like a theme park, was arranged into four “worlds”: science; commerce and industry; art and entertainment; and “The World of Tomorrow”. Disney Corporation did much of the landscaping, adding to the theme-park ambience. Looming over the exposition was the iconic Space Needle, a futuristic tower topped by a revolving restaurant shaped like a spaceship. Fairgoers were carried from downtown Seattle on a monorail, mistakenly predicted at the time to be the urban mass transit system of the future,

95 Miller (1958). See also Treib, M. (1996): Space Calculated in Seconds: The Philips Pavillion, Le Corbusier, Edgar Varèse, Princeton. 96 On the Century 21 Exposition, see Morgan, M. (1963): Century 21: The Story of the Seattle World’s Fair 1962, Seattle. 97 Crowther, B. (1962): “Seeing Science on Film. Great Scope for Motion Pictures Demonstrated at the Seattle Fair”, New York Times, 13 May. 98 “Go West, Everybody” (1962), Time, 27 April, from www.time.com/time.

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but which did arouse interest in improved public transportation. Unlike Brussels’s dryly didactic Hall of Science, Seattle’s Science Pavilion was very popular and drew two-thirds of the exposition’s ten million visitors to see its entertaining, interactive, and/or instructive exhibits, making it one of the most successful science displays ever mounted at an international exposition.

Commerce rather than science set the tone at the New York World’s Fair of 1964-65. The theme, ”Peace through Understanding”, had little influence on the content of the exposition. The BIE refused to sanction the event, due to the World’s Fair Corporation’s refusal to adhere to its guidelines. As a result many European nations did not officially participate, although Belgium did, bringing yet another version of its ever-popular historical theme village to the fair. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, however, constructed pavilions, and the New York World’s Fair was the first exposition at which India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Guinea, and Sierra Leone represented themselves as independent nations.99 American corporations dominated the fairgrounds and were responsible for nearly all the exhibits in the Hall of Science, the highlight of which was Martin Marietta Corporation’s simulation of a supply vehicle docking at a space station. The Atomic Energy Commission sponsored a miniature “Atomsville,” where nuclear technology was domesticated for children in interactive exhibits (the Official Guide assured parents that “no real radioactive materials are used, of course”).100 The General Electric Pavilion demonstrated controlled nuclear fusion, IBM taught the principles of probability, while General Motors presented an updated version of Futurama, this time with a trip to the moon, an underwater resort, and a road-builder that “tamed” the jungle by leveling forest and leaving behind a superhighway.101 Many of the numerous multi-media exhibits were designed by Disney, which used its “audio-animatronic” system to make mechanical figures come to life. “It’s a Small World”, created for the Pepsi pavilion, migrated to Disneyland after the fair and eventually made the world even smaller by reappearing in Florida, France, and Japan. As Michael Smith has argued, “the corporate exhibits applied images of technology as a way of dressing belief systems of the past in the trappings of the future.”102 Yet if the New York World’s Fair was a spectacular exercise in selling the ideology of limitless technological progress, it is not evident that it succeeded in manufacturing consent outside the corporate utopia of the exposition. By the end of the decade it was clear in the United States and Europe that large parts of society either felt left behind or questioned the ethics of mass consumption.

99 On the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, see Bletter, R. (1989): Remembering the Future: The New York World’s Fair from 1939 to 1964, New York. 100 Official Guide: New York World’s Fair 1964/65 (1964): New York, 206. 101 Ibid., 90-2, 220-2. 102 Smith, M. (1993): “Making Time: Representations of Technology at the 1964 World’s Fair”, in: Fox, R. / Lears, T.: The Power of Culture: Critical Essays in American History, Chicago, 226.

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Some signs of the affluent world’s disenchantment with progress were in evidence at Montreal’s Expo 67, the first international exposition since the 1930s to critically examine humanity’s relationship to technology. I It did so in a way that was both more universal and more ambivalent, although the message continued to be that we

could ultimately cope with technological progress. Montreal’s theme, “Man and His World”, was elaborated in several sub-thematic pavilions developed by the exposition organizers with sponsorship and assistance from corporations, governments, international organizations, museums, universities, and private art collections throughout the world. The thematic clusters were the product of a remarkable international collaboration, and each addressed some aspect of human existence and the social impact of technological change. Among the issues examined were hunger and the challenge population growth posed to food production, the impact of human activities on the environment, and how human life has been shaped by technology. One exhibit, “Man in Control?”, assessed the impact of communications and information technologies and highlighted the importance of human decision-making in their application. Another examined the benefits and problems technology had brought to communities in Tunisia, Senegal, Cuba, Ceylon, Yugoslavia, and Canada. Using up-to-date media technologies, including an interactive theater and giant multi-screen projection, the thematic exhibits attempted to provide an optimistic yet balanced assessment of the future that raised many questions for visitors to ponder.103

The spirit of Osaka’s Expo 70, Asia’s first largescale exposition, was closer to 1900 than to1967. Its theme was “Progress and Harmony for Mankind”, but the accent was on the former. The theme pavilion told the story of human progress on three levels ascending from the past (“the world of mystery”) through the present (“the world of harmony”) to the future (“the world of progress”), very much in the tradition of the 1867 exposition’s “History of Work”. The corporate pavilions were filled with electronic gadgets, robots, and shows using lasers and multiple screens, including the first IMAX presentation, which has since become one of dominant technologies used at expositions. Even the usually staid Soviet Union got into the act, with a giant screen that displayed ten films simultaneously. In some of the corporations, such as Fuji, Pepsi, and Toshiba, there were no conventional exhibits at all, only attractions that amazed and amused. The fantastic and sometimes sci-fi architectural

103 Guide officiel / Official Guide Expo 67 (1967), Montreal, 28-69. Bruemmer, F. (1967): “Man in the Community”, Canadian Geographic Journal 4, 180-6. On Expo 67 see General Report on the 1967 World Exhibition (1969), 5 vol., Montreal. “Expo 67 is Here” (1967), The Montreal Star, 22 April, weekend magazine. “Expo 67 Man and His World”, from http://www.collectionscanada.ca/expo.

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styles of the various pavilions added to the theme-park atmosphere of Expo 70. The United States pavilion, largely underground and covered by translucent fiberglass, drew huge crowds to see a moon rock.104 If Osaka was replete with the latest advances in multi-media entertainment technology that enhanced the sensory experience, they did little to solve the old problem of how to make sense of the multitude of exhibits and images. As a disgruntled New York professor of architecture commented:

Visitors who are eager to see as many pavilions as possible are unable to profit from educational exhibits and have no patience to absorb a mass of written technical information. Attempts to replace graphic displays by multi-media presentations – pictures and noise projected simultaneously on a multitude of screens – are not just tiresome but overstimulating, and acutely irritating. One quickly tires of technical trickery and the gadgets frequently break down.105

More than twenty years passed before the next major international exposition. The handful of small specialized expos held in the 1970s and 1980s resembled glorified amusement parks masked behind topical themes such as the environment, energy, and water resources, and had little to show the world except more refinements in electronic technologies, more robots, and more visions of futuristic cities. Brisbane’s World Expo 88, with commendable honesty, made its theme “Leisure in the Age of Technology”. Plans for expositions in Philadelphia and Chicago were shelved due to financial considerations, while political conflict put an end to Parisian plans for holding an exposition to celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution. Aside from their enormous cost, expos struggled to define a role for themselves at the approach of the end of the twentieth century. Since their conception in the mid- nineteenth century, they had served as international gatherings where nations and firms competed, new technologies were evaluated and disseminated, and the general public was both entertained by a multitude of impressions and sensations and informed about new inventions and ideas. But televised spectacles like the Olympic Games and World Cup Football had become more important sites for the acting out of national rivalries, trade fairs had taken over the expos’ role in technological transfer, and a plethora of theme parks and computer games offered year-round fantasy environments of simulated experience. As for educating the public about new inventions:

How to get across new technologies, which today are often highly miniaturized solid-state devices without the huge gear wheels, flashing lights, and noise that made machine-age displays so attractively kinetic and mesmerizing. Exposition display is tending more and more to elaborate audio-visuals (tennis-court size television, huge curved screens, walls of slide projectors, laser towers, etc.).106

In other words, the audio-visual medium had become the message.

104 Kahn, E. (1970): “Letter from Osaka”, New Yorker, 6 June. “Osaka World Exposition 1970”, from http://www.arch.nus.edu.sg/expo. 105 Galantay, E. (1970): “Osaka Expo: Designing the Environment”, The Nation 211, 31 August, 137. 106 Anderson, R. / Wachtel, E. (1986): Expo ’86 and the World’s Fairs, Seattle, 32.

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The resounding success of Seville’s Expo 92 went some way in restoring some of the expos’ lost prestige. It met the organizers’ main objectives by attracting more visitors than projected, generating funding to pay for many improvements in the infrastructure of the city and region, and drawing international attention to Spain’s emergence as a modern European nation. Yet the long-term impact on the region is less clear, for it does not seem to have generated the expected economic growth for Andalusia. Conceptually, however, Expo 92 was not very innovative or instructive, and offered no new perspectives on technology or our relationship with it. The theme, “The Age of Discovery,” celebrated Spain’s role in the “discovery” of the New World, but the expo had little to say about the negative consequences of European settlement. IMAX and OMNIMAX shows filled the pavilions of the wealthy nations and multinational corporations, offering sensory experiences that contrasted with the low- tech displays of material goods found at the African Plaza. Although many of the multi-media shows promoted ecology, their messages were often obscured by the technological effects used to deliver them.107

The explosion of the internet in the 1990s raised fundamental questions about the viability of the world expo. The internet seemed to be the fulfillment of the Encylopédists ambition to change the world by making all knowledge accessible to anyone, anywhere. In 1996 an internet world exposition was created with online pavilions and internet video-conferences.108 The failure of Hanover’s Expo 2000 to meet its visitor targets led to predictions that the internet had killed the expo. Explaining American corporations’ lack of interest in funding a United States pavilion in Hanover, the American commissioner for the expo remarked: “People can see a world’s fair whenever they want by going onto the Internet.”109 Unable to raise funds to participate in the expo, the United States mounted a virtual pavilion on line. According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “The digital images which have flooded the public at recent Expos can now be downloaded elsewhere.”110

Yet Expo 2000 was meant to be a new kind of expo, one that combined faith in technological progress with acknowledgment of its failures. If, as Walter Benjamin once said and many others have repeated since, expos are a form of pilgrimage, Expo 2000 restored the penitential element. It tried, perhaps too earnestly for the public, to grapple with global issues such as environmental degradation, poverty, and the growing economic disparity between rich and poor nations. The theme – “Humankind, Nature, Technology: The Creation of a New World” – was inspired by the “Century 21” environmental declaration reached at the UN Earth Summit in 1992. The organizers attempted to place education back in the center of the expo experience with an ambitious thematic area comprising eleven sub-themes on

107 “Expo ’92 Sevilla” (1992), Le Monde, 16 April. Harvey, P. (1996): Hybrids of Modernity: Anthropology, the Nation State and the Universal Exhibition, London. KNIGHT, J. (1992): “Exhibitions: Discovering the World in Seville: The 1992 Universal Exposition”, Anthropology Today 8 (October), 20-6. 108 Malamud, C. (1997): A World’s Fair for the Global Village, Cambridge (Mass). 109Kim, L. (2000): “A No-Show at the Expo”, U.S. News & World Report 128 (June), 41. 110 Cited in “Attendance Slow at World’s Fair” (2000), Associated Press Online, 6 June, from http://www.aponline.com.

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topics such as “basic needs”, “the environment”, “knowledge”, and “the future of work”. The emphasis was on “sustainability”, and all of the pavilions were to be re-used or recycled. Instead of showcasing the latest in technological innovation, the expo sought to show how humanity and technology can co-exist with the natural world and even improve it. What that seemed to mean was that progress would in the future be greener and include nature among its beneficiaries. Perhaps the most innovative aspect of the expo was its sponsorship of over 700 sustainable development projects in Germany and 123 other countries, which were connected to the theme area by satellite and put some substance into the “globalization” discourse that was so prominent in Hanover. The expo put on a diverse assortment of entertainments, ranging from a marathon performance of “Faust” to rock concerts, along with the usual amusements and rides, yet the overall tone was serious.111 As a journalist commented, almost warning readers: “Its exhibits feature recycling, clean energy and creatively efficient architecture. Although there are many activities for children and adults, it is not a theme park. It is educational.”112 The expo’s failure to pack in the crowds during the first weeks set off negative coverage in the media, which came up with various explanations to explain the low visitor turnout: prices were too high, the Hanover location unappealing to tourists, the publicity campaign unimaginative. Environmentalist organizations criticized it for not being green enough. “Anti-globalization” groups demonstrated against the expo, claiming that it symbolized a “technocratic and inhuman” civilization.113 Perhaps, as the experience of the next expo suggested, there simply were not enough robots.

The first expo of the twenty-first century, Aichi’s Expo 2005, was also focused on environment, but it was far more successful than the Hanover expo in meeting visitor targets and balancing the books. Defined as a second-category expo according to the rules of the BIE, it was also a more low-key affair than Expo 2000. The spectacular pavilions belonged to the corporate exhibitors, which included Toyota, Expo 2005 Aichi Mitsubishi, and Hitachi. In keeping with the expo’s theme, “Nature’s Wisdom”, many displays publicized what the national and corporate participants were doing for the environment. Russia exhibited its environmental projects and mineral resources, as well as animated films, ethnographic objects, space technology, nanotechnology, and the skeleton of a mammoth unearthed in Siberia. The United States, which managed to construct a pavilion this time due to generous corporate financing (a screen atop the façade entertained the long lines with advertisements from Exxon, but

111 The Expo-Book: The Official Catalogue of Expo 2000 with CD-ROM (2000), Hannover. Le Monde (2000), 1, 2 June. 112 Komarow, S. (2000): “World’s Fair Fails to Make Mark or Deutsche marks”, USA Today, 16 June. 113 Le Monde (2000), 1 June.

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Toyota was the moving force that got the project off the ground), had a device that received live transmissions from one of its space exploration missions along with a film celebrating the technological and scientific progress over the past three centuries. In it, America’s philosophe Benjamin Franklin informed fairgoers that even if there were serious concerns about environmental degradation and climactic change, one needn’t worry too much for technology would find solutions. France was more pessimistic, and showed a film focused more on environmental catastrophe. India paid little attention to such environmental preoccupations and had a large bazaar selling hippy-style artisanal products. The expo’s theme pavilion, Global House, exhibited a frozen mammoth from Russia, which, along with the many humanoid robots that performed at various corporate pavilions, was invariably featured in European news reports and might well be one of the main images that visitors retain in their long-term memories.114 A more innovative educational feature of the expo was its recycling system, which did not simply show visitors things that they could see on TV but involved them in the process. Near all catering venues containers were placed for the disposal of rubbish, with attendants who assisted visitors in sorting out what materials were eligible for recycling and deciding where they should be placed. Given that the principle of triage is a necessity in any recycling program yet remains a principle difficult for much of the public to grasp, this interactive ‘exhibit’ was an impressive example of an effective low-tech approach to quickly getting a message across to large numbers of people. On the whole, Expo 2005 was a fairly traditional blend of instruction and entertainment, with none of the angst of its predecessor.115

Conclusion

Since their inception in 1851, international exhibitions have been collaborative projects and as such do not speak with one voice – chaos and contradiction are as much part of the expo experience as are grand meta-narratives that try to make sense of it all and impose their hegemonic vision of the world. The pursuit of pleasure has always been a motivation for attending expositions, as has the acquisition of knowledge and new impressions. To be sure, the relationship between the didactic and entertainment elements has changed and shifted over the years, but both remain an essential part of an expo. The only entertainments at the Great Exhibition were the displays of stationary or moving objects, while at Seville, Hanover, and Aichi multi-media shows often became the display. The expos continue to celebrate technology, science, and progress, flavoring it with more recent concepts such as sustainable development and globalization. Their message continues to be an optimistic one that is suited to their festive environment, which does not favor prolonged analysis or deep reflection.

114 On the kinds of long-term memories visitors retain from expos, see Anderson, D. (2003), “Visitors’ Long-Term Memories of World Expositions”, Curator 46, 401-20. 115 This discussion is based on the author’s visit to Expo 2005 and materials on the expo’s website, http://www.expo2005.or.jp/en/index.html.

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At the start of the twenty-first century, expos appear to have less cultural impact than did their predecessors. The development of the mass media and the internet have largely taken over their former function of disseminating information about innovations to the general public, while the range of alternative and affordable tourist destinations has expanded exponentially, as the doomsayers invariably point out when predicting that the latest expo may be the last. Yet it is worth remembering that the nineteenth-century expositions developed in parallel with mass-circulation papers and mass tourism, whichextended their impact far beyond their localities and facilitated access to their worlds of display. People have always been able to get information from other sources or choose other destinations at which to spend their time. Perhaps the “Disneyization” of the world has made the expos unnecessary, for simulated utopian environments are now found all around. Perhaps we no longer want to hear them tell us either that technological and material progress is synonymous with human progress or that we must atone for our excesses and change our ways. Perhaps they are preaching to the converted and tell us nothing we do not already know. But expos are not schools, theme parks, or marketplaces, however much they may share some characteristics of each. Even if the result is frequently a confused kaleidoscope of contradictory impressions and more or less explicit commercial and national propaganda, expos are, among other things, international social rituals that celebrate humanity’s aspirations and can provide an opportunity for self-reflection and, sometimes, self-criticism.

48 Edification and Pleasure at International Expositions, 1851-2005 Anthony Swift

Résumé

Depuis leur commencement en 1851, les expositions internationales ont un caractère à la fois éducatif et théâtral et leur didactisme ainsi que leur mise en scène ont toujours eu un rapport symbiotique. Les expositions du XIXème siècle ont présenté les machines outils, les matières premières, les objets d’art et les objets artisanaux ethnographiques. Les expositions proposaient les objets et expliquaient leur ème Expo 2005 Aichi fonctionnement. Vers la fin du XIX siècle, on a pu observer une augmentation marquée des objets exposés se concentrant sur les questions sociales. Puis le culte de l'électricité a graduellement éclipsé le culte de la machine. Les vastes halls de machines ont été remplacés par des expositions électriques de plus en plus raffinées. Contrairement à la vapeur, l'électricité était une source invisible d’énergie qui captivait l'attention du public avec des effets de son et de lumière. Comment la présentation des objets est-elle devenue au moins aussi importante que l’objet lui-même ? Au XXème siècle, les aspirations encyclopédiques des expositions passées qui visaient à présenter un modèle universel de progrès, sont devenues des concepts plus sélectifs et spécifiques qui reflétaient les soucis contemporains sur les inégalités. Des années 30 jusqu’au début des années 60, les expositions ont été préoccupées par la vulgarisation de la science et les implications sociales de la science et de la technologie. Vers la fin des années 30, les barrières séparant l'éducation, le divertissement et la publicité ont disparu et les présentations didactiques et commerciales utilisaient, pour livrer leurs messages, les technologies couramment employées pour le divertissement. Bien que l'invention des armements nucléaires et la concurrence d'après- guerre froide ait posé une ombre sur les dernières expositions du XXème siècle, les expositions ont continué à célébrer l’idéologie du progrès technologique avec des expositions multimédia toujours plus somptueuses, même si Expo'67 Montréal a montré les signes de l'ambivalence croissante du monde développé et mis à jour le coût humain et environnemental du progrès. Tandis que les Expos des années 80 avaient abandonné toute prétention didactique, l'Expo 2000 Hannover, avec son emphase presque pénitente sur « le développement soutenable », a montré sa foi renouvelée dans le potentiel didactique du concept de l’Expo. La dernière Expo, Expo 2005 Aïchi, a également mis en avant les soucis environnementaux dans un esprit d'optimisme plus traditionnel. Bien qu'au début du XXIème siècle les Expos soient beaucoup moins importantes et disséminent la connaissance des innovations technologiques de leurs prédécesseurs, elles restent des rituels sociaux internationaux importants qui réunissent le monde, célèbrent les aspirations de l'humanité et aident à réfléchir aux conséquences du progrès sur la nature. Tandis que les Expos ont, en grande partie, maintenu une vue optimiste du progrès scientifique et technologique conçu au cours de la seconde partie du

49 Edification and Pleasure at International Expositions, 1851-2005 Anthony Swift

XIXème siècle, ces dernières années, les Expos se sont également concentrées sur les problèmes et sur les possibilités liés au progrès, une tendance qui est susceptible de continuer.

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Technique, politique et spectacle : L’ascenseur hydraulique de M. Édoux Volker Barth

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52 Technique, politique et spectacle : L’ascenseur hydraulique de M. Édoux Volker Barth

I. Introduction

L’Exposition universelle de 1867 se tient au Champ de Mars à Paris entre le 1er avril et le 3 novembre. Elle accueille 52.200 exposants et plus de 11 millions de visiteurs. Il s’agit d’une fête de la technique par excellence et d’un haut lieu des innovations de toute sorte. Bien que sa conception théorique et son ambition intellectuelle dépassent largement la notion de foire industrielle élaborée au premier XIXe siècle, le spectacle de la technique, sous forme des dernières inventions, y est omniprésent. Des dix groupes de l’exposition, le groupe V (Produits (bruts et œuvrés) des industries extractives) intègre de loin le plus grand nombre d’exposants. Le groupe VI (Instruments et procédés des arts usuels), qui est installé dans la Galerie des machines, occupe le quatrième rang mais est le plus grand en surface.1 Or, cette « fête de la matière »2 à visée encyclopédiste ne se contente pas d’être un miroir des avancés artistiques, scientifiques et industriels. L’exposition est conçue comme un événement éducatif à grande échelle ; un lieu de vulgarisation des secrets du savoir-faire pour une foule sans précédent. Les organisateurs invitent des dizaines de milliers d’ouvriers, d’instituteurs et d’écoliers de toute la France pour leur permettre, aux frais du gouvernement, de connaître et d’expérimenter les forces de l’innovation.

L’Exposition universelle de 1867 fut un des grands théâtres de l’innovation du XIXe siècle. Ici, les dernières trouvailles industrielles, artisanales et artistiques furent mises en scène d’une façon spectaculaire et novatrice. La tâche de l’innovation consistait aussi à attirer la foule et à assurer ainsi le succès financier d’un événement aussi coûteux qu’ambitieux. Mais ni la technique ni le spectacle ne furent des fins en soi. En 1867, les organisateurs ne cherchent pas à construire un divertissement purement mondain, ce qui n’empêchera néanmoins pas cette exposition de devenir un premier grand symbole de l’avènement de la société de spectacle. Les responsables se fixent un but explicitement éducatif. A l’aide de centaines de milliers d’objets ils veulent informer le public et populariser la science et la technique. L’exposition remplit une fonction de communication au même droit que ses contemporains, les premiers musées modernes, ou encore la presse qui, elle aussi, franchit le pas vers la communication de masse au même moment. L’exposition est un médium ; elle ouvre les portes sur le monde.

Ne serait-ce que par ce souci de communication, le spectacle des innovations techniques de 1867 ne pouvait pas être politiquement neutre. La question : « Quoi montrer, à qui et de quelle manière » relève nécessairement du domaine politique car elle implique des choix

1 Respectivement 11.401 (groupe V) et 6.126 (groupe VI). Cf. La Commission Impériale (éd.): Rapport sur l’Exposition universelle de 1867 à Paris. Précis des opérations et listes des collaborateurs. Avec un appendice sur l’avenir des expositions, la statistique des opérations, les documents officiels et le plan de l’Exposition, Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1869, 446. 2 Le Monde, 2 avril 1867, 1.

53 Technique, politique et spectacle : L’ascenseur hydraulique de M. Édoux Volker Barth

idéologiques. Comme sa désignation l’indique, la visée de cette manifestation inouïe est universelle ; elle s’adresse à l’humanité entière. L’Exposition universelle de 1867 s’engage à faire le point sur l’état actuel du monde pour influencer son développement futur. Le rassemblement artificiel des objets les plus exceptionnels dans un espace restreint va de pair avec la vision utopique d’un futur proche où tous ces objets seront à la disposition de tous. Dans ce sens, l’exposition montre un monde comme il devrait être ; elle définit le sens dans lequel la civilisation devrait évoluer. Les nombreuses innovations indiquent une amélioration globale ; elles sont à l’origine de l’optimisme et de l’espoir qui émane de cette rencontre de peuples.

L’amélioration visualisée par une mise en scène spectaculaire est conceptualisée sous le terme « progrès ». Ce concept clé du XIXe siècle trouve sa consécration matérielle dans les objets de l’Exposition universelle de 1867. Au Champ de Mars, cette idée spécifiquement occidentale s’impose à tous. Les nations européennes montrent le chemin au reste du monde. Ainsi, les nations industrialisées, et plus que les autres, la France en tant que pays hôte, réclament et incarnent le rôle de leader politique chargé de veiller sur la progression de la civilisation. Dominatrice au sein de l’exposition, la France se présente sûre et à l’aise dans sa position de force et de supériorité. Comme elle procure le modèle le plus limpide des bienfaits du progrès, la section française ne peut qu’avoir une forte connotation morale. Les innovations techniques fournissent la preuve que la France met ses forces et ses talents au service de la civilisation universelle. Ses inventeurs géniaux sont des exemples à suivre pour tous les citoyens de la planète. Grâce à leur intelligence et leur créativité, le sort de leurs concitoyens est continuellement allégé. L’éducation comme partage égal du savoir est la base du bon fonctionnement et de la saine évolution de toutes les sociétés. En tant que temple de l’éducation, l’Exposition universelle de 1867 est conçue comme une initiative aussi nécessaire que moralisatrice.

Mais la vision des organisateurs n’est pas toujours conforme avec les impressions du public. Car les visiteurs se rendent à l’exposition pour leurs propres raisons. Dans leur majorité ils cherchent d’abord l’amusement et ensuite l’instruction. La communication ou bien l’enseignement de la technique en sont considérablement affectés et altérés. Car la compréhension des innovations techniques hautement complexes par un public composé d’amateurs n’est nullement assurée. Sans consultation des catalogues et autres descriptions, le sens et le fonctionnement des innovations sont bien souvent incompréhensibles. En 1867, la première exposition d’un ascenseur, machine alors inconnue et mystérieuse, en fournit l’exemple. Cette innovation qui va bientôt changer le monde reste alors largement incomprise. Le public y voit surtout un gadget et l’utilise comme tel. La machine cause des réactions imprévisibles et surprenantes loin des leçons politiques et morales imaginées par les organisateurs.

54 Technique, politique et spectacle : L’ascenseur hydraulique de M. Édoux Volker Barth

II. Le spectacle des innovations

L’Exposition universelle de 1867 ne s’adresse pas aux seuls industriels et scientifiques mais à un public aussi vaste que possible. Il ne s’agit nullement d’une foire industrielle surdimensionnée. Les très nombreuses innovations techniques n’y sont pas mises en scène pour un public susceptible de comprendre de prime abord les avancées qu’elles représentent dans leurs secteurs respectifs. L’exposition s’inscrit dans un vaste processus de vulgarisation de la science qui caractérise la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle européen. Cette « encyclopédie vivante » doit apprendre quelque chose à celui qui la consulte.3 L’enseignement visuel dépasse largement l’amélioration pointue qu’indique telle ou telle machine. Les organisateurs cherchent à former un ensemble aussi vaste que possible ; un ensemble qui, sur le plan conceptuel, englobe le monde entier. L’exposition s’adresse ou mieux, elle concerne, chaque habitant de la planète.

Sa fonction est de symboliser le progrès général compris comme loi inhérente à l’espèce humaine, comme principe de civilisation. Les visiteurs se voient présenté le spectacle d’une civilisation humaine en constante progression. L’exposition universelle se veut la preuve de cette idée positiviste qui postule que l’homme améliore sans cesse son propre sort grâce à sa capacité de réflexion et de travail. La technique en exposition montre que l’homme dompte la nature et l’utilise pour se faciliter la vie. Ainsi, la visualisation du progrès par le biais des dernières innovations est à la fois le constat et la communication d’un espoir réel pour chaque visiteur. La bonne nouvelle de l’exposition est qu’un meilleur avenir est objectivement observable ; la solution de tous les problèmes se dessine à l’horizon.

Alors, il n’y a aucune contradiction entre un enseignement sérieux reposant sur des lois scientifiques et un spectacle technique fort divertissant. La Commission impériale, instance suprême de l’Exposition universelle de 1867, invite les exposants à arranger leurs sections et leurs objets en accord avec ce principe. Elle leur rappelle que le visiteur « veut contempler un coup d’œil féerique et non pas des produits similaires et uniformément groupés ».4 Selon les organisateurs, le spectacle n’est nullement l’ennemi de l’éducation. Il en constitue bien au contraire une partie importante puisqu’il met l’esprit du visiteur dans des dispositions favorables pour retenir la leçon. Celui-ci ne doit pas lutter contre la fatigue et l’ennui d’un enseignement sec et stérile. Il reste plutôt bouche bée face aux merveilles de la technique qui provoquent sa curiosité et stimulent sa réflexion.

Ce n’est donc nullement paradoxal que l’Exposition universelle de 1867 dont la volonté de systématiser, classifier et expliquer le monde d’une façon objective dépasse toutes les autres expositions universelles tenues à ce jour soit on ne peut plus spectaculaire. Les exposants

3 L’Exposition Universelle de 1867. Guide de l’exposant et du visiteur avec des documents officiels, un plan et une vue de l’Exposition, Paris: Hachette, 1866, 21. 4 Ibid., 13.

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suivent le conseil de la Commission impériale à la lettre. Ceci d’autant plus qu’ils sont privés du droit de vente par les organisateurs qui craignent une possible dérive commerciale jugée incompatible avec le but éducatif recherché. Les objets ne sont pas des marchandises ; ils servent à illustrer et à célébrer le progrès.

Les exposants s’empressent d’arranger leurs produits d’une façon qui intéresse, plaise et divertisse. Après l’interdiction de vente dont ils n’ont été informés que quelques semaines avant l’ouverture, ils essaient de marquer les esprits par une présentation sensationnelle de leurs objets pour graver leurs noms dans la mémoire des visiteurs. Leur souci de publicité et de marketing se révèle être tout à fait compatible avec le concept positiviste de la Commission impériale.

Par conséquent, la présentation n’insiste nullement sur les procédures industrielles, le mode de fonctionnement technique ou bien les améliorations réalisées par rapport aux prédécesseurs. Grâce à de nombreux journaux, le visiteur intéressé peut apprendre tous ces détails et s’informer sur toutes ces questions. Mais à l’intérieur de l’exposition, les objets ne sont pas accompagnés par des panneaux explicatifs. L’Exposition universelle de 1867 cherche à communiquer autre chose que la technologie.

Dans ce microcosme, l’emplacement de l’objet correspond à sa fonction pour le progrès de l’humanité. Or, le système de classification poursuit un double but extrêmement ambitieux. Il veut d’abord rassembler la totalité des objets produits par l’homme et l’inscrire dans un système logique. La visée de l’Exposition universelle de 1867 est totale ; elle doit réunir « autant que possible, les œuvres d’art, les produits industriels de toutes les contrées et, en général, les manifestations de toutes les branches de l’activité humaine. »5 Ensuite et plus important : le système de classification doit rendre intelligible cette masse inouïe d’objets. Il doit les arranger d’une façon réfléchie qui reflète l’idéal progressiste. Bref : la classification doit construire un sens autour d’eux.

Ce sens ne réside pas dans des développements ponctuels des différents secteurs spécialisés. Ce sens, c’est-à-dire le message que les organisateurs cherchent à faire passer, émerge non pas de l’objet isolé mais de l’ensemble des objets. Il ne s’agit pas, en premier lieu, de démontrer que telle ou telle question scientifique ou technique est désormais résolue. Ce que le visiteur est censé comprendre ou bien expérimenter n’est pas l’exploit ponctuel que l’innovation représente, mais bien sa contribution au progrès général. Les objets de l’exposition ont pour vocation de prouver les forces bénignes du progrès pour l’humanité entière représentée par les nations participantes.

5 La Commission Impériale (éd.) (1867): Exposition universelle de 1867 à Paris. Documents officiels publiés successivement du 1er Février 1865 au 1er Avril, Paris : Imprimerie impériale, 2.

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En 1867, la mise en scène du progrès comporte les éléments les plus divers. Le nombre très élevé des objets exposés ne laisse aucune place à l’uniformité. Outre qu’à la liberté de mise en scène,6 l’énorme diversité de la manifestation est due à sa visée universaliste. Outre les machines l’exposition englobe aussi bien les Beaux-arts (groupe I) que les « Objets spécialement exposés en vue d’améliorer la condition physique et morale de la population » (groupe X). La prétention de totalité est à l’origine même d’une variété extrême des formes et des arrangements.

D’une manière générale, on peut qualifier l’Exposition universelle de 1867 comme étant délibérément théâtrale. Elle ne laisse pas aux visiteurs la liberté de choisir leur perspective mais leur impose la sienne. La mise en scène de l’exposition de 1867 se caractérise par l’effort de ne fournir qu’une seule approche visuelle qui correspond à une seule approche idéologique. Parfois, les sections sont explicitement arrangées comme des scènes de théâtre où l’objet se produit en tant qu’indicateur du fonctionnement du monde. Les objets théâtralisent le règlement général de l’exposition universelle. L’histoire qui y est mise en scène est celle de l’évolution de la civilisation; les prouesses techniques sont les apogées temporaires du progrès.

D’innombrables socles et vitrines témoignent de la préoccupation d’élever l’objet aux yeux du spectateur. Or, ce sont, eux aussi, des objets élaborés et possèdent leurs propres qualités esthétiques. Ainsi, la différenciation entre objet exposé et auxiliaire d’exposition est très difficile ; la distinction entre objet principal et objet secondaire incertaine. Le mélange entre plusieurs objets crée des figures complètement inédites et souvent étranges.

Exposition prussienne du charbon et du sel

Des arrangements supplémentaires en rajoutent au spectacle. Des estrades aident à regrouper les objets ; grâce à des arrangements en immenses pyramides, les câbles marins et fils de fer deviennent une véritable attraction populaire. Certains exposants installent des baldaquins qui donnent aux objets un air cérémonial allant jusqu’à l’allusion religieuse. L’objet industriel se transforme en quelque chose de transcendantal. Même les objets les plus ordinaires doivent provoquer des sensations.

6 La Commission impériale se réservant seulement un droit de veto, qu’elle n’utilise pas d’ailleurs, en cas d’incompatibilité de la mise en scène avec l’esprit général de l’exposition.

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Le souci esthétique est omniprésent et prononcé. Cette quatrième exposition universelle met l’objet industriel à la même place idéologique que l’œuvre d’art. L’exposition proclame une beauté de la technique qui est aussi bien esthétique qu’idéale. La mise en scène sert à célébrer cette beauté et à créer une aura autour des objets. L’objet devient ainsi quelque chose de mystérieux, presque un secret ; son message va au-delà de sa matérialité.

L’Exposition universelle de 1867 est la fête du progrès, la célébration d’un modèle de développement harmonieux et universel, bref : la société du futur mise en marche. Logiquement les machines exposées sont elles aussi, dans la limite du possible, mises en marche. Les pianos et les orgues en exposition sont utilisés pour des concerts. Des expérimentations, des démonstrations et des conférences de tout sorte familiarisent les visiteurs avec l’objet. Le bruit et les mouvements de ces appareils qui se côtoient fascinent les spectateurs et constituent un spectacle inédit qui attire les foules.

III. L’idéologie des innovations

Pourquoi cette mise en scène ? Qu’est-ce que ce théâtre de la technique, ce spectacle du progrès est censé transmettre ? L’interdiction de vente démontre les intentions fondamentales des organisateurs, à savoir, clairement différencier l’exposition universelle d’un événement purement industriel. Bien entendu, les membres de la Commission impériale se soucient des questions commerciales, mais les buts qu’ils poursuivent sont principalement d’ordre politique et idéologique. L’exposition doit modeler le futur à travers un inventaire du présent. Surtout, elle doit constituer la preuve que le concept de progrès s’applique aux industries, aux sciences et à l’art et qu’il est profitable pour tous. Comme la quasi-totalité des ministres du gouvernement de Napoléon III siège dans la Commission impériale, les triomphes de la technique prennent des allures de propagande politique.

Au Champ de Mars, la technique montre la force de celui qui la génère. Or, ce n’est pas celle de l’exposant, mais celle de la nation qu’il représente. Les innovations présentées figurent comme sceau de qualité, comme bulletin de santé d’une culture nationale. Ainsi, l’Exposition universelle de 1867 se flatte d’être un tournoi pacifique des nations. Dans son enceinte, elles luttent paisiblement pour le prestige et pour l’honneur de la première place dans une supposée hiérarchie globale. La réalité est bien entendu tout autre avec la guerre au Paraguay qui se déroule pendant l’exposition même ou bien la peur générale d’une guerre imminente entre la France et la Prusse qui occupe les esprits en 1867. Mais l’exposition prône et revendique inlassablement une lutte avec des armes intellectuelles qui se déroule dans le champ de la science, de l’innovation et de la création.

Ce spectacle de la technique par nations contribue directement au prestige de l’État. Car c’est sous forme d’État-Nation qu’une culture nationale devient réalité sur le plan politique.

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L’exposition universelle est un formidable moyen pour accélérer ou bien stabiliser ce processus. Un moyen pour l’Allemagne qui n’a pas encore réalisé ce rêve mais qui se présente sous l’égide de la Prusse déjà comme État allemand unifié. Mais aussi un moyen pour les veilles nations comme la France ou l’Angleterre. La stupéfiante grandeur de leurs sections ne laisse aucun doute quant à la santé de la culture nationale et à la force de l’État- Nation. Les innovations présentées en abondance font à la fois preuve des progrès techniques et de l’avancement national réalisé. La France qui occupe à elle seule 50% de la surface de l’exposition mène clairement la marche.

Tel est le but de la Commission impériale qui se compose des puissants de la politique et de l’économie de la nation française.7 Au milieu de toutes ces machines, l’allusion au gouvernement nationale est explicite. L’exposition prouve la puissance du régime en place qui est visiblement capable d’inviter, d’abriter et de représenter le monde entier. Certains objets explicitent le lien entre spectacle de l’innovation et puissance politique. Ainsi, les visiteurs peuvent contempler les statues de monarques et chefs d’État de la quasi-totalité des nations participantes. Au milieu des produits des industries nationales ils rendent hommage au pouvoir en place. Là encore la France montre l’exemple. Sur les murs du palais, le public découvre des citations de Napoléon III, mais aussi de son oncle Napoléon Bonaparte, pour montrer que le pouvoir de l’empereur actuel s’inscrit dans la logique des choses. Parmi toutes les merveilles de l’industrie française, au bon milieu de la Galerie des machines, se dresse la statue d’un général romain.8 Tenant une couronne de lauriers, il symbolise aussi bien la paix des peuples que les jeux olympiques qui se développeront plus tard au sein même des expositions universelles. Mais ce noble héros fait surtout allusion à la suprématie française sur le monde qui s’inscrit d’une façon quasi naturelle aussi bien dans l’exposition que dans l’histoire dont elle semble annoncer la prochaine étape. Tout comme les empereurs romains, la France a pour vocation sinon de régner sur le monde, au moins d’imposer, d’offrir la civilisation française à l’ensemble de la planète.

La glorification de la technique justifie la prise de pouvoir. Rien n’étonne moins dans un événement organisé par l’élite du Second Empire. L’Empereur Napoléon III lui-même définissait, au début de son règne, la nature de celui-ci dans les termes suivants :

Nous avons d’immenses territoires incultes à défricher, des routes à ouvrir, des ports à creuser, des rivières à rendre navigables, des canaux à terminer, notre réseau de chemin de fer à compléter. […] Voilà comment je comprendrais l’Empire. […] Vous êtes mes soldats.9

7 Outre la quasi-totalité du cabinet de l’Empereur, on trouve dans la Commission Impériale, symboliquement présidée par le fils de Napoléon III, Michel Chevalier, Eugène Schneider, Paulin Talabot, Émile Pereire et James de Rothschild. Le commissaire général de l’exposition est Frédéric Le Play. 8 Malheureusement les photographies ne permettent pas d’identifier avec exactitude le personnage représenté et, curieusement, l’objet ne figure pas dans le catalogue de l’exposition. 9 Discours de Bordeaux de Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (9 octobre 1852), in : Pourquoi réhabiliter le Second Empire. Actes du colloque organisé par le Souvenir Napolónien (21.10.1995), Paris : Plon, 144-5.

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La Grande Nation est incontestablement le primus inter pares de la fraternité de peuples forgée sur le Champ de Mars. Bien qu’il s’agisse d’une lutte pacifique pour la première place sous le soleil de la civilisation il n’y a aucun perdant. Selon l’exposition, la suprématie technique, industrielle et culturelle procure le droit et la légitimation de formuler les principes d’une civilisation universelle. Mais ces principes sont prouvés par la science, c’est-à-dire objectivement reconnus comme vrai. Par conséquent ils sont salutaires et profitables pour toutes les nations. La première des nations est déterminée par sa capacité pour résoudre les problèmes qui préoccupent tous les êtres humains. Car, dans l’esprit de l’exposition, ce qui les rassemble, ce qui les unit sur le Champ de Mars le temps d’un été, c’est la poursuite des mêmes buts et le partage des mêmes espérances. La civilisation idéale qui est inventée ici est bel et bien universelle. Elle ne se caractérise nullement par la diversité des cultures différentes mais par l’unité des préoccupations et des objectifs. Des centaines de milliers d’objets promettent et proposent de résoudre concrètement d’innombrables problèmes techniques et industriels mais aussi esthétiques et artistiques. Parmi toutes ces propositions pour un monde meilleur, l’Exposition universelle de 1867 ne laisse aucune doute sur un point : la solution ne peut être que la même pour tous.

L’exposition des colonies françaises, anglaises et portugaises au sein même de leur section nationale respective s’inscrit dans cette logique. La colonisation est légitime parce qu’elle s’inscrit dans l’évolution de la civilisation universelle. L’idée du progrès implique la mission civilisatrice qui devient une nécessité aussi bien politique que morale. La France a le devoir de montrer l’exemple, d’inciter, d’aider et d’obliger les autres nations à se hisser à son niveau.

A travers les principes d’une universalité scientifique et de la participation par nation, la célébration de la technique légitime et stabilise le pouvoir politique national. Les visiteurs ne trouvent aucun élément critique au sein de l’exposition. La présentation aussi scientifique que propagandiste est, côté français, un appel implicite à l’acceptation et à l’appui du régime de Napoléon III. Mais le message va plus loin. Au-delà de la propagande politique, la représentation tente de transmettre des valeurs morales. Théâtrale et spectaculaire, l’exposition des dernières trouvailles techniques renvoie d’une manière raffinée aux conditions de leur fabrication. Car de tels succès techniques et scientifiques sont nécessairement basés sur un certain comportement, un certain code gestuel, un certain style de vie ; bref, sur tout un état d’esprit, une morale. La mise en scène du produit en tant que sommet technique et scientifique dans son secteur, en tant qu’exemple à suivre, démontre le caractère de son producteur. Celui-ci est non seulement intelligent et talentueux mais surtout zélé et tenace. Pour arriver à un tel résultat, il n’y peut avoir de doute, il faut énormément de travail et une discipline implacable. Ces qualités doivent servir de guide pour tous les membres de la société. Ce code de comportement inhérent à l’objet sanctifié dans sa vitrine constitue un idéal à atteindre. Des objets exposés sont les pavés sur le chemin vers un monde meilleur. La contribution au progrès donne un sens aux actions de l’homme.

60 Technique, politique et spectacle : L’ascenseur hydraulique de M. Édoux Volker Barth

La maîtrise totale de son métier, démontrée par l’objet en exposition, ne peut être que le résultat d’une grande expérience jointe au souci permanent d’améliorer ses capacités. Mais l’individu n’œuvre nullement pour satisfaire ses ambitions personnelles. Son travail s’inscrit dans l’effort de toute une nation pour l’amélioration de la civilisation universelle. Le travail vise le bien de la société. C’est surtout grâce aux innombrables innovations techniques que cette exposition peut se déclarer universelle. Leurs avantages sont généraux ; ils dépassent les particularités individuelles, régionales ou nationales. Les innovations servent au bien de tous les hommes.

Au-delà de la théâtralité et du spectacle de la mise en scène de ce monde en miniature est logique et explicable. Le modèle de fabrication technique et le modèle social qui en découlent ont, comme principes fondateurs, le travail, la discipline et la rationalité. Par conséquent, chaque objet peut être jugé d’une façon objective selon sa capacité de contribuer au progrès universel. C’est précisément ce qui se passe lors de la distribution des récompenses, le 1er juillet 1867. A l’Exposition universelle, la vision du progrès résulte d’une mise en scène spectaculaire de chaque objet au sein d’une systématisation inouïe de l’ensemble des objets.

Cette visualisation du concept philosophique du progrès, compris comme un chemin droit que l’humanité poursuit vers une destination finale, trouve son plus grand éclat dans les sections techniques. Ici, l’exposition ouvre ses portes à un monde parfait. Un monde où, grâce à la technique, tout devient possible ; un monde où les intérêts divergeant des différentes classes et nations sont définitivement surmontés. Au sein de l’exposition, la technique comme arme ultime de l’homme promet la paix et annonce la libération de l’humanité de ses souffrances.

III. Étranges visions

Mais pour caractériser la communication et l’enseignement des dernières innovations techniques d’une façon adéquate, il faut distinguer entre les intentions des auteurs, la mise en scène des objets et leur réception par les spectateurs. L’Exposition universelle de 1867 disposait de moyens financiers, personnels et politiques tout à fait considérables pour formuler et exprimer sa vision du monde. Néanmoins, il n’est pas plausible de supposer que le public aurait toujours et nécessairement compris les messages diffusés comme tels. Il est vrai que d’innombrables publications de toute sorte produites autour de l’exposition universelle laissent croire que la majorité des visiteurs accepte le discours des organisateurs et adhère, le temps d’une visite, à la glorification du Second Empire en tant qu’exemple universelle. Or, il existe également des documents qui témoignent d’une incompréhension des visiteurs vis-à-vis des objets techniques.

61 Technique, politique et spectacle : L’ascenseur hydraulique de M. Édoux Volker Barth

Face à certaines machines, les spectateurs ne s’expliquent pas toujours le fonctionnement ; ils n’entendent pas le principe de base. Quelquefois, ils ne comprennent même pas à quoi elles servent. Ainsi, certains visiteurs restent sans explication et sans parole une fois confrontés à la machine mystérieuse dont l’utilité est loin d’être apparente. Dans ces cas la machine provoque des sensations aussi surprenantes qu’inattendues. D’une manière générale, le public est plutôt troublé par l’ensemble inédit de cette exposition qui met côte à côte les objets les plus divers.

Les vues d’ensemble qui sont possibles depuis la Galerie des machines font apparaître des mélanges étranges et bizarres. Tenu à distance, le visiteur n’arrive plus à distinguer où une machine s’arrête et où l’autre commence.

Les formes étranges et variées enchevêtrées les unes dans les autres, l’activité régulière des roues, des pistons, des balanciers, l’éclat dur du fer poli, le mouvement continu des engrenages qui se mordent en tournant, et des bandes de cuir qui glissent et se déroulent sans fin, tout cela surprend, étonne, fascine le regard : le bruit que font en se mouvant ces automates de fer, qui représentent toutes les formes du labeur humain et tous nos besoins, les trilles continus du cuir frôlant le fer, les vibrations incessantes des tiges métalliques, les grincements des rouages, les grondements constants des moteurs et des trépidations des roues mêlées au choc des pistons, soutenus comme par un accompagnement de base, par le gémissement grave, monotone et rythmique des lourds balanciers, font un concert sourd, étrange, semblable à un immense bourdonnement d’abeille sur un torrent, auquel se mêle, reliant ensemble toutes les parties, la voix sonore chanter l’hosannah du travail, l’hymne viril et grandiose de la puissance et de la gloire sociale.10

Cette aliénation face à la technique va jusqu’à générer de nouveaux comportements culturels ; elle est à l’origine des sensations alternées. Tel est le cas de la première exposition d’un ascenseur hydraulique par Léon Édoux dans la classe 65 (Matériel et procédés du génie civil, des travaux publics et de l’architecture) du sixième groupe de l’exposition. Édoux, né dans la Vienne le 29 mai 1827, ancien employé dans les mines du Nord et aux chemins de fer de la Compagnie d’Orléans, avait développé ce système d’ascenseur à partir de 1864.11 Lorsqu’il écrivit, l’année de sa mort, le rapport français sur les ascenseurs exposés au World’s Columbian Exhibition à Chicago en 1893 il évoqua, non sans orgueil, ces fameuses machines « […] que j’ai appelé[e]s ascenseurs, lorsque j’ai créé cette industrie en France, et en ai présenté les deux premiers spécimens à l’Exposition universelle et internationale de 1867, à Paris. »12

10 Guide-Livret International de l’Exposition Universelle 1867, Paris : Lebigre-Duquesne, 1867, 278-9. 11 Cf. Dictionnaire de biographie française. Publié sous la direction de Roman D’Amat. Tome 12 : Dugueyt - Espigat-Sieurac, Paris : Librairie Letouzey et Ané, 1970, 1519. 12 Cf. Ministère du Commerce, de l’Industrie des postes et des télégraphes. Exposition Internationale de Chicago en 1893. Rapports publiés sous la direction de M. Camille Krantz. Comité 13 : Moteurs et Générateurs – Les Ascenseurs américains. Rapport de M. Léon Édoux, Ingénieur, Commissaire rapporteur, Paris : Imprimerie Nationale, 1894, 1.

62 Technique, politique et spectacle : L’ascenseur hydraulique de M. Édoux Volker Barth

Ce n’était pas tout à fait exact vu que le premier ascenseur pour passagers fut construit en 1743 à Versailles pour Louis XV.13 Les premiers ascenseurs hydrauliques verront le jour dans les années 1830 à l’intérieur de diverses fabriques européennes et notamment anglaises. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Industrial Architecture recense le tout premier modèle, appelé « teagle », dans une fabrique de textile du Lancashire.14 Mais même indépendamment de ces modèles pour marchandises, l’histoire n’a guère retenu le nom de Léon Édoux comme inventeur de l’ascenseur. Ce statut appartient depuis longtemps à l’américain Elisha Graves Otis qui travailla en tant qu’ingénieur dans une fabrique à Yonkers, New York. En 1853 Otis franchit le pas des ascenseurs pour marchandises vers ceux pour passagers en développant avec le « safety brake » (frein d’urgence) le mécanisme qui garantira la sécurité et l’intégrité des utilisateurs.15 La même année il montra son invention à l’occasion d’une exposition au Crystal Palace, lieu mythique de la première exposition universelle, ainsi qu’en 1854 à l’American Institute Fair, New York, où il n’hésita pas à couper le câble de l’appareil chargé devant les yeux du public pour démontrer l’infaillibilité de sa création.16 En 1857 Otis installa le premier ascenseur public pour passagers dans les quatre étages du Haughwout Store, New York.17

La prétention d’Édoux de réclamer sienne la paternité de l’ascenseur s’explique mieux en gardant en tête qu’il existe deux types d’ascenseur, d’où les divergences dans les appellations et la confusion quant au droit d’origine : l’ascenseur par transmission ou bien l’ascenseur hydraulique.18 Cette dernière catégorie fut la seule à occuper Léon Édoux et au sein de celle-ci ce fut effectivement lui qui développa les premiers modèles pour passagers à partir de 1864.19 Malgré ce travail tout à fait remarquable, Édoux fut, d’une certaine façon, dépassé par les innovations dans ce domaine qui ne tarderont pas à se manifester. La plus importante fut celle de Werner von Siemens qui exposa le premier ascenseur électrique à Mannheim en Allemagne en 1880. Sept ans plus tard un certain William Baxter installa le premier modèle public à base électrique à Baltimore aux Etats-Unis.20 A partir de cette époque et en concordance avec le développement vertigineux des gratte-ciels, l’ascenseur deviendra ce qu’il est aujourd’hui selon certains experts : le moyen de transport le plus utilisé au monde.

Le problème initial du modèle hydraulique et la raison de son abandon progressif fut principalement sa lenteur qui le rendit plus apte pour des bâtiments de taille réduite. Malgré

13 Cf. Lerner, K. Lee et Brenda W. Lerner (éd.): The Gale Encyclopedia of Science, vol. 2, Detroit et. al. : Thomson 32004, 1441. 14 Trinder, Barrie (éd.) : The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Industrial Architecture, Oxford: Blackwell 1992, 233. 15 Cf. Day, Lance et McNeil, Ian (éd.) : Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology, London, New York : Routledge 1996, 531. 16 Cf. Ibid., 532. 17 Cf. Lerner, K. Lee et Brenda W. Lerner, op. cit., 1441. 18 Cf. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science & Technology, vol. 6, New York: McGraw-Hill 92002, 460 ; König, Wolfgang et Wolfhard Weber (éd.): Netzwerke, Stahl und Strom (=Propyläen Technikgeschichte vol. 4), Berlin : Propyläen 1997, 201. 19 Cf. Ibid., 203. 20 Trinder, Barrie, op. cit., 233.

63 Technique, politique et spectacle : L’ascenseur hydraulique de M. Édoux Volker Barth

cela des ascenseurs hydrauliques fonctionnèrent dans les années 1870 à New York dans des immeubles d’une vingtaine d’étages.21 Charles Rollin Otis, fils de Elisha et successeur à la tête de la compagnie familiale, construit des ascenseurs hydrauliques à partir de 1878. La même année, Édoux montra un de ses modèles qui élevait ses passagers à une hauteur de 62 mètres lors de l’Exposition universelle de 1878.22

Comparé à ces dimensions, l’appareil qui fit sensation en 1867 fut relativement modeste avec une hauteur totale de 21 mètres, 252 millimètres de diamètre du piston et un poids de 2.200 kg. Chacune des deux gondoles fut attachée à quatre chaînes capables de supporter 550 kg. Ainsi, la force hydraulique servit uniquement à monter le poids des personnes qui se trouvait à l’intérieur de la machine qui pouvait en héberger jusqu’à 16 par gondole. Pour monter et descendre les 21 mètres il ne fallait pas moins de quatre minutes au total.23 Selon la hauteur du modèle il coûtait entre huit et douze mille francs.24 Le succès de l’ascenseur de Léon Édoux auprès de visiteurs qui s’empressèrent à l’utiliser fut colossal et lors d’une de ses très nombreuses visites au Champ de Mars l’Empereur lui-même en commanda un pour sa résidence à Saint Cloud.

Mais la popularité de l’ascenseur de l’exposition n’était pas fondée sur l’innovation qu’il représentait au niveau technique dont le public ne comprit pas grande chose. D’ailleurs, il ne chercha guère à l’explorer. L’attractivité était due au fait qu’il permettait aux visiteurs de monter sur le toit du Palais d’exposition et de se délecter du panorama sur le parc offert par cette position de vue. Ce point de mire devint une des grandes attractions de l’exposition et attira chaque jour une foule immense.25 La machine, jusqu’alors complètement inconnue du grand public, se transforma ainsi en symbole de l’exposition, ce qui était, selon le Programme quotidien, tout à fait compréhensible. Après tout : « Est-ce que Ad excelsiora n’est point la devise de l’époque et de l’Exposition ? »26

21 Ibid., 233. 22 König, Wolfgang et Wolfhard Weber, op. cit., 203. 23 Cf. Boissay, Charles: Les ascenseurs Édoux, in: Ducuing, François : L’Exposition universelle de 1867 Illustrée, vol. 2, Paris 1867, 213. 24 Cf. C.P.D.: L’ascenseur, L’Illustration, 12 octobre 1867, 16. Voir également Uhland, W.H. (éd.): Die Hebeapparate. Deren Construction, Anlage und Betrieb. Unter Mitwirkung vieler Fachgenossen des In- und Auslands, Jena: Hermann Costenoble, 1883, 117. 25 Cf. C.P.D.: L’ascenseur, art. cit, 16. 26 Exposition Universelle. 1867. Programme quotidien, autorisé par la Commission Impériale, Paris 1867, 24 mai 1867, 2.

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L’ascenseur hydraulique de Léon Édoux

Une fois de plus, la machine en marche rend l’exposition spectaculaire. Le public est fasciné par le miracle de la mécanique et son « curieux divertissement »27 qui procure des sensations inouïes. « Un bon jeune homme », comme il se qualifie lui-même, le décrit ainsi : « Quand les cages sont parvenues à la plate-forme supérieure, les voyageurs prennent leur volée et disparaissent sur les toits, comme des essaims d’hirondelles. »28 Ce qui étonne surtout les visiteurs, c’est l’apparente facilité de la machine à produire un tel effort. L’utilisateur ne sent nullement les forces énormes déployées si ce n’est « un petit tremblement presque imperceptible ».29 Le fait qu’en quelques secondes, il puisse s’élever dans les airs « sans douleur, sans fatigue et sans secousses »30 est cause d’étonnement. Malgré les nombreuses descriptions et explications de ce procédé mécanique dans les journaux, beaucoup de visiteurs n’arrivent pas à s’expliquer le mouvement des deux cages suspendues entre quatre immenses piliers. La compréhension de l’appareil est d’autant plus difficile que la partie située sous terre, c’est-à-dire les deux immenses pivots qui soulèvent les cages grâce à la pression hydraulique, reste complètement invisible. Logiquement les commentateurs mettent leurs lecteurs en garde contre d’éventuelles informations erronées. L’un d’eux les prévient : « Je ne sais pas trop si j’écris le vrai nom de l’aimable mécanique dont je vous envoie le dessin sous ce pli ; mais il rend suffisamment ma pensée ».31

Mais la machine provoque plus que le divertissement et l’étonnement. Elle procure une impression qui s’inscrit dans le corps pour y laisser ses traces. Le changement progressif de perspective qui résulte de l’élévation ou de la descente mécanique est complètement nouveau. La vision de l’exposition est altérée. Les objets que les visiteurs ont déjà vus et examinés au pied de la machine, leur apparaissent sous un nouvel angle auquel ils ne s’attendaient pas. « Tout d’un coup, je vis les personnes voisines, les produits exposés, la

27 Benédict R... (pour copie conforme : le Grand Jacques) : Lettre d’un bon jeune homme sur l’exposition universelle, Paris, 13 août 1867, in : Richard, Gabriel (éd.) : L’Album de l’Exposition Illustrée. Histoire pittoresque de l’Exposition universelle de 1867, Paris : C. Schiller, 1867, 340. 28 Ibid., 341. 29 Programme quotidien, op. cit., 24 mai 1867, 2. 30 Ibid. 31 Benédict R..., art. cit., 340.

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sixième galerie tout entière fondre, s’anéantir et s’engloutir dans une sorte d’abîme. »32 Cette nouvelle vision du monde émerge parce que le visiteur n’arrive pas à réaliser pendant la durée de la montée que c’est lui qui se déplace et non les objets. Jugement d’ailleurs tout relatif car l’utilisateur ne bouge absolument pas son corps. Le bon jeune homme n’est pas la seule personne qui assiste d’une manière impuissante à la confusion des émotions et aux sensations inattendues de son propre corps. Un observateur constant des expositions universelles à Paris, Hippolyte Gautier, expérimente les mêmes impressions :

A mesure que vous monterez, étranges seront vos sensations ; il vous semblera que tous les objets se dérobent sous vos pieds ; mais plus étrange encore la vue qui s’offrira à vous du haut du toit. C’est d’abord le bâtiment même de l’Exposition, immense carapace de fer et de verre ; puis c’est le vaste panorama de Paris avec ses monuments, ses flèches, ses dômes et les collines environnantes à demi effacées par une brume lointaine.33

Panorama du parc de l’exposition

Le public « reste comme frappé de stupeur ». Beaucoup de voyageurs se demandent comment « une colossale fusée de métal poli » comme cet ascenseur peut produire un mouvement qui est « aussi doux que possible ».34 Ce sont ces sensations et émotions qui intriquent, qui amusent et qui assurent la sollicitude constante de la machine de la part du public. Son fonctionnement technique, par contre, suscite très peu d’interrogations. Les visiteurs intrigués par le mystère ne cherchent pas à le résoudre. Ils le prennent comme

32 Ibid., 341. 33 Gautier, Hippolyte: Les Curiosités de l’Exposition Universelle de 1867. Suivi d’un indicateur pratique des moyens de transport, des prix d’entrée, etc. avec six plans, Paris : Ch. Delagrave, 1867, 71. Cf. Union centrale des arts décoratifs (éd.): Le livre des expositions universelles 1851-1989, Paris: Herscher, 1983, 54. 34 Boissay, art. cit., 213.

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point de départ pour utiliser et profiter de cette machine d’une autre façon. Ils la transforment en gadget pour expérimenter l’étrangeté et la nouveauté d’une ascension dont la légèreté est totalement inattendue.

Très peu nombreux sont ceux qui posent la question des champs d’applications possibles et s’interrogent ainsi sur la contribution de l’ascenseur au progrès de la civilisation tellement chère à l’Exposition universelle de 1867. Même quelques spécialistes de la technique et de ces procédures ont du mal à cerner l’utilité de l’engin. C’est le cas de l’allemand Franz Reuleaux, auteur d’une histoire de l’invention moderne en huit volumes et observateur inlassable des expositions universelles. Lors de sa visite à l’exposition de Philadelphie en 1876 il porta un jugement aussi bref que négatif sur « […] les élévateurs et ascenseurs qui montent et descendent continuellement pour le divertissement du public. La facilité du mouvement est la seule et unique raison qui nous incite à y jeter un coup d’œil. »35 D’autres commentateurs étaient certes moins dupes pour passer à coté de la révolution dans le secteur du transport qui fut annoncée par les deux cages suspendues. L’Illustration le trouva « positivement un bien-fait » pour les établissements publics ou bien les hôpitaux et Hippolyte Gautier spécula que les ascenseurs allait bientôt remplacer « nos escaliers si pénibles à gravir » puisque « chacun voudrait chercher, aux étages supérieurs, le grand air et les perspectives agréables qui manquent ordinairement aux appartements confortables. »36

IV. Conclusion

L’ascenseur hydraulique de Léon Édoux témoigne d’une autre réception et utilisation des innovations techniques que celles imaginées et espérées par les organisateurs de l’Exposition universelle de 1867. En premier lieu, le public n’y vit ni invention susceptible de changer le comportement des sociétés industrialisées ni innovation technique exemplifiant le progrès de la civilisation universelle. Pour les milliers de visiteurs qui montèrent, grâce à ce procédé ingénieux, sur le toit du Palais d’exposition l’ascenseur n’était ni plus ni moins qu’un moyen de divertissement. Un gadget spectaculaire et inédit qui servit principalement à profiter d’un panorama surprenant : celui d’un monde en miniature qui ressemblait étrangement à un gigantesque parc d’attractions. Ainsi, l’ascenseur fournit la preuve que la réception des innovations techniques lors des premières expositions universelles est infiniment plus complexe que le terme enseignement le suggère. Il prouve que les raisons des visiteurs pour se rendre à l’exposition ne furent pas les mêmes que celles des organisateurs pour créer et construire cette même exposition.

35 Reuleaux, Franz: Das Buch der Erfindungen und Industrien, vol. 8, Leipzig, Berlin: Otto Spamer 1888, 238. 36 Gautier, op. cit., 71.

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Néanmoins, la transformation de l’ascenseur en gadget par le public n’anéantit pas du tout les projets politiques et idéologiques de la Commission impériale. Car l’ascenseur fut lui aussi un signe que les problèmes les plus invraisemblables attendaient désormais leur solution. Le progrès était même capable de générer des machines pour voler vers le ciel. Cette prouesse fut réalisée par la France qui, au sein de ce modèle abrégé du monde, fut la seule nation à exposer un tel appareil. Que des ascenseurs existaient depuis un certain nombre d’années aux Etats-Unis ne fut mentionné nulle part au Champ de Mars. La machine de Léon Édoux était, elle aussi, un signe de la puissance industrielle de la France et de la vivacité et qualité de sa culture nationale. Le prestige et les mérites de l’ascenseur hydraulique n’allèrent guère à l’illustre inventeur dont le nom ne restera pas dans l’esprit du public. Le vrai profiteur fut le gouvernement français et l’Empereur Napoléon III qui prouva à ces électeurs sa capacité d’inviter et de réunir le monde dans sa capitale et d’y construire une image de la France qui pouvait servir comme exemple à suivre pour le reste de la planète. Même si les utilisateurs de l’ascenseur ne comprenaient pas vraiment à quoi servait cette bizarre machinerie, il ne pouvait y avoir de doute qu’elle représentait un exploit technique formidable qui mérite le respect et la reconnaissance. Dans ce sens, Léon Édoux fut un modèle à suivre : une performance individuelle qui s’inscrit dans un projet national pour la gloire internationale de cette nation.

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Abstract

The article addresses the question of the link between politics, spectacle and the exhibition of technical innovations on the occasion of the Paris Exposition universelle de 1867. It first examines some of the very numerous aspects of the theatrical staging of the exhibits. In a second step the ideological and political reasons for the construction of this microcosm of the world are questioned. It is argued that the display of technical novelties implied a whole set of moral values as a model for the public to aspire to. Using the example of the first exhibition of a hydraulic elevator the interaction between visitors and technologies are analysed. The reception of the innovations through the public often followed very different paths than the ones imagined by the organisers. I want to show that the spectacle and the politics ran along diverging but not contradictory lines.

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Fighting a Peaceful War: Japan at World Exhibitions in the 1860s and 1870s Daniel Hedinger

71 72 Fighting a Peaceful War1: Japan at World Exhibitions in the 1860s and 1870s Daniel Hedinger

I. The arrival of the other – Gunboat Politics and World Exhibitions

In 1852, the Netherlands – the only Western2 power with whom Japan maintained diplomatic relations – brought the news of the first World Exhibition to the Shogunate. At that time, the Japanese government had other worries: the policy of seclusion, which it had been pursuing for the last two centuries, had been put under severe pressure by the Western powers. The chosen isolation of Japan was one of the main pillars of the Shogunate's sovereign authority. Only some years earlier King William II of the Netherlands had broken with all diplomatic customs by writing a letter directly to the Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu.3 In this letter, sent in 1844, he cautioned the Shogun about the Western desire for expansion.4 Under these circumstances, the fact that the British organised an exhibition in their capital, where the “Works of Industry of All Nations”5 was showcased, was of secondary importance.6

What the Shogunate could not know was that the timely coincidence of an increasing threat from outside and the news about the first World Exhibition was not accidental. Both represented a global trend. Gunboat policy and World Fairs were facets of a double expansion: the emergence of worldwide empires on the one hand and the formation of global markets on the other hand. In his letter to the Shogun, King William II summarized the situation as follows: “The intercourse between the different nations of the earth is increasing with great rapidity. An irresistible power is drawing them together.”7 Japan could not ignore this development. In 1853, American ships forced the opening of the country and five years later the Shogunate had to sign “unequal treaties” with several Western powers. Thus, for Japan the appearance of World Exhibitions coincided with the forced opening of the country.

In this situation the government faced a dilemma: disagreement arose over the question to which extent Japan should be opened. The Shogunate feared that fundamental reforms would endanger its own power. But at the same time a revision of the “unequal treaties”, which semi-colonized Japan, was urgent. In order to strengthen the negotiating position towards the Western powers, the country had to initiate fundamental reforms. Such reforms were impossible without importing Western knowledge and technologies. From the early 1860s on, Japanese diplomats, scholars and students travelled to the West. The places where theyfound what they needed were World Exhibitions. These events, which shaped the face of

1 A Japanese visitor in Vienna 1873 characterized the World Exhibition as “a peaceful war”. Kuni Takeyuki (2004): “Hakurankai jidai no kaimatsu”, in: Matsuo Masahito (ed.): Meiji ishin to bunmei kaika (Nihon no jidaishi 21), Tokyo, 250. 2 This paper does not use any quotations marks for words as “Western”, “civilized” or “modern” in order to distinguish them from quotations. The author is aware of the relativity and historicity of such terms. 3 In Japanese the family name is mentioned first, followed by the first name. 4 “Letter of King William II of Holland to the Shogun of Japan (15.2.1844)” (1970), in: Meiji Japan Through Contemporary Sources: Volume Two: 1844–1882, Tokyo, 1-6. 5 The Londoner World Exhibition was entitled The Great Exhibition of the Works and Industries of All Nations. 6 Kuni, “Hakurankai jidai no kaimatsu”, 247. 7 “Letter of King William II of Holland to the Shogun of Japan”, 4.

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the second half of the 19th century, presented the latest technological innovations – in one single place. They enabled their visitors to perform what could be called a “Tour du monde en un jour”8. In the eyes of the Japanese, the World Exhibitions of the 1860s and 1870s were the quintessence of all that made the West strong, dangerous, desirable and worth copying.

In the following pages, I discuss what role World Exhibitions played for the transfer of Western knowledge to Japan.9 How was the Japanese reform program, which occurred after the Meiji Revolution of 1868, influenced by knowledge transferred from the World Fairs? I will argue that the history of modernisation in Meiji-Japan is mingled with the participation at World Exhibitions and the translation, introduction and adoption of the concept of exhibitions in Japan.

Moreover, Japan was entering the international stage during this period. In the early Meiji Era World Exhibitions were the main door openers for the country. In the second half of the 19th century World Fairs were the place where a mainly Western public negotiated national identities on an international level. How did Japan (re)present itself to the world? What role did the World Exhibitions play in terms of the Japanese attempts to construct themselves as a unified, modern and civilized nation?

Systematic approaches comparing Japan’s participation in World Exhibitions during the 19th century are rare.10 Most scholars tend to analyze each participation individually.11 Much more research has been done on the Vienna World Fair than on the Philadelphian one.12 Furthermore, not all facets and impacts of the Japanese contributions are given the same attention. The significance of World Exhibition for Japan’s economic modernisation, for example, is comparatively well researched.13 Scholars also point to the importance of the transfer of aesthetic concepts that were preconditions for the emergence of Japonisme, which in turn resulted in the establishment of a market for Japanese goods, mainly handicrafts.14 In contrast, the importance of World Exhibitions for the reform of the educational system in

8 This was the motto for the Exposition Coloniale Internationale, which was held 1931 in Paris. It also matches well for the world fairs of the 19th century, even thought those were more industrial competitive fairs and celebrations of progress than colonial exhibitions. 9 For a theoretical discussion of transfer see Osterhammel, Jürgen (2003): “Transferanalyse und Vergleich im Fernverhältnis”, in: Kaelble, Hartmut and Jürgen Schriewer (ed.): Vergleich und Transfer: Komparatistik in den Sozial-, Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften, Frankfurt am Main, 439-66. 10 One exception is Yoshimi Shunyas Hakurankai no seijigaku: Manazashi no kindai, Tokyo 1992. 11 For the Vienna World Exhibition see for example the detailed study of Tsunoyama Yukihiro (2000): Uīn bankokuhaku no kenkyū, Suita. For Paris 1867 Matsudoshi Tojō Rekishikan (ed.) (1992): Bunmei kaika no akebono wo mita otokotachi: Keiō sannen kenfutsu shisetsudan no meiji, Matsudo and Lockyer, Angus (2002): “Japans in Paris, 1867”, in: Barth, Volker (ed.): Identity and Universality. Am commemoration of 150 years of Universal Exhibitions, Paris, 91-108. 12 Kuni (2005): Hakurankai no jidai: Meiji seifu no hakurankai seisaku, Tokyo. 13 For the correlation of economic development and exhibitions see for example the source collection Meiji zenki sangyō hattatsushi shiryō: Volume 1-240, Tokyo 1959. 14 See for example Lambourne, Lionel (2005): Japonisme: Cultural Crossing between Japan and the West, Berlin. Wichmann, Siegfried (1980): Japonismus: Ostasien – Europa: Begegnungen in der Kunst des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, Hersching.

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Japan has been largely neglected.15 This is surprising since Japanese elites regarded reforms in the educational and school system as highly important. In 1872, the Emperor announced: “In the future there should not be a single family anywhere in the country with any uneducated member.”16 World Exhibitions served as a place where the Japanese elites informed themselves about modern Western school systems. Japan had to present its achievements in reforming the educational system as well. In the following, the paper examines the significance of the 1860s and 1870s World Exhibitions for the Japanese educational reforms. The second chapter analyzes the transfer of educational knowledge from World Exhibitions to Japan. The third chapter describes how Japan represented itself and in particular its educational reforms at International Exhibitions.

II. “Knowledge and Wisdom should be searched in the whole World”17

During the political turbulences, which followed the forced opening of Japan and the “unequal treaties”, World Exhibitions were not at the top of the Shogunate’s agenda for almost ten years. But in the 1860s, it became clear to the Japanese government that despite its xenophobic rhetoric, independence could only be maintained by substantial, Western-inspired reforms. The acquirement of Western knowledge became crucial.

In 1862, the government sent a mission to Europe, which visited the second World Exhibition in London. Most of the Japanese participants did not recognize or understand the importance or use of this event. One of the exceptions was Fukuzawa Yukichi, who participated as an interpreter in the mission. In this function he attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition in front of the South Kensington Museum. Fukuzawa was the first Japanese to explain the concept and function of the World Exhibition to a wide Japanese public. About this institution he noted 1866 in his book, Things Western (seiyō jijō), a book that made him the mastermind of Japan’s radical opening towards the West in the years around the Meiji revolution:

[…] in the huge cities of the West there are from time to time big meetings to show manufactured items. They are announced to the whole world. There various famous products of the different nations are collected; useful, new equipments and old things are shown to the people from all over the world. Such an event is called the World Exhibition.18

Crucial for the successful introduction of the concepts of exhibitions in Japan was, above all,

15 An exception is Ishizugi Minoru, Kyōiku hakubutsukan to meiji no kodomo, Tokyo 1986. But this book is mainly about the establishment of museums in Japan. 16 “Gakusei ōseidasaresho (2. August 1872)”, in: Miscellaneous (1994): Nihonshi shiryōshū, Tokyo, 249. 17 Quotation out of the so-called Five Principles of 1868. See “Gokajō no seimon (14. 3. 1868)”, in: Miscellaneous (1994): Nihonshi shiryōshū, Tokyo, 240. 18 Fukuzawa (2002): Seiyō jijō, in: Saucier, Marion and Nishikawa Shunsaku (ed.): Fukuzawa Yukichi chosakushū: Daiikkai, Tokyo, 49-50.

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the creation of a new word: with the choice of hakurankai (博覧会)19 and bankoku hakurankai

(万国博覧会) for Exhibition and World Exhibition respectively, Fukuzawa conceptualised the new terms, which are still the standard translations today. Literally, hakurankai means something like “a meeting for seeing many things”. This translation word was very easily understood by the Japanese. In addition, Fukuzawa explained the goal and use of the world ‘exhibition’ in Things Western as follows:

The main goal of a World Exhibition is the reciprocal teaching and learning. […] So, at World Fairs, ideas and thoughts are exchanged. If you are examining old and new things from different countries, you should have an eye for the history and conventions of these countries and then you have to judge as if you are observing intelligent or stupid people […]. That is why in my opinion [World Exhibitions] are of great use to civilisation.20

According to Fukuzawa, World Exhibitions served to exchange knowledge. For Japan – in his eyes an uncivilized, backward country – such an event was predominantly a place to learn and to acquire knowledge. International Exhibitions were also a platform where different countries presented themselves as independent nations.

With the conceptualisation of the word hakurankai, Fukuzawa translated crucial categories of exhibitions to Japan: his translation and explanation of the phenomenon introduced their double character – industrial and economic competition on one hand and national self- representation and self-creation on the other.21 Fukuzawa considered World Exhibitions not only as copies or miniatures of the world, but also as a tool to advance global civilisation. In this way, exhibitions became a cornerstone of the civilisation and enlightenment discourse in the early Meiji Era. For Japan, the participation in such events marked the opening of the country, not only towards the outside, but also toward its own people.

Even the Shogun did read Things Western.22 In the late 1860s, the Shogunate recognized the importance of World Exhibitions. In 1867, the government sent a delegation to Paris, where Japan became a participant for the first time.23 Because of the raging civil war in Japan, the mission itself was not sufficiently prepared and equipped. Under such circumstances, the relatively small delegation was not able to collect the knowledge presented by other nations systematically and to transfer it to Japan.24 The Shogunate did not have the resources to participate on a large scale in the World Exhibition.

19 博 (haku [expendet, broadly], 覧 (ran [see, regard]), and 会 (kai [meeting, society]. 20 Fukuzawa, seiyō jijō, 50. 21 See Tomio Kentaro (1997): “Visions of Modern Space: Expositions and Museums in Meiji-Japan”, in: Hardacre, Helen and Adam Kern (ed.): New Directions in the Study of Meiji Japan, New York, 723. 22 Takahashi Hiromichi (1997): Fukuzawa Yukichi no shisō to gendai, Fukuoka, 25. 23 For the World Exhibition in Paris 1867 see Matsudoshi, Bunmei kaika no akebono wo mita otokotachi; Lockyer (2002). 24 For Paris 1867 detailed Japanese reports are rare, compared with later participations at World Exhibitions.

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Although some information about the West reached Japan in the 1860s through persons who had taken part in World Exhibitions, the transfer of knowledge remained selective and unsystematic. Regarding the education system, no noteworthy import of knowledge can be registered, even though people like Fukuzawa vehemently argued for reforms. The official participation in World Fairs during the 15 years of civil unrest after the forced opening of the country mirrors Japan’s ambiguous reaction to the challenges imposed by the West. On the one hand, the very existence of International Exhibitions symbolises the crisis in which Japan had been put by the Western expansion. On the other hand, for the few Japanese visitors of World Exhibitions, these events appeared to be a way out of this crisis. In the 1860s, the concept of exhibition conceptualised by Fukuzawa remained largely a promise for the future, even though some leaders – among them the Shogun himself – appreciated his ideas about the functions and goals of a World Exhibition and his ideas about the role Japan should play in it. However, they were not able to implement the new concept of exhibitions. One reason for this was the absence of a centralized exhibition policy. As a result, before the 1870s the Japanese visits were organised and equipped inadequately. But this situation underwent a radical change with the Meiji Revolution of 1868.

Parenthesis I: The Meiji Revolution of 1868

On the night of December 2, 1868, insurgents occupied the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, and the next morning, the 15 year-old Emperor proclaimed the restoration of the imperial power. The Shogunate, which had lasted over 250 years, of the Tokugawa family in Japan came to an abrupt end. The decree of the young Emperor not only restored the imperial rule, but it also marked the beginning of a set of reforms, which changed the Japanese society fundamentally during the two decades following 1868. The young Emperor chose the name Meiji for the new era. This government slogan, which can be translated as “enlightened government,” stood for the changes. However, the Emperor did not head these reforms, he only symbolised and represented them. A few powerful politicians, the so-called Meiji oligarchs, made the decisions. These men had all participated in the revolt against the Shogunate and descended mainly from the south-western provinces of Japan. Their rule was stable and the power remained in their hands until the beginning of the 20th century. Therefore the word restoration, which is used since the Meiji Era to describe the coup d’état of 1868 and the political changes that followed, is misleading. Given the consequence of the reforms and the duration of the process it is more appropriate to speak of a revolution.25

In the early 1870s a series of reforms shook the country. Using the slogan, bunmei kaika – “civilisation and enlightenment,” the new government implemented Western-oriented

25 Revolution is here understood as a “rapid, basic transformation of a country’s state and class structure, and of its dominant ideology”. For this definition of Theda Skocpol, see Foran, John (1993): “Theories of Revolution Revisited: Toward a Fourth Generation?”, Sociological Theory 1, 9-10.

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modernisation measures. First, the feudal lords had to give back their domains, which were converted into modern administrative units. This process marked the beginning of the establishment of a unified nation, with Tokyo, the former Edo, as its new capital. Secondly, the new government abolished the status privileges of the samurai and cancelled their monthly stipends traditionally paid in rice. A tax revision, the introduction of the general conscription and compulsory education followed. The radical reforms encountered resistance. All over the country violence occurred. But considering the consequences of the reforms, the resistance remained marginal and unsuccessful. Contemporaries were well aware how radically the changes were. One of the first japanologists, Basil Hall Chamberlain, who lived in Japan since 1873, wrote twenty years later in his work Things Japanese:

To have lived through the transition stage of modern Japan makes a man feel preternaturally old; for here he is in modern times, with the air full of talk about bicycles and bacilli and ‘sphere of influence’, and yet he can himself distinctly remember the Middle Ages. The dear old Samurai, who first initiated the present writer into the mysteries of the Japanese language, wore a queue and two swords. This relic of feudalism now sleeps in Nirvana.26

As a consequence of the Meiji revolution, the new government centralized the planning and organization for the Japanese participation in World Exhibitions. This became first apparent during the preparation of the Vienna World Exhibition in 1873. In order to document the whole exhibition systematically, the government formed the “Imperial Japanese Commission for the World Exhibition in Vienna”, which was integrated into “the Office for Exhibitions”.27 96 members were appointed; numerous had already visited such events before the revolution.28 Ōkuma Shigenobu was to lead the delegation as president.29 There were also other important members of the new government, such as Inoue Kaoru and Shibusawa Eiichi, who belonged to it.30 As it was customary in the early Meiji Era, some foreign advisors also joined the group. Thus Gottfried Wagner and Alexander de Siebold played a crucial role during the preparation phase. As director of the Commission, the government elected Sano Tsunetami31, who had already visited the Paris World Exhibition in 1867. In the summer of 1872, Sano Tsunetami outlined five objectives for Vienna, which he sent for confirmation to the Council of Ministers. The acquisition of knowledge was the central point of this outline;

26 Basil Hall Chamberlain (1891): Things Japanese, London, 1, citation in Gordon, Andrew (2003): A modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to the Present. New York, Oxford, 61-2. 27 Kokushi daijiten, “hakurankai”, Volume 11, 509 and Ishizugi, Kyōiku to hakubutsukan to meiji no kodomo, 153. 28 A list with the names of all members can be found in: La Commission Impériale Japonaise (ed.) (1873): Notice sur l’Empire du Japon et sur sa participation à l’exposition universelle de Vienne: 1873, Yokohama, 77-84. 29 大隈重信: (1838–1922), one of the Meiji Oligarchs and several times prime Minister of Japan. Okuma was until his death in 1922 one of the most popular statesmen and a leading politician. He founded the Waseda University in Tokyo. 30 Two other Meiji-Oligarchs. Inoue Kaoru (1836-1915) has been sent in the 1860s to London and became under the new government several times minister in different functions. Shibusawa Eichi (1840- 1931) was a member of the Ministry of Finance in the 1870s and founded the first modern bank in Japan. He is often referred to as “father of Japanese capitalism”. 31 佐野常民, (1822-1902) was in 1873 Vice Minister in the department of industries. See Notice sur l’Empire du Japon et sur sa participation à l’exposition universelle de Vienne, 77. In 1877 he founded the hakuaisha, which later became the Japanese Red Cross.

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three out of five points referred to this. Among them was objective two, which read:

During the exhibition we must inform ourselves carefully about those foreign products by looking at the descriptions and collecting opinions on the products.32

Something similar to a “legal industrial espionage” was a core aim of the Japanese government. Sano requested to send a “group of well-selected students and workers for the investigation of the foreign industry”.33 However, this turned out to be the only suggestion of Sano’s outline, which the government rejected expressly.34 Because of the strained financial situation and the limited budget for the Vienna commission, the Council of Minister had no other choice.

But the delegation did not go to Vienna without relying on students; then the participation in the World Exhibition was linked to the Iwakura mission. This mission was a large-scale diplomatic journey around the world. It led numerous protagonists of the Meiji Revolution – Iwakura Toshimichi, Kido Kōin or Ōkubo Toshimichi among others – to Europe and the United States. They were accompanied on this two-year mission by several dozens of scholars and more than a hundred students.35 Attending the Vienna World Exhibition was one of the main objectives of the journey.36 Thus, the acquisition of knowledge was centrally and carefully planned. Numerous committee members, participants of the Iwakura mission, experts and students had to systematically collect information and report it to the Japanese government by writing reports.

How were these guidelines of the government realized? Which types of knowledge were transferred? The knowledge transfer concerning product information, technologies and economics were at the core of the governmental politics as proven by several reports about steam engines and weaving machines. Sometimes the government even purchased these machines and sent them to Japan.37 These industrial transfers have been much better- studied than the transfer concerning educational matters. But the participation at World Fairs was equally crucial for the establishment of educational institutions as museums and exhibitions in Japan. The introduction of a pedagogic institution, such as the museum, traces directly back to the participation in the Vienna World Exhibition. This becomes evident in the third objective of Sano’s guideline:

32 Tanaka Yoshio (1897): Ōkoku hakurankai sandō kiyō, Tokyo, 11-2. 33 La Commission Impériale Japonaise, 59-60. 34 Ibid., 61. 35 For the Iwakura mission see Tanaka Akira (2002): Iwakura shisetsudan no rekishiteki kenkyū, Tokyo. 36 Kuni, “Hakurankai jidai no kaimatsu”, 251. 37 See for example the chapter on machines in the report of Tanaka Yoshio (Ōkoku hakurankai sandō kiyō, Tokyo 1897). Titles and publication dates of other reports are mentioned in Tsunoyama, Uīn bankokuhaku no kenkyū, 593.

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One must use the favourable opportunity [of the participation in the Vienna World Exhibition] to establish a museum in Japan. [Its collection] will serve as basis in case of further exhibitions.38

Sano’s idea was to establish a permanent collection of rare Japanese goods in Tokyo. This collection should be open to the public and become a basis for future participation in World Fairs. In an English brochure, produced by the Japanese Department of Education for the World Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, the procedures were described as follows:

In January, 1872, measures were taken to collect a museum of articles to be sent to the Vienna International Exhibition. The collection proved so extensive and interesting to the public that, after making a selection to be sent to Vienna, the remainder was kept open as a public museum. This was the beginning of the present extensive Tokyo Museum.39

Through participation in World Exhibitions, the government encountered Western techniques of collecting, categorizing and presenting objects. Another effect of the participation at World Fairs was the acquisition of the know-how to organize a national exhibition in Japan.40 After the participation in Vienna, Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed to organize an exhibition in Tokyo.41 However, in 1873 Japan was not yet able to this on a nationwide-level. But three years later in the aftermath of the Philadelphia World Exhibition, the government organised the “First National Industrial Exhibition” in the Ueno Park in Tokyo. In this case, the transfer of knowledge was also visible on a personal level: the bureau for the organization of the Philadelphian participation was transferred into the bureau for the national exhibition.42 It decided to use some of the pavilions built for the first national exhibition as “Educational Museum”. The newspaper Yūbin Hōchin Shinbun successfully lobbied for such an institution, arguing that the Western countries had also educational museums.43 An English-language brochure of the Ministry of Education, published for the International Health Exhibition held 1884 in London, wrote about the Japanese “Educational Museum”:

The objective of the educational museums is to evaluate objects related to education and to provide them for reference to educators. […] The progress of education is ensured in this way.44

The Emperor took an active part and visited the museum himself. His attendance was announced and described in the newspapers, for example in the Yomiuri Shinbun.45 In the showrooms of the museum the Tennō could marvel at objects, acquired at the World Exhibition in Philadelphia, among others models of Western schools.

38 Tanaka, Ōkoku hakurankai sandō kiyō, 12. 39 Monbushō (ed.) (1876): An Outline History of Japanese Education: Prepared for the Philadelphia International Exhibition, New York, 123. 40 Such knowledge crossed the border comparatively early: For example the rules of the first World Exhibition in London were translated into Japanese in 1870. See Dajōkan (ed.) (1870): Hakurankai kisoku, Tokyo. 41 Yamamoto Mitsuo (1970): Nihon hakurankaishi, Tokyo, 2. 42 For the bureaus, see for example the article in the Yomiuri Newspaper, 31 August 1877, 1. 43 In the Yūbin Hōchin Newspaper, 18 October 1877 (cited in: Yūbin Hōchin Shinbun: Volume 13, 171). 44 Monbushō (1884), General Outlines of Education in Japan: Specially prepared for the International Health Exhibition, London, 25-6. 45 Compare the articles in the Yomiuri Newspaper of the 17 October 1877, 2 and Yomiuri Newspaper, 20 October 1877, 1.

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In connection with the participation in Philadelphia, detailed studies concerning the educational systems of different Western countries emerged. One could say that in Vienna, the knowledge transfer was predominantly concentrated on economics and technology, but during the Philadelphia World Fair the transfer of Western educational knowledge was of utmost importance and is well-documented, for example in the magazine of the Department of Education.46

Beginning with the participation in the World Exhibition in Paris 1878, a shift in the importance to Japan of such events for the transfer of knowledge can be observed. From then on, the importance of World Exhibitions for knowledge transfers and for educational purposes increasingly declined. Other channels such as newspapers, books or regular exchange of students became more and more institutionalized.

Not only did the amount of information coming from the West to Japan increase dramatically during the 1870s, but also the speed of this information flow. Exceptional events, such as International Exhibitions, which only took place every few years, could not keep up with the rhythm of the information flow. The same could be said about World Exhibitions in general. In the course of the later 19th century, these events could fulfil their original function to showcase all the products and latest technologies of the whole world in one place less and less. Even though the number of visitors at World Exhibitions increased each time, starting with Paris 1878, one can find a kind of exhaustion on the side of the exhibitors, who often saw a declining use of such mega-events for the exchange of knowledge.47 But as the exhibitions became less important for the exchange of technological knowledge, they increased in importance for representing the national achievements by giving every nation a specific identify. This was also the case with the Japanese participation.

III. Japan as a Participant: Between Lacquer Ware, Porcelain, and School Models

In Paris, 1867, Japan developed from a learning observer to a contributing participant. However, this first appearance took place at a moment of great internal crisis, unrest and disorder. For several years insurgents from south-western provinces had challenged the rule of the Shogunate; in Paris the fleeing power of the Tokugawa family became drastically apparent. The south-western domains of Satsuma and Saga sent their own small delegations to Paris, naturally without the permission of the Shogunate. While the civil war raged on at home, the World Exhibition offered the participants a possibility to legitimize their own

46 See for example the Monbushō Zasshi of the year 1876. 47 Kretschmer, Winried (1999): Geschichte der Weltausstellungen, Franfkurt am Main, New York, 118.

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objectives on the international stage. The fact that the Shogun sent his fifteen year-old son, Tokugawa Akitake, shows how important the participation for the Japanese ruler was.48

As the official Japanese contribution, the section of the Shogunate was placed in the main building of the exhibition, which formed a gigantic oval. Inside this edifice, drafted under the guidance of Frédéric le Play (commissioner general of the Exhibition), the products were arranged and classified in concentric circles. Therefore each country received a piece, which went from the inmost to the outer circle through all categories of objects. This arrangement would permit the visitors to compare the production of the different countries directly by perambulating one circle. However, in practice this classification system – imagined by the French for the French – failed.49 As illustrated by the Japanese sections the country was not able to make a contribution in each category of goods. Especially in the engine section, which formed the core of every World Exhibition in the 19th century, Japan could not exhibit a single object. Therefore the Shogunate shared his exhibition space with China and Siam. But of course this contradicted the original set-up for strict classification order in the main building.

The pictures of the contribution by the Shogunate show the cladding of an oriental, exotic pavilion without any explicit Japanese architectural features.50 The Shogunate exhibited almost exclusively Japanese handicrafts. Roughly 2000 objects were sent to Paris, one third of which belonged to private merchants.51 The Japanese objects were on sale and the participation became a prosperous business for the country. The Japanese handicraft was met by a lively interest by the European public. Thus, the Paris Exhibition of 1867 marked the birth of what later became known as Japonisme.

The contributions of the Shogunate’s opponents could be found outside the main building, in the middle of the park. The Paris Exhibition of 1867 was the first with a separated exhibition park, where the countries were allowed to build their pavilions.52 Here the Satsuma clan presented a two-room teahouse, which was surrounded by a small Japanese garden.53 In this way, the political troubles in Japan led to a division, which were to become one of the characteristics of later participation at World Fairs: the simultaneous presentation of arts- and-crafts in a main building situated in one of the central exhibition halls and the arrangement of pavilions in the park.

The self-representation and self-construction as an Eastern place of the Exotic and the Other continued in the Vienna World Exhibition. In Austria, the Japanese contribution also focused

48 Photographs of the official Japanese delegation showing them after the arrival in Marseille and a picture Tokugawa Akitate in traditional clothes in Paris can be found in Matsudoshi, Bunmei kaika no akebono wo mita otokotachi, 1, 36. 49 Kretschmer (1999), 85-6. 50 See photographs in Matsudoshi, Bunmei kaika no akebono wo mita otokotachi, 72. 51 A detailed list of the Japanese goods is available in Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūsho (ed.) (1997): Meijiki bankoku hakurankai bijutsuhin shuppin mokuroku, Tokyo, 4-32. 52 Kretschmer (1999), 82. 53 See photograph in Matsudoshi, Bunmei kaika no akebono wo mita otokotachi, 72.

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on handicrafts such as lacquer ware, porcelain, bamboo objects and bronze works. But the changes were much more obvious than the continuity: already the magnitude of the participation in Vienna 1873 opened a completely new dimension. The Shogunate had sent 29 persons to France and the delegations of their adversaries did not extend a dozen people. By contrast, the Meiji-government sent approximately one hundred commissioners to Vienna – the members of the Iwakura Mission not included.54 Among the Japanese participants were a few craftsmen, who had to build the Japanese pavilion in order to ensure as much authenticity as possible.55 How big the efforts of the government were becomes clear by the number of goods sent to the Vienna World Exhibition: three times more than in 1867. Approximately 4000 arts-and-craft objects were registered in the reports.56 And the lists of the exhibits for Vienna were much more detailed than the one established six years before.57 One reason for this is the professionalisation of the organisation for the participation after the Meiji Revolution. Foreign advisers played an important role in this process.

The participation in Vienna was a result of the explicit invitation of the Austria-Hungarian Empire. The pressure from the Austrians shows that exotic contributions from the Far East were demanded. At first the new government in Tokyo hesitated. An event of this magnitude seemed to be risky for the Japanese. A contribution, if it were to be considered unsatisfactory by the Europeans, would bring dishonour to the country and the new government. Upon advice of the Austrian ambassador, Henri de Calice, the government established a commission in January 1872, although it did not yet come to a final decision concerning the participation.58 As a first step the Vice-Ministers of the foreign and finance department were appointed as members of the commission.59 At the same time, a Bureau for Exhibitions was created in Tokyo.60 As the Meiji government finally decided to participate in the World Fair in February 1872, the persons in charge acted determinedly and fast. An official Japanese brochure written in French and entitled, Notice sur l’Empire du Japon et sur sa participation à l’exposition universelle de Vienne, shows how big the expectations and the pressure were:

Il [le gouvernement japonais] désire que les produits de l’art et de l’industrie japonais, en figurant à l’Exposition Universelle de Vienne, y subissent le jugement de tous les Pays d’Europe, et que ce verdict, communiqué à ses populations, devienne à la fois un encouragement pour ceux auxquels il aura été favorable et un enseignement pour ceux qu’il éclairera sur la nécessité de rechercher les moyens de remédier à l’imperfection des objets par eux exposés.61

54 Tsunoyama, Uīn bankokuhaku no kenkyū, 591. 55 See pictures in Yoshida Mitsukuni (1985): Zusetsu bankoku hakurankaishi, Tokyo, 160-1. 56 See Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūsho, Meijiki bankoku hakurankai bijutsuhin shuppin mokuroku. 57 Each object was registered with a number, the provenance, the name of the producer, value and price of sale. See Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūsho, Meijiki bankoku hakurankai bijutsuhin shuppin mokuroku, 36-200. 58 La Commission Impériale Japonaise (ed.) (1873), 49. 59 Ibid. 60 Tsunoyama, Uīn bankokuhaku no kenkyū, 592-3. 61 La Commission Impériale Japonaise (ed.) (1873), 66.

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For the Japanese commissioners it was clear that the Western public would judge their contribution. Sano Tsunetami’s warned in his outline that “only products which have been selected with the greatest prudence should be sent to the World Exhibition.”62 The process of selection was controlled and centralized from the beginning by the government, and the persons in charge accumulated knowledge on the techniques of registration, collection, archiving and arrangement. The participation in Vienna should also be considered an economic success. Sano wrote that if the Western public were to like the Japanese products, “this would stimulate our industry.”63Apart from the aim to create a new market for Japanese products, the Vienna World Exhibition served as a space where the new government and their reform projects could be legitimated. One of the objectives of participating was to represent Japan as a unified nation. In the eyes of the organisation committee this worked out:

In the year six of the Meiji Era, the year 1873 in the West, the Japanese Empire participated for the first time in a World Exhibition. And even if the Shogunate and one or two princedoms went to Paris [in 1867], it was for the first time in Vienna that the Empire was represented entirely.64

The Japanese contribution to the Vienna World Exhibition placed in the main building and seen from the entrance (in: Tanaka, Ōkoku hakurankai sandō kiyō, last pages, not numbered).

For the government, the participation in Vienna became a national project. The committee selected a handful of large objects in order to achieve the biggest possible impact. Among them was a reproduction of a great Buddha statue made of paper and a five-storey pagoda. But the main attraction was a gigantic mystic dolphin, which had decorated the top roof of the castle of Nagoya. The Japanese contribution was placed in the outermost eastern wing of the main building, directly beside the Turkish and Chinese sections.65 The entrance area of the Japanese contribution was dominated by the bronze-dolphin, man-high vases stood on the right, and lamps as well as spears were aligned. A curtain with the imperial

62 Tanaka, Ōkoku hakurankai sandō kiyō, 11. 63 Ibid. 64 Ibid., 1. 65 A map of the World Exhibition is printed in Yoshida, Zusetsu bankoku hakurankaishi, 38-9.

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chrysanthemum emblem opened the passage to the main showroom (see picture 1).66 As in a museum, in the inner room, traditional art-and-craft and weapons were presented in showcases (see picture 2). 67

Map of the placement of the Japanese objects presented in the main building of the Vienna World Exhibition (in: Tanaka, Ōkoku hakurankai sandō kiyō, last pages, not numbered).

In the park outside the main building, a small shrine was surrounded by a garden. A huge Torii Gate at the entrance attracted the eye of the visitors even from far away. Shops, where handicrafts were sold, bordered the way to the shrine (see picture 3). Japan’s efforts paid off. The pavilion and the garden became one of the main attractions of the exhibition.68 Sano was able to report to the government – in this case Ōkubo Toshimichi – that European newspapers had judged the Japanese contribution very positively.69 The German adviser, Wagner, had written that the Japanese pavilion “had touched the hearts of the Europeans”. 70 One effect of the success was that the Japanese objects could be sold at high prices. Altogether Japan received 198 awards, mostly for bronze, bamboo or lacquer objects.71 The country finished at rank 18 in the list of awards; clearly better placed than its rivals, for example China. This success was important for Japan, because the country was about to establish a worldwide market for its handicrafts.

66 See the entrance hall photographed in Tanaka, Ōkoku hakurankai sandō kiyō, last pages, not numbered. 67 Kuni, “Hakurankai jidai no kaimatsu”, 252. 68 Kretschmer (1999), 92-3. 69 Kuni, Hakurankai no jidai: meiji seifu no hakurankai seisaku, 35. 70 Wagner, G. / Tsuchiya Takao, G. (1944): Waguneru ishin sangyō kensetsu ronsaku shūsei, Tokyo, 116. 71 Kuni, Hakurankai no jidai: Meiji seifu no hakurankai seisaku, 35. A list with the names of the Japanese, who received awards can be found in Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūsho, Meijiki bankoku hakurankai bijutsuhin shuppin mokuroku, 35.

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Map of the Japanese Garden at the Vienna World Exhibition (in: Tanaka, Ōkoku hakurankai sandō kiyō, last pages, not numbered). But we should not neglect the fact that Japan did not receive any awards in categories such as industry or chemistry.72 The modest words accompanying the description of the Japanese contribution to the European public shows the dilemma:

L’état d’isolement dans lequel est resté le Japon jusque dans ces dernières années, l’a laissé complètement étranger au développement des autres pays et, notamment, aux progrès qui s’y sont accomplis dans les arts mécaniques; aussi les produits de l’industrie japonaise se réduisent-ils à des objets manufacturés de peu d’importance.”73

But the Japanese contribution was almost non-existent not only in the technological sections. Japan had nothing to show in the section “Erziehungs-, Unterrichts- und Bildungswesen” either. However, educational matters were one of the central themes in Vienna: 14 of the 95 volumes of the official Austrian report were about educational systems.74 The Japanese strategy to impress the Western audience with exotic and oriental objects had its price. Japan had to represent itself almost exclusively as oriental and exotic. Thereby the country gave itself an image as backward and traditional.

The contribution to Vienna proved to be ambivalent for Japan. By participating in World Fairs the country was not able to become an equal partner of the Western powers. But for the revision of the “unequal treaties”, the principal purpose of Japanese foreign policy in the first half of the Meiji Era, this was been necessary. In order to re-create its image and thereby improve the chance to revise the unequal treaties the country had to showcase itself as civilized, progressive and modern. That was exactly what the country tried to do at the next World Exhibition 1876 in Philadelphia. Presumably the main reason why the Japanese government had attempted this already in Vienna was because in 1873 the educational reforms were still too recent.

72 Kuni, Hakurankai no jidai: Meiji seifu no hakurankai seisaku, 35-6. 73 La Commission Impériale Japonaise (ed.) (1873), 65. 74 Kretschmer (1999), 94.

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Parenthesis II: The emergence of a national education system after 1872

Several educational institutions existed already in the last decades of the Tokuagawa Era: a kind of university in Edo, schools for the samurais all over the country and a few academies specialised in rangaku (literally Dutch learning). Since the end of the 18th century and mainly in urban centres, more and more children attended “temple schools” (terakoya), which became a sort of forerunner of elementary schools.75 On the eve of the Meiji Revolution Japan had a comparatively high literacy rate for a pre-industrial and pre-modern society.76

In the Edo Era however, education was marked by several characteristics, which clearly distinguished it from the educational system after the Meiji Revolution: first of all, the right to education was a matter of status before the Revolution. Secondly, education focused on Chinese classics. Thirdly, a compulsory education system did not exist; education remained a privilege of a minority. Fourthly, education was not centrally organised and controlled. And lastly, the import of Western knowledge was forbidden and monopolized by the Shogunate. With the Meiji Revolution, all this changed and education became a central concern of the new government. One of the five principles proclaimed by the Emperor in 1868 stated:

Knowledge and wisdom should be searched all over the world and become the base for the great empire.77

The decision to open Japan for the import of foreign knowledge was a crucial rupture with the seclusion policy of the Tokugawa Shogunate. A further important step towards a national education system was the foundation of the Monbushō, the Department of Education, in 1871. Already one year later the new government announced the establishment of a national education and school system. The proclamation says:

It is only by building up his character, developing his mind, and cultivating his talents that man may make his way in the world, employ his wealth wisely, make his business to prosper, and thus attain the goal of life. But man cannot build up his character, develop his mind, or cultivate his talents without education – that is the reason for the establishment of schools.78

Thus the compulsory education was adopted, and countrywide primary schools as well as higher institutions of education were founded. The government controlled this process and the contents of the courses. The new educational system focused exclusively on Western knowledge.79 For example, soon after the reform Chinese and Japanese medicines were excluded from the new university of Tokyo. For the government the establishment seemed to

75 Around 1800 existed several hundreds terakoya. See Kokushi daijiten, “terakoya”, vol. 9, 918. 76 Tsujimoto Masahi shows how important the high literacy rate of the Edo era was for the quick success of the educational reforms after the Meiji revolution. See Tsujimoto Masahi (2002): “Bunji shakai no seiritsu to shuppan media”, in: Okita Yukiji, Kyōiku shakaishi, Tokyo, 137. 77 “Gokajō no goseimon”, 240. 78 “Gakusei ōseidasaresho”, 240. 79 Anderson, Mark (1997): “National Literature as Cultural Monument: Instituting Japanese National Community”, in: Hardacre, Helen and Adam Kern (ed.): New Directions in the Study of Meiji Japan, New York 1997, 56.

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be a success. One year after the reform, roughly one quarter of the children attended schools; over 40 percent five years later, and more than 95 percent participated in the national school system in the late Meiji period .80

At the World Exhibition in Philadelphia the Japanese government tried to change the image of the country by giving the reform of the educational system a central place in their contribution. Now, some years after the educational reform, Japan was able to present its new, Westernized system, which should in their eyes also be comprehensible to the American public. The Japanese participation in Philadelphia is not very well-studied.81 In particular the presentation of the educational reform has been neglected. This is surprising as in Philadelphia Japan tried for the first time to construct the image of a civilized, modern nation.

Once again the Japanese government planned the participation meticulously. Immediately after the Vienna World Exhibition, a committee started to prepare for Philadelphia. A Bureau for the World Exhibition in Philadelphia was formed and Ōkubo Toshimichi was named president.82 The continuity of the personnel from the Bureau for the Vienna World Exhibition to the one for Philadelphia is striking. Once more Western advisers were employed.83 As early as 1874 it issued rules for the collecting of suitable objects. According to the government, persons in charge should pay attention not to select similar objects to those, which had already been presented in Vienna. The government was afraid to bore the Western public.84

From the beginning of the preparations for Philadelphia the presentation of the educational reforms was a central objective.85 The Department of Education itself took a critical position on the selection process of the objects concerning the educational reform. In its magazine, Monbushō Zasshi, it specified which kind of things should be on show.86 The aim of presenting the reform measures on such an international stage as a World Exhibition turned out to be a difficult and risky one. In a brochure entitled, An Outline History of Japanese Education: Prepared for the Philadelphia International Exhibition, which was to explain the Japanese contribution to Western visitors in English, the Department of Education wrote:

The task of collecting from scattered and obscure sources these records of educational progress, and of selecting from them what might interest the foreign reader, has not been accomplished without some difficulty. […] It is hoped that the account here given in regard to the progress and prevalence of education

80 Tanaka (2003): Meiji ishin, Tokyo, 396. 81 Kuni, Hakurankai no jidai: Meiji seifu no hakurankai seisaku, 41. 82 Ishizugi, Kyōiku hakubutsukan to meiji no kodomo, 153. 83 Kuni, Hakurankai no jidai: Meiji seifu no hakurankai seisaku, 42 and Monbushō, An Outline History of Japanese Education: Prepared for the Philadelphia International Exhibition, 3. 84 Kuni, “Hakurankai jidai no kaimatsu”, 253-4. 85 Ishizugi, kyōiku hakubutsukan to meiji no kodomo, 153. 86 Monbushō (1876): “Monbushō zasshi, Vol. 9”, Tokyo, 5.

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in Japan may not be without interest, even to those favoured Western nations whose science and culture have given them their prééminence.87

One can see how inferior the Japanese felt. The central objective of showing the own progress in educational matters and thereby satisfying the Western visitors became also evident. The Department of Education wrote about the reforms “that it was thought necessary to remodel the entire system, and for this purpose an imperial edict was issued [...].”88 The condition of education in Japan before the reforms was portrayed soon after the Meiji revolution as follows:

Japanese learning has, of late, greatly declined, so that the honor of the country in its relations with foreign nations has been materially prejudiced. It is now the intention of the Government to take measures in order to revive Japanese learning, and it is earnestly desired that everyone, by diligent study and by encouraging sound scholarship, should aid in this work.89

In the eyes of the government, the reform of education was necessary to ameliorate their position vis-à-vis the Western powers and to assure national independence. The educational section of the Japanese contribution was mainly designed to impress international educational experts, but also to inform the American public about the progresses being made.90 Both groups should be convinced that the national project of reforming the school system had been a full success. This representation of the reforms should also legitimate the new government, as we can see in the Outline History of Japanese Education:

The new Government early gave its attention to the subject of education, and, in the years of transition which preceded the establishment of the present Department of Education, made many important movements toward giving to the nation an adequate educational system.91

Inside Japan the participation in Philadelphia became a tool to propagate and legitimate the reform policies of the Meiji government. The government used the preparation for the education section in Philadelphia to prove, within Japan, that the new school system was necessary and reasonable. In its magazine, Monbushō Zasshi, the Department of Education wrote about the selecting process of the objects:

It is our desire that, at the exhibition, we will present objects, which prove that education increases the welfare of the population and society and that it leads to a flourishing industry, […] and also that education protects from poverty and from the evil as well as it guards the human health.92

For the Department, the educational reform was a ‘mission civilisatrice’ inside Japan.

87 Monbushō, An Outline History of Japanese Education: Prepared for the Philadelphia International Exhibition, 3. 88 Ibid., 120. 89 Ibid., 116. 90 Monbushō, “Monbushō zasshi, Vol. 9”, 5. 91 Monbushō, An Outline History of Japanese Education, 114. 92 Monbushō, “Monbushō zasshi, Volume 9”, 6.

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The World Exhibition of 1876 was a big event in Japan: newspapers reported almost daily on their title pages from Philadelphia.93 Besides, specialised publications from the Department of Education informed even more in detail about the Western contribution to the educational section.94 And governmental support for the participation became also visible in public: the Emperor and his wife examined the objects, before they were sent to America.95 After the end of the exhibition, the Emperor invited the returning commissioners to a banquet.96

But what exactly did the contribution to the education section look like? As early as 1876 one of the members of the committee, Tanaka Fujimaro, went to the USA in order to do research on the American school system, thereby preparing the presentation of the Japanese educational reform.97 Again the Japanese contribution turned out to be divided in several locations: on the one side several small houses represented Japanese settlement in a garden, on the other side a free standing pavilion, where merchants sold handicrafts, was built.98 The contribution to the educational section of the different nations was gathered in a special space in the main building. In this section the contribution of Japan was the fourth largest – after that of the United States, Sweden and Canada.99

The categorization of the Japanese objects strictly followed the demands of the American organisers.100 In a brochure of the Department of Education the Western public could find short English descriptions of the exhibits. Among the approximately 130 objects, there were models of primary schools, important documents of the educational reform of 1872, new schoolbooks, and the annual reports of the Department of Education.101 All these objects should demonstrate how modern und civilized the Japanese education system became after the Meiji Revolution.

But to emphasise the radical nature and the success of their own reform measures was only one side of the Japanese contribution. The government also showed educational items much older than the reform, such as old medical books or ancient writing-instruments.102 And in the above-mentioned sources a second and opposed narrative could be found. In An Outline History of Japanese Education the educational system of the Tokugawa Era was not described in a completely negative way. Wherever possible, the text tries to stress the continuity of education in Japan.103 In this way the Japanese contribution to the educational section

93 See for example the series entitled “Beikoku hakurankai hōkokusho” in the Yūbin Hōchi between May and August 1876. The articles of this series have been printed mainly on the front page. 94 For example in the Kyōiku zasshi Nr. 37 (1877), 379-81. 95 Yomiuri Shinbun, 1876 (1, 12), 3. 96 Yomiuri Shinbun, 1877 (10, 6), 2. 97 Yomiuri Shinbun, 1876 (3, 27), 1. 98 A picture of the pavilion can be found in Yoshida, Zusetsu bankoku hakurankaishi, 161. 99 Ishizugi, Kyōiku hakubutsukan to meiji no kodomo, 157. 100 The American classification system for the exhibition was translated by the bureau. See Beikoku Hakurankai Jimukyoku (ed.): Issenhappyaku shichijūrokunen firaderufia hakurankai bunrui ryakuhyō, 1876. 101 A detailed list can be found in Monbushō, An Outline History of Japanese Education, 192-202. 102 Ibid., 195-199. 103 Ibid., 83-112.

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displayed a certain ambiguity: on the one hand it tried to show how radical and Western inspired the reforms were. On the other however, the contribution made gentle allusion to the seniority of the Japanese education and thereby constructed an alternative “Japanese civilisation”. This discourse about an original Japanese civilisation can also be found in a text written by the Department of Education concerning the preparation of the Philadelphian word fair:

When speaking about the causes of our civilisation we have to look back to the origins of education [in Japan].104

IV. Epilogue: The struggle for civilisation

The World Exhibitions gave Japan in the first decade after the Meiji Revolution the opportunity of self-representation and self-construction on an international stage. Yet, in this process the country had to position itself inside a worldwide hierarchy of nations, and soon the new government encountered the limits of this self-construction. The attempt to give the country a modern, progressive and civilized image by participating in World Exhibitions failed. We can see this particularly clearly in the contribution for the educational section in Philadelphia. The reaction of the Western public was humble. For American and European visitors as for the experts the Japanese contribution to the educational section was only a boring copy of Western schools systems. A Japanese, who was that time an exchange student in America, wrote in his diary about the reactions of the Western public:

They [the Western public - DH] found the Japanese imitations of Western educating apparatus or the photographs of Europeanized Japanese school-buildings completely useless.105

In other words: the Western public did not accept anything that could disturb their idealised image of the exotic, Far Eastern Japan. In this context it is important to know that the education section in Philadelphia was only a small part of the Japanese contribution. Within the nearly 2000 objects sent to America, the 130 items for the educational section could not change the image of the country substantially. Once more a bulk of exotic handicraft constituted the core of the Japanese contribution. And as in Vienna, it turned out that it was easier and more profitable to attract the attention of Western visitors with arts-and-crafts than with technical apparatuses, which disturbed their images of the East. Most of the 155 awards that Japanese objects received in America belonged to the category of handicrafts.106 In the end the participation in Philadelphia was a disappointment: one of the main objectives – to get more awards than in Vienna – was not achieved. And again the Japanese government was not able to present any machines. One of the committee members, Kikuchi

104 Monbushō, “Monbushō zasshi: Volume 9”, 6. 105 See Monbushō, “Kyōiku zasshi: Volume 37”, June 1877. 106 Kuni, Hakurankai no jidai: Meiji seifu no hakurankai seisaku, 43.

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Takao, wrote in his diary, that by passing through the machines section of the exhibition, his face turned red by thinking about the backwardness of the Japanese contribution.107

Back from Philadelphia the Japanese government founded itself in a difficult situation: indeed, the World Fairs have been on the one hand important for the transfer of Western knowledge. But it became more and more visible that the impact of World Exhibitions for knowledge transfer was declining. On the other hand, international fairs were the only place where the new government could represent the empire to a Western public as a unified, civilized and modern nation. But with the participation in Philadelphia and its failures the limits of this self-representation and self-construction became visible. After Philadelphia it was obvious that Japan could not easily become an equal partner to the Western powers. To be accepted as civilized in a Western sense was a condition sine qua non for the revision of the “unequal treaties”. But this could not be achieved by presenting, for example, the educational reform to the Western public. For a country like Japan, World Fairs turned out to be paradoxical: in order to participate it had to become modern, be technically able to collect, categorize and display outstanding objects. At the same time, to be accepted by Western visitors it had to construct itself as exotic and traditional. The struggle to be perceived as civilized was a long and hard one: a member of the Iwakura mission noted about the characteristic of World Fairs:

Oh, this competition! It is like a peaceful war. In a civilized world, World Exhibitions become very important, something we have to pay attention to.108

Japan could not determine the rules of this peaceful war; neither could it choose freely the arms to fight it. But at the same time, after the forced opening of it harbours in the 1850s the country was not able to deprive itself anymore of it. It was not a war, which could be won – above all not in the 1870s.

At the World Exhibitions in Paris 1878 and 1889 Japan emphasized and presented itself once again as exotic and different and thereby satisfied the Western expectations. By doing so, something surprising happened: the Western visitors interpreted the exhibited Japanese items not as handicrafts but as art objects. For them, this art was based on aesthetic concepts completely different from the modern Western one. This perception was transferred back to Japan. In the later years of the Meiji Era, Western art experts teaching at the university of Tokyo, such as Ernest Fenellosa, started to construct a Japanese canon of arts and invented thereby a powerful tradition of Japanese arts and aesthetics. Their perception of Japanese aesthetic was heavily influenced by Japonisme, which had been an outcome of

107 See Monbushō, “Kyōiku zasshi: Nr. 37” June 1877. 108 Kuni, “Hakurankai jidai no kaimatsu”, 250.

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Japanese participation at World Exhibitions. One could conclude with Oscar Wilde that, for the West, Japan was an aesthetic fiction from the beginning.109

But within the scope of this fiction and through aesthetics theories also for the Japanese a reinterpretation of their past as having always been civilized in Western terms, yet long before encountering the West, became possible.110 This emerging narrative, which did not yet exist in the first years of the Meiji Era, gave the government the possibility to reinvent the nation and its own civilisation. The difference to the 1870s lies in the facts that at that time the leaders had believed that they had to become as Westernized as possible in order to be accepted as a civilized country. In the later years of the Meiji Era Japan emphasized his exclusivity and the difference of its own culture and civilisation. Far into the 20th century Japan constructed itself as exotic alternative to the Western modernity. Becoming a colonial power in the 1890s this narrative was emphasized not only versus the West but also vis-à-vis the Asian neighbours. As late as 1939, two years before the outbreak of the pacific war, the Japanese pavilion at the New York exhibition was praised with the words: “When the Fair’s modern world bewilders you, remember – and enjoy – the Japanese Pavilion.”111

Résumé

Exposition Internationale Universelle de Vienne 1873

Combattre dans une guerre pacifique : Le Japon aux Expositions Universelles des années 1860 -1870

En participant aux Expositions Universelles des années d’avant et après la révolution de Meiji

109 Karatani Kōjin (2001): “Japan as Art Museum: Okakura Tenshin and Fenollosa” in Marra, Michael F. (ed.): A history of modern Japanese Aesthetics, Honolulu, 44. 110 Anderson, Mark (1997): “National Literature as Cultural Monument: Instituting Japanese National Community”, in: Hardacre, Helen / Adam Kern (ed.): New Directions in the Study of Meiji Japan, New York, 49. 111 Yoshida, Zusetsu bankoku hakurankaishi, 174.

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de 1868, le Japon a eu l’occasion de se présenter et de se construire lui-même sur la scène internationale. Cependant, dans ce processus, le pays a dû se positionner lui-même au coeur d'une hiérarchie mondiale de nations, et le nouveau Gouvernement s’est bientôt trouvé face aux limites de son auto construction. Participer signifiait « combattre dans une guerre pacifique » - selon les mots d'un visiteur japonais de l’Exposition Internationale Universelle de Vienne en 1873. Mais le pays n'a pas pu déterminer les règles de cette guerre pacifique ; ni choisir librement les bras pour le combattre.

Les efforts du Gouvernement de Meiji pour donner au Japon une image moderne, progressive et civilisée ont échoué parce que le public occidental n'a rien accepté qui puisse déranger l’image idéalisée qu’il avait de ce pays exotique d’Extrême-Orient. Pour le Japon participer aux expositions universelles était une expérience paradoxale : pour pouvoir participer, le pays a dû se moderniser, être techniquement capable de rassembler, de classer et d’exposer des objets. En même temps, pour être accepté par les visiteurs occidentaux il a dû se construire lui-même comme un pays exotique et traditionnel. Cette image a persisté : bien avant dans le XXème siècle, le Japon s'est présenté comme l’alternative exotique à la modernité occidentale.

94

Attention and Spectatorship: Educational Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco 1915 Noah W. Sobe

95

96 Attention and Spectatorship: Educational Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco 1915 Noah W. Sobe

During the exposition it will serve as a recreation center for many people who will linger in the seclusion of the groups of shrubbery and watch the shadows of the afternoon sun creep slowly up the surrounding walls. As an exposition feature the Court of the Four Seasons is a decided innovation. At St. Louis, for instance, in 1904, everything seemed to have been done to excite, to overstimulate, to develop a craving for something new, to make one look for the next things. Here in the Court of the Four Seasons, one wants to stay. Most emphatically one wants to rest for a while and give one's self over entirely to that feeling of liberation that one experiences in a church, in the forest, or out in the ocean. I could stay in this court forever.1

As with most of the other architectural and landscape design features of the 1915 Panama- Pacific International Exposition (PPIE), the Court of the Four Seasons was a carefully designed space that, as the above report from Eugen Neuhaus a University of California professor of art suggests, was intended to produce a certain effect within visitors. Neuhaus' guidebook to the San Francisco Exposition advised that an all-consuming sense of serenity and focus could be found in this particular setting, yet one finds that this courtyard was far from unique or exceptional in this respect. The central argument of this article is that we see crystallized at the San Francisco exposition an early-twentieth-century concern with controlling the visual field, manipulating human perception, and fabricating a human attention that would fortify the individual and would serve as a vehicle for social progress. This objective crossed multiple domains and this article begins by examining how it played out in the architectural design of the fairgrounds and major buildings and then examines homologies that can be found in the organization of exhibits and displays within the Palace of Education and Social Economy.

An interest in sustained, concentrated attention circulated across these different areas in conjunction with the fear of what was perceived as its opposite: a distracted, over- stimulated, and scattered attention. This contrast appears in the above description of the Court of the Four Seasons, in Neuhaus' comparisons of the 1915 and the 1904 expositions. Characteristic of the St. Louis exposition, according to Neuhaus, was a design or deliberate intent "to excite" and "to develop a craving for something new". On this account, the visitor in St. Louis was led from one thing to the next, devoting sustained attention to nothing. Whether this is an entirely accurate portrayal of the general experience of a visitor to 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition is not a research concern here; instead, Neuhaus' account can be considered useful for speaking to the goals and ideals that went into organizing the 1915 event – goals and ideals which are, in part, revealed through the historical comparisons that

1 Neuhaus, Eugen (1915): The Art of the Exposition, Personal Impressions of the Architecture, Sculpture, Mural Decorations, Color Scheme and Other Aesthetic Aspects of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco: Paul Elder & Co, 11.

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Neuhaus (and others, as we will see below) made with earlier public spectacles and international expositions. The setting for Neuhaus' comparative gesture was a courtyard that allegedly promised to be a destination for leisure, rest and relaxation for exposition visitors. In this instance, 1904 and 1915 were linked by a contrast in what effects were produced in the visitor. Juxtaposed to an intent "to make one look for the next things" was a "recreation center" where people would "linger". The absence of hurry and rush might lead people to watch shadows "creep slowly". In Neuhaus' guide we witness relaxation being produced through manipulations of the visual field. His suggestion is that the organization of the visual environment and the ways people were attentive to it would produce certain states of mind and emotional patterns within the human being. In both St. Louis and San Francisco, craving/desiring was connected with looking/watching. The point of difference lay in whether the mode of seeing generated fleeting, transitory, and ephemeral desires or sustained, consistent and rooted desires.

The analytic assumption that distraction and concentration are mutually opposing alternatives enjoys a prominent position in current-day academic scholarship thanks in part to a popular interest in the work of Walter Benjamin as a theorist of "the modern". Benjamin's well-known and widely cited essay on "Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" argued that modernity brought excess stimuli and the destruction of earlier visual forms of integrity and unity. For Benjamin, film and architecture were two modern paradigms of "reception in a state of distraction".2 This model of human perception in conditions of modernity has become, the art historian Jonathan Crary argues, a baseline for analyses of modern subjectivity in European-American critique. Crary maintains that an exclusive focus on human perception as fragmented and dispersed has led to an undertreatment of what he terms the "reciprocal relation of attentive norms and practices".3 The emphasis on producing stable, sustained attention that we see across different social fields at the 1915 exposition suggests that perceptual unity is not necessarily an historical antecedent to perceptual fragmentation. (This becomes especially clear when we consider the contemporary contrasts that were drawn between the 1915 exposition and the over-stimulation and distractions purported to characterize previous expositions.) At the same time, and somewhat analogously, neither should we consider these emphases on concentration and coherence the nostalgic, conservative project of a "return" to tradition. Attention, in 1915, was being produced as part of the making of new "modern" people and "modern" ways of living. Attention and distraction can be profitably analyzed for the ways that they are connected and not just separated; these modes of human perception can be seen, in Crary's proposal, as inside "a continuum in which the two ceaselessly flow into one another as part of a social field in which the same imperatives and forces incite one and the other."4 This article

2 Benjamin, Walter (1968): Illuminations, New York: Schocken, 239-40. 3 Crary, Jonathan (1999): Suspensions of perception: attention, spectacle, and modern culture, Cambridge (Mass.): MIT Press, 1. 4 Ibid., 51.

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examines how this social field was configured at the 1915 PPIE, and in doing so seeks to contribute to our broader understanding of how norms of spectatorship at international expositions vary historically. In the conclusion I explore how this might shape our analyses of the general "educating" function performed by these expositions. The article also seeks to situate a particular set of World's Fair educational exhibits, not just within the historical trajectory of the development of systems of schooling within a given country, but also in the context of broader social and cultural practices.

Concentration, Harmony and Coordination in the Architecture of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition

The signature architectural features of the 1915 exposition in San Francisco were a unified color scheme and a centrally coordinated architectural design.5 The relevance of this for my present paper lies in the ways in which color and architecture were linked to the production of particular modes of viewing and forms of attention. I argue that these coordinating efforts can be analyzed as pedagogical strategies that were deployed widely across large numbers of spectators. Harmony and concentration were tied to the production of an aesthetic sensibility and kinds of freedom that would both ensure social progress and avert the possibility of degeneration. The spectacle presented by the physical design of the exposition was of a form of discipline that individualized as it tutored the masses of visitors.

We know the Panama-Pacific International Exposition as the first World's Fair to have its own official "Director of Color".6 It was partly from his efforts that the sense of calm which Eugene Neuhaus so poignantly found in the Court of the Four Seasons was to flow. A 1913 San Francisco tour guide that any of the nineteen million exposition visitors could have purchased gave the anticipated color scheme a glowing review, stating that it would "contribute largely to the enchantment and artistic splendor of the Exposition City."7 The central element of this "splendor" was the pale pink and gray buff of an imitation Travertine marble, which was complemented by the soft yellows, blues, reds and several shades of green that were featured in the detail work. Frank Morton Todd's official history of the exposition explained that rather than the "noisy contrasts [these] names suggest, shades of these colors were chosen that 'matched' – they were curiously and beautifully related, in some subtly

5 These features of the Panama Pacific International Exposition are well noted in other scholarship. See, e.g., Benedict, Burton (1983): The Anthropology of the World's Fairs: San Francisco's Panama Pacific International Exposition of 1915, Berkeley: Lowie Museum of Anthropology and Scolar Press; Rydell, Robert W. (1984): All the world's a fair : visions of empire at American international expositions, 1876- 1916, Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Rydell, Robert W. / John E. Findling / Kimberly D. Pelle (2000): Fair America: world's fairs in the United States, Washington [D.C.]: Smithsonian Institution Press. 6 Todd, Frank M. (1921): The Story of the Exposition, vol. I, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 348. See also the brief discussion of the PPIE color scheme in Sobe, Noah W. (2004): "Challenging the Gaze: The Subject of Attention and a 1915 Montessori Demonstration Classroom," Educational Theory 54, 290. 7 North American Press Association, Standard Guide to San Francisco with description of the Panama- Pacific Exposition (1913), San Francisco: North American Press Association.

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harmonious way." The person responsible for this color scheme was Jules Guerin, a visual artist and theater designer. Guerin wanted colors that were "mellow" and he allegedly sought to avoid harsh contrasts.8 As we have seen in the 1913 tour guide, discussion of this design as deliberate circulated widely. The notion that the color scheme would contribute to the "enchantment" of the exposition suggests that it was to have effects on the emotional and affective "insides" of exposition attendees. Interesting to note is that, contra the Weberian argument about modernity as a disenchantment of the world, we encounter here forms of reenchantment simultaneous to – and arguably even overlapping with – whatever scientific, technological and industrial artifacts of progress were also on display at the exposition.9

That the color scheme had been carefully calculated, and that this was widely remarked on, speaks to the "overt" nature of the manipulations of human perception that this article takes as one of its key interests. Rather than understanding this "manipulation" as hidden, the construction of particular forms of attention was something that took place "in the open", with visitors complicit in and actually "attentive" to the very ways that perception was being structured. At least one visitor reported being quite taken by the color scheme. On the first day of her visit, Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the Little House on the Prairie books, took a small motor-drawn train through the Exposition grounds in order to "see the Exposition as a whole and get a sort of wholesale impression". She wrote home to Missouri:

The foundation color of the buildings is a soft gray and as it rises it is changed to the soft yellows picked out in places by blue and red and green and the eye is carried up and away by the architecture, spires and things, to the beautiful blue sky above. I have never imagined anything so beautiful.10

The aesthetic sensibility of the color scheme assumed that a peaceful and harmonized visual field could create interior tranquility and a harmony of the senses. Ingalls Wilder's perceptions speak to that harmony, and her account suggests that she found a certain serene beauty in the "wholesale impression" she received of the fairgrounds. The theme of vertical ascension that Ingalls Wilder captured in the report of her eye being "carried up and away" is one that recurs, as we will see, in other accounts of the exposition and other conceptualizations of the "progress" and innovation that the exposition represented.

That the exposition would be seen "as a whole" was quite clearly one of the organizing principles embedded in its color scheme and architecture. The previously mentioned 1913 San Francisco tour guide remarked that Guerin had "imagined the magnificent buildings, terraces, courts and promenades as one huge painting, in which all of the colors should blend

8 Todd (1921), 348. 9 On the problem of "enchantment" and "modernity" see the recent review Saler, Michael (2006): "Modernity and Enchantment: A Historiographic Review," American Historical Review 111. Also, see Bennett, Jane (1997): "The Enchanted World of Modernity: Paracelsus, Kant and Deleuze," Cultural Values 1. 10 Laura Ingalls Wilder and Almanzo Wilder (1974) [1915]: West from home : letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder to Almanzo Wilder, New York: Harper & Row, 36.

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as harmoniously as on a tiny canvas".11 A coordinated, coherent visual field was not only presented, it was presented as such.

Linkages between the exposition's color scheme and emotional excitement also figure in Eugene Neuhaus' guidebook. "Nothing excites the Exposition visitor more than the color scheme of the buildings," he wrote. However, Neuhaus soon followed this exclamation with the clarification that the kind of "excitement" the color scheme would generate was, in point of fact, quite different from the dissipating "excitement" that was the keynote feature (allegedly) of the 1904 St. Louis exposition. He commented that nothing was further from the designer's mind "than to create excitement, unrest, or any of those sensations that might lead to fatigue or even to a nervous breakdown."12 The connection between the architecture of the San Francisco exposition and concerns about psychological health (specifically the concept of "melancholy") has been studied in some detail.13 This article argues that the visual coherence of the exposition is extremely significant as a strategy for avoiding the unrest, dispersal and breakdown that would be the hallmarks of degeneration both in social terms and in terms of the individual's psyche.

Beyond the color scheme, the architectural consistency of the various exposition pavilions (at least outside the amusement "zone") was an additional tactic by which harmony and concentration were produced at the 1915 exposition. Todd's history notes:

At San Francisco the beholder standing in any court of the central group was surrounded by the work of one man, who had treated parts of the walls of two or four different buildings; and the result was of necessity a unit impression.14

Consistent with the blending of all the design elements "as on a tiny canvas" and Ingalls Wilder's "wholesale impression", the exposition visitor – who was represented here as a "beholder" – would "necessarily" receive a "unit impression". This unity and coherence was due to the authority granted to Bernard Maybeck, as the exposition's chief architect, to ensure that a certain "style guide" directed the design of all the exposition's major buildings. Unity within the visual field was at one and the same time an end and a means; it demanded a certain kind of perception from its spectator, one that was more a "reception in a state of concentration" than in a state of distraction. Yet, the specter of non-coherent, non-unitary perception seems to have also haunted the architectural designers.

Todd's official account of the exposition linked notions of distraction/discord and concentration/harmony with thinking about freedom. Similar to what we saw earlier, this was

11 North American Press Association: Standard Guide to San Francisco with description of the Panama- Pacific Exposition. 12 Neuhaus (1915), 11. 13 See Eggener, Keith L. (1994): "Maybeck’s Melancholy: Architecture, Empathy, Empire, and Mental Illness at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition," Winterthur Portfolio 29. 14 Todd (1921), 287.

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articulated through a comparison with previous international expositions. In juxtaposing San Francisco's coordinated, standardized and harmonious architecture with the motley architecture of other expositions, Todd wrote:

At previous expositions one man would design a palace and another the palace adjacent. Try as they would to harmonize their plans, individualism would assert itself, and the visitor standing between two structures was conscious of the fact that they were unalike and at some points discordant. 15

At the Panama Pacific International Exposition, the visitor would be "surrounded by the work of one man." And thus, "all chance for discord had been eliminated." 16 As in earlier examples, this discussion of the exposition's architecture assumed that the visitor would have a "consciousness" of the design – in other words, would be aware of the intended effects. The extraordinary effort that the organizers of the 1915 San Francisco exposition put towards presenting a unified tableau constructed a conformity, yet this conformity was construed as by no means interfering with freedom. Even though the above excerpt from Todd's history takes a jaundiced view of "individualism" among architects, the production of harmony through coordination and standardization could be directly harnessed to the production of certain kinds of individual freedom. In Todd's judgment of the architecture:

A pronounced social atmosphere resulted. In its architecture the Panama Pacific Exposition was most democratic. It was not designed for the greater glory of individual architects, but for the enjoyment and intellectual stimulus of the public. It did not overwhelm; but it satisfied utterly.17

Most important here was the end result: the production of a democratic public. The architecture would not "overwhelm"; it would soothe and "satisfy" and become a democratic pedagogy for visitors. The architecture would be pedagogical in the sense that it was to teach the visitors about aesthetic appreciation and would be democratic in the values it purported to impart. Notable in this regard is that coordination and unity were construed as routes to the production of a public composed of democratic individuals, with considerably greater freedom to be found through harmony/concentration than distraction/discord. The desired effect of this control of the visual field and fabrication of a mode of perceiving through unit impression and concentration was precisely that "feeling of liberation" that Neuhaus reported in the Court of the Four Seasons.

Coordination and Unity in the Palace of Education and Social Economy

Visitors to the Panama Pacific International Exposition's Palace of Education and Social Economy18 saw educational displays that had been organized with an eye to controlling the

15 Ibid. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid.

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visual field, and with objectives similar to what we have seen in the previous section. The pavilion hosted displays from the United States Government; from a number of states, including Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and California; and from foreign countries such as China, the Philippines, Argentina and Uruguay. In this section my analysis focuses on the exhibits of the US states. For the purposes of this paper, my chief objective is to understand what exhibitionary styles and curatorial principles were employed in the education palace. As will become clear, this allows us to see what forms of attention were desired and produced as American education was presented to the world and its further advancement envisioned.

New York State Topographic Model, 9m x 12m, with lights of different colors representing educational institutions. (Ryan, W. Carson (1916): "Education Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition", Bureau of Education Bulletin 1).

To be sure, linkages between education and social progress, as well as linkages between international exhibitions and social progress, were the fundamental constitutive elements of both the school and the international exposition as cultural institutions of significance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. To highlight the point that the 1915 Palace of Education and Social Economy in San Francisco was designed to generate progress is not to reveal a groundbreaking, new historical insight. What is significant, in my view, is the means employed to produce this: namely, the careful, considered manipulation of human perception, an interest that I have found crossing the domains of architecture, exhibition design and pedagogy.

The central organizing principle of the exhibits of the American states was that each participating state would confine its exhibit to "one distinct system or process in which he

18 A separate pavilion for "social economy" was originally planned for the exposition, though never built. This resulted in displays relating to what was broadly referred to as "social service" being both included in the palace that then became known as the "Palace of Education and Social Economy" as well as in other locations such as in the Palace of Mines and in some of the independent buildings (e.g. the New York City building). Additional education exhibits could also be found in other parts of the fairgrounds, though my main focus here is on those that were located within the Palace of Education. See Pope, Alvin E. (1915): "The Exposition - Its Purpose and How to Appreciate It", in: California Teachers' Association (ed.): Complimentary Souvenir Book: Fifty-Third Annual Convention National Education Association and International Congress of Education, San Francisco: Arthur Henry Chamberlain.

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excelled; to one definite lesson which he was capable of teaching the world."19 In some measure, this selectivity and winnowing gesture stands in contrast to the comprehensive, all- comprehending viewing "as a whole" that was discussed in the previous section with reference to the architecture and color scheme of the exposition. Yet, we find that the kinds of attention to be produced were, in fact, quite analagous and that concerns about dispersal and concentration were pervasive throughout this particular palace as well.

The objective of having each state select systems or processes in which they excelled was that the exhibits of all the states together would add up to a cohesive display. The author of the US Bureau of Education's report on the exposition, Carson Ryan, reported that the organizers' goal for a "unified display rather than numerous exhibits" was "carried out consistently." This juxtaposition of "numerous exhibits" with a "unified display" suggests an interest in constructing a coherent visual (and intellectual) field. This concern was reflected in the careful orchestration that went into selecting exhibitors: Alvin E. Pope, the chief organizer of the education palace, is quoted by Ryan as saying:

These invitations were restricted in order to avoid duplication and the special exhibits were so assembled as to portray the salient features of modern American education. We have outgrown the old-style educational display, consisting of comprehensive, duplicate exhibits, composed chiefly of pupils' work.20

Important to note here is the contrast between a concentrated visual field and an ill-defined visual field marked by duplication. Redolent of the St. Louis / San Francisco comparisons discussed earlier, the "progress" that had been made in exhibitionary practices by 1915 was portrayed as one of "maturation" and "growth", as in the claim "we have outgrown the old- style educational display". In Frank Morton Todd's official PPIE history, additional information is provided on why the older styles of educational exhibits were considered "immature":

The world had outgrown the old-style display of pupil's papers showing how much like the copy book little Johnny and little Mary could write, and what long words they could spell at the age of seven years without getting blots on the paper; for, people were beginning to see that the best spellers did not always turn out to be the best sellers. Moreover, with hard enough drill on the teacher's part it sometimes happened that a blotless prodigy in a most inferior school surpassed the best product of the good institutions. Such exhibits showed nothing valuable, and the public had found it out.21

This passage, mindful as it is of public reaction to previous education exhibits, echoes the expectation on the part of the exposition's architects and color designers that PPIE visitors would be aware of the exhibition's design considerations and would notice the curatorial and aesthetic principles that were relied upon.

19 This particular wording of the directive that was attributed to Alvin E. Pope, the director of the exposition's Department of Education, is taken from Ryan, W. Carson (1916): "Education Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition," Bureau of Education Bulletin 1, 7. 20 Ibid. 21 Todd (1921), vol. IV, 35-6.

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The "new-style" displays in the education palace had a distinct and explicit objective, one suggested in the demand quoted above that exhibitors present something in which they "excelled". Pope is quoted as also noting that each exhibitor was to "deal with the fundamental principles of education, illustrating the means used to develop a child into the highest type of citizenship."22 These 1915 educational displays were intended to highlight "excellences", with the notion of vertical ascension (of the "highest type") a key component of how this progress was conceptualized. Excellence and a striving toward "perfection" became the central lessons that were to be learned in the palace of education.

This attempt to construct a unitary visual field closely overlapped with what has been termed the "nationalizing synthesis" that marked American World's Fairs from 1893 on.23 How education displays could help achieve this is nicely explained in the official PPIE report published by the State of New York, where it was noted that:

It was Mr. Pope's intention in planning the organization of education at the Exposition to have the United States Bureau of Education exhibit the American system of education, for notwithstanding the diversity of administration and procedure in the several States, our nation has progressed to the point where it may be confidently stated that we have a truly American system of education, including the elementary, the secondary and the higher.24

The decentralized nature of the American public education system has been a perennial concern of policymakers (one can look to the recent "No Child Left Behind" legislation to see a continuation of this anxiety). The 1915 presentation of "the American system of education" assembled a synthesis out of various parts, each of which, as mentioned above, highlighted work done to develop "highest types" of achievement. As examples, one can note that: Massachusetts decided to focus on vocational secondary education and textile education; New York chose to emphasize the "centralization of authority" that marked its school system; and, California put forward its school architecture and the use of "educational motion pictures" as the state's strongest educational features.25 The "unity" that marked the US exhibits in the Palace of Education and Social Economy did not come from a standardization in terms of the styles of visual presentation, as in the case of the exposition's architecture and color. Instead, it came through the selection of "special" and "distinct lessons" which could be taught to the world and which could be synthesized to signify a national education system.

22 Ryan (1916), 8. 23 See Rydell / Findling / Pelle (2000), 9. 24 New York State Panama-Pacific Exposition Commission, State of New York at the Panama Pacific International Exposition (1916), Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 293. 25 Egilbert, W. D. (1915):"California's Education Exhibit - The Panama-Pacific International Exposition," in California Teachers' Association (ed.), 80; Massachusetts Board of Panama-Pacific Managers, Massachusetts at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915. Report of the Board of Panama-Pacific Managers for Massachusetts (1916), Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Company, State Printers, 103; New York State Panama-Pacific Exposition Commission, State of New York at the Panama Pacific International Exposition, 293.

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Tied into the preference for these "new-style" displays were concerns about fatigue that echo those voiced above. Alongside a desire to prohibit unnecessary duplications in the Palace of Education and Social Economy, it was noted in a State of Massachusetts report on the San Francisco exposition that "the exposition authorities had decided that it would be inexpedient and unprofitable to attempt to have complete educational exhibits from each State." The partial, focused exhibit as opposed to the "complete", comprehensive presentation would be more rewarding, the suggestion being that less energy would dissipate and that concentration would be a more secure route to guaranteeing progress.

Similar principles and similar historical comparisons pervaded the Philippines exhibit at the Panama Pacific International Exposition. Given the extent to which the Philippine school system was integrated into the 1915 exposition, and a colonial mandate extended to American educators, there is a certain sense to including the Philippines in what otherwise has been here a discussion of the curatorial organization of the "domestic exhibits" in the Palace of Education and Social Economy.26 In an official guide to the Philippine exhibits, visual style and the structure of the displays were directly linked to concepts of progress. It was noted that:

Those who have visited exhibits from the Philippine Islands at other expositions, and particularly at the exposition held in Saint Louis in 1904, are at once impressed by striking differences in this exhibit. In former exhibits, emphasis was placed upon what is strange, curious or bizarre in the Philippines – something to startle people or to amuse them. The purposes of this exhibit along such different lines are self-evident: to give proper publicity to the eight millions of cultured Filipinos. It is the purpose to show in what manner the Philippine public schools have fulfilled their task by giving enlightenment to the rising generation, and what may be the possibilities of the Filipinos educationally, industrially, and as a people.27

26 A fine example of the extensive US interest in Philippine education circa 1915 can be found in an article on the Philippine public schools that was featured in the complimentary souvenir book distributed to attendees of the 1915 annual conference of the National Education Association (held in Oakland, in conjunction with the San Francisco exposition). The article remarked that Philippines employed 530 American teachers among their 10,000 strong teaching force. Suggesting that Pope's directive carried some weight in structuring the Philippine exhibit at the PPIE, the article also noted three "principle features" of the schools system, namely "that physical training is making for a better and stronger race, industrial and vocational guidance is providing for high home standards, and vocational guidance is providing for high home standards, and the academic instruction is the instrument of a great intellectual awakening." See Crone, Frank L. (1915): "The Philippine Public Schools - Some Salient Features," in: California Teachers' Association (ed.), 50. 27 Philippine Public Schools, The Philippine Public Schools at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915), San Francisco: Marnell & Company, 20.

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Section of Philippine Exhibit at 1915 Exposition, showing industrial products. (Ryan, W. Carson (1916): "Education Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition", Bureau of Education Bulletin 1).

Absent from the Philippines' 1915 display were the living anthropological displays that had been a key feature of the 1904 exhibit. At the earlier exposition 1200 Filipinos and Filipinas had been brought to Missouri and organized into villages that were to represent different stages of "civilizational" evolution. A model missionary school was displayed where loin- clothed Igorots – one of the higher-ranked ethnic groups – demonstrated their potential to be further civilized to President Roosevelt by singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee".28 The St. Louis / San Francisco shift was from an "attraction" that was "strange, curious or bizarre" and designed to "startle" or "amuse" visitors to an exhibit that would be a "proper" public presentation. The 1915 display was designed so as not to distract from the civilizing process underway. It would instead direct attention to accomplishments: to systems and processes, the "manner" in which enlightenment was being carried out. The display would also direct "proper" forms of attention – not the attention that would be seized by a startling, transient curiosity but attention that would be a more studied and reflective intellectual concentration.

The Design of Enlightenment in Individual Educational Exhibits

Motion pictures, slideshows and specialized lighting were among the key innovations in the education exhibits of the 1915 exposition. A 1916 US Bureau of Education report on the PPIE education exhibits recorded in its introductory note that "motion pictures assumed unprecedented importance at this exposition". The Palace of Education and Social Economy contained seven motion picture theatres and "nearly every booth had automatic lantern-slide machines in operation at all times."29 The 1916 account remarked that attendance was extremely high in the theatres and at slide-shows – which were sometimes also referred to as "stereomotographs", a particular drum-type of automatic slide projector. Even though moving picture projections had been in wide popular circulation since 1896,30 it bears closely examining how the forms of vision and perception connected with illuminated and moving

28 Rydell (1984), 176. 29 Ryan, "Education Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition," 9. 30 Crary (1999), 344.

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images were understood and reasoned about by those who designed and commented upon the 1915 exposition.

Jonathan Crary argues that it was in the mid-nineteenth century, particulary with the invention of the stereopticon, that the "classical" understanding of vision as an external sense began to come undone. That two near-identical stereopticon images, when viewed properly, formed a single three-dimensional panorama seemed to increasing numbers of people to suggest that physiological activity was a key piece of vision. If the image produced was an active synthesis on the part of the viewer, this meant that theories of perception could move from an idealist notion of the Kantian "transcendental subject" towards a more materialist orientation that considered humans subject to historical conditions. Somewhat later in the century Edward Muybridge's well-known photographs of a horse in motion similarly disrupted the idea that there was a "naturalness" to vision and suggested that it involved active composition and not passive reception. The development of cinema further strengthened the emerging popular and scientific consensus that perception involved composition and synthesis. These principles seem to have informed the State of California’s film exhibit in the Palace of Education and Social Economy, with – as we have seen in other domains – the activity of composition and perceptual unification being as-if raised a level and taken as the essence of how humans could grasp the broader social world.

California's theatre was reported to have the most elaborate of the education-related films and included a weekly program indicating, at half hour intervals, which cities or regions were being featured. It is important to note that these were not "educational films" in the sense of being designed for use in a classroom but were rather films of a "documentary" nature.31 The Los Angeles film, for example, consisted of seven separate reels, "each descriptive of a different phase of the educational work of that city".32 Even though lectures accompanied the films and the California exhibit also included miniature models to spotlight school architecture, it appears that, in a certain sense, the films stood on their own. The US Bureau of Education's report noted:

Through these motion pictures it was possible for the visitor to the exposition to carry away a rather complete and accurate picture of actual school conditions in the State of California with considerably less danger of wrong emphasis than if he had tried visiting a few schools in person.33

The concerns about inaccuracy of vision and perception that we see here are quite worthy of note. In the face of anxiety that visitors would assemble for themselves a faulty picture of the California schools, carefully selected sets of images were exhibited. Yet, rather than a single "documentary" film about the California school system, we find that various (silent)

31 Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate any surviving copies of the films shown in the California exhibit, nor, for that matter, films shown in any of the other exhibits. 32 Ryan, "Education Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition", 26. 33 Ibid.

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reels of footage were presented to visitors. This means that, as in earlier instances, we find the composite elements for "a complete and accurate" picture being provided – and provided in such a way as to ensure that visitors synthesized the correct sort of picture.

The manipulation of human perception through the careful use of light was also seen in certain of the exhibits of the Palace of Education and Social Economy. The Massachusetts booth was self-described as "unquestionably the most conspicuous and most beautiful of both State and foreign structures within the Palace of Education." Suggesting a coordinated design similar to that of the exposition as a whole, the report noted a "brilliant lighting effect" and "general color scheme" and added that the furniture and the "woodwork of all exhibit apparatus" were mahogany stained.34 Special lighting also featured notably in the New York State exhibit. To display what was referred to as the "centralization of control with the decentralization of service" the New York organizing committee exhibited a 34 by 27 foot relief map of the state. This 3-D map featured small incandescent lights representing various educational institutions in the state, including "at Albany a miniature model of the Education Building lighted at all times to show that the centralized educational administration emanated from this building." Other educational institutions would be illuminated in turn, with, for example, all the libraries in the state shown by little blue lights across the display. Electric lighting was, of course, well established in 1915, though the New York State report on the exposition, claimed credit for an innovation:

For the first time in the history of expositions, and doubtless in the history of the world had the principle of electric lighting been applied to a topographical map. This exhibit presented a new principle of exposition, adapted to the visualization of all manner of industries, products and interests, so that the exhibit became a study not only for those interested in the progress of education in the Empire State, but as well for all who were interested in hereafter presenting in a striking way information of whatsoever kind.35

Palace of Education and Social Economy, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco 1915. (Ryan, W. Carson (1916): "Education Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition", Bureau of Education Bulletin 1).

34 Massachusetts Board of Panama-Pacific Managers, Massachusetts at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915. Report of the Board of Panama-Pacific Managers for Massachusetts, 98-9. 35 New York State Panama-Pacific Exposition Commission, State of New York at the Panama Pacific International Exposition, 298.

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The style of the display may have been "striking" and the exhibit may have elicited "comments of surprise and pleasure" as the report goes on to claim,36 however, even with this use of blinking lights, we are still far removed from the "startling" and the "over-stimulation" alleged to characterize the exhibits of earlier expositions. In fact, the illuminated relief model of New York State makes a good metaphor for the main thrust of the curatorial principles that organized the domestic exhibits of the Palace of Education and Social Economy. With the image of enlightenment spreading out from a unifying central point, the control over the ensuring progress could be "centralized", even as this progress would have various "decentralized" manifestations.

The Attention of the PPIE Spectator

The consideration given to constructing a coherent and progress-producing visual field at the San Francisco exposition was linked to the production of particular kinds of individuals. A set of suggestions from the chief organizer of the education building on how properly to "appreciate" the exposition provide revealing evidence of the kind of individuality that was to be fabricated through the conformities and coordination that targeted the masses of visitors. In a complimentary souvenir book prepared by the California Teachers Association, Alvin E. Pope addressed the educators who assembled for the 1915 National Education Association (NEA) annual meeting held in Oakland, California. His recommendations for a visit to the fairgrounds across the bay emphasized reflective solitary experience and the careful sustained attention of visitors.

To begin with, Pope advised, when visiting the Panama Pacific International Exposition one should "avoid a large party" for "one can profit more from being alone or with not more than two companions." Pope recommended the purchase of a guidebook and suggested that the NEA conventiongoers begin with a "general view which will give an idea of its underlying principles". Just as Laura Ingalls Wilder had done, this first objective could be accomplished by taking one of the car-train tours of the fairgrounds. Pope counseled trips in this manner both by day and by night and wrote, "Do not hurry. Enjoy it—You will absorb much."37 Following this, the visitor should proceed to a leisurely survey of the exhibit palaces. Pope then advised:

After this casual survey begin the thorough study of some particular exhibit of interest. Follow this up by an exhaustive study of as many exhibits as possible. You will find most of them arranged for the casual inspection of the general public, but containing information for the amateur, material for the professional and suggestions for the trained expert. Each visitor will find that he himself belongs first to one and then

36 Ibid., 300. 37 Pope, "The Exposition - Its Purpose and How to Appreciate It," 64.

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to another of these classes, and that he will benefit in proportion to the effort and time he devotes to serious study.38

Differing attentive styles were attached to the classes of visitors that Pope specified ("general public", "amateur", "professional", and "trained expert"). The "casual inspection" of the general public contrasted with the "effort and time" devoted to "serious study" that the professional and expert would bring to viewing certain displays. For Pope, extensive study was clearly an ideal that would follow the initial leisurely and casual survey of exhibits – exhibits which were arranged to be amenable both to this first kind of restful, leisurely attention and to a more sustained, enduring attention. Implied in Pope's scheme was the idea that "exhaustive study" would involve the expenditure of effort (and time), an acknowledgement that the "exhaustive" had the potential of being "exhausting" as well. Pope's touring instructions form a program for the management of a visitor's attention, beginning with the injunction that a slow-paced appreciation of the spectacle presented by the exposition ought to be something experienced individually or with two others at most. Careful study was presented as an exalted objective towards which visitors should strive. "Your pleasure, appreciation and benefit is limited only by time, effort and capacity," Pope noted. As for Neuhaus' visitor in the Court of the Four Seasons, prolonged reflection was a calculated "giving one's self over entirely" for the purposes of enlightenment and improvement. NEA conventiongoers were advised to "study the Exposition thoughtfully, and you will carry home much which will benefit yourself, your friends and the community.39 The coordinated organization of the San Francisco exposition's architecture and exhibits, with its focus on proper forms of human perception, worked to construct reflective, concentrating individuals who could be agentive actors40 effecting both individual self-improvement and social progress.

Spectators of Attention: The Montessori Demonstration Classroom

Extant reports indicate that the Montessori demonstration classroom captured the most attention of all the exhibits in the Palace of Education and Social Economy.41 Over a period of four months, within a glass-walled classroom, a school for children between two and six years old operated and Montessori's methods were demonstrated to visitors. Maria Montessori herself was in attendance, though the school itself was run by her chief US representative, Helen Parkhurst. In an earlier publication entirely devoted to this particular

38 Ibid., 65. 39 Ibid. 40 For a discussion of this concept of "agentic actorhood" see Meyer, John W. / Ronald L. Jefferson (2000): "The "Actors" of Modern Society: The Cultural Construction of Social Agency," Sociological Theory 18. 41 See, for example Hinkle, Frederick R. (1915): ‘‘A Day with Dr. Maria Montessori and Her Youthful Charges Is an Eyeopener for the Average Parent,’’ San Francisco Chronicle, 11 September; Todd (1921), 66.

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classroom exhibit I have made the argument that Montessori's theories about attention are more central to her pedagogical methods than is commonly recognized. I have also argued that the congruence between what occurred in her classroom and what PPIE organizers were trying to accomplish with regard to the management of human perception helps to explain the popular appeal and success of the Montessori demonstration.42

The educational system displayed in the Montessori exhibit made considerable use of objects and tasks related to these objects, such as lacing or appropriately sorting graded wooden cylinders. Like many other reports, Frank Morton Todd's official history of the exposition discussed this didactic material in relation to a concept of freedom. Her methods were "intended to produce, not a repressed and standardized child governed from above, but an individual child, self-governed," he noted. In a direct parallel with his description of the Exposition's color scheme, Todd described the physical apparatus of the Montessori classroom as "a matter of a designed environmental factor for a definite purpose."43 The interior décor of the Montessori classroom also received attention. A photograph of the classroom printed in the 1916 US Bureau of Education report bore a caption noting that "the color scheme was lavender; the furniture a pearl gray". The text that this image accompanied is unique in being one of the very few hesitant and lukewarm analyses of the glass-walled classroom. The author, W. Carson Ryan, wrote:

While the demonstration was carried out under such artificial conditions that it was difficult to obtain accurate impressions of the true value of the Montessori work, visitors could not but be impressed with the attractiveness of the surroundings – the harmonizing color effects; simple, tasteful furniture; and the delightful manner of the directress.44

Other reports on the demonstration are considerably more enthusiastic, frequently noting that the children were rarely distracted by the visitors – sources indicate that considerable numbers of spectators spent hours on end sitting in the auditorium-style seating that surrounded the classroom.45 The above passage from Ryan's report is useful, however, for indicating the extent to which the aesthetic principles discussed above pervaded even the evaluation of an innovative, modern teaching method. Ryan's concerns about artificiality interfering with an accurate picture notwithstanding, spectators of the Montessori demonstration classroom seem to have been well aware that they were present to a properly held and utilized attention.

"When you have solved the problem of controlling the attention of the child, you have solved the entire problem of education," the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Montessori as declaring

42 Sobe (2004). 43 Todd (1921), 67. 44 Ryan, "Education Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition," 99. 45 See the discussion of this in Sobe (2004), 282-5.

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at the NEA conference held during the PPIE.46 A minor but revealing textual difference appears in the version of the text that was published in the official NEA proceedings, where the "problem of education" is rendered as the "problem of its education," thus referring more specifically to the individual child rather than the problem of education in general.47 However, if we assume that the NEA proceedings are more accurate to what Montessori said, the editing of this declaration in the popular press can be seen to reveal the insertion of a narrative of social salvation. Properly controlled attention would be the cornerstone of a progress-oriented social order that valued and nurtured individuality and freedom. The slippage is entirely understandable as this is precisely what Montessori herself also argued. As she put it at a different point in the same address: when attention is properly directed, "then only is man revealed unto himself and begins to live."48 All of this suggests that the practices of attention (and the cultural and scientific discourses surrounding it) embedded in and circulating through the glass-walled Montessori demonstration classroom were strikingly in synch with the serenity, self-reflection, self-government and regenerative fortification that Eugen Neuhaus – as is noted at the outset of this article – saw being effected through the proper structuring of human perception in the PPIE's Court of the Four Seasons and across the exposition as a whole.

Conclusion

At San Francisco in 1915, a concern with manipulating the visual field appeared across multiple social domains. From the PPIE architecture, to the curatorial principles that guided the US educational exhibits, to the design of these exhibits and extending as far as specific pedagogical strategies, we see a widespread concern with manipulating spectators' perception so as to fabricate "proper" forms of human attention. This was an attention that would be fortifying and a vehicle of progress; it was to be an attention that would surmount distractions, be inured to over-stimulation, and prevent the scattering of human powers. Across these different cultural fields, careful planning and coordination evidenced the production of sustained, stable attention as an objective whose realization was tied to the making of modern individuals, modern forms of social organization and modern educational systems and methods. And, across all of these domains, human attention provided a surface and suggested techniques for engineering the certainty of progress.

In appraising the innovations and educational features of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, these findings suggest that we go well beyond a recounting of technological and design "firsts" and consider the broader context of what the featured

46 "Child Study Explained by Montessori," San Francisco Chronicle, 17 August 1915. 47 Montessori, Maria (1915):"My System of Education," Journal and Proceedings and Addresses of the National Education Association 53, 66 [emphasis added]. 48 Ibid., 64.

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innovations represented for fairgoing, spectatorship and the production of human subjectivity. A 34 by 27 foot relief map of the state of New York with a threefold vertical exaggeration, enough copper wire (it was claimed) to convey the electricity that would be needed for a city of 50,000 inhabitants, and a papier mache surface made from 300 pounds of pulped, discarded US currency is much more than a pathbreaking illuminated model.49 It is a display of cultural and educational ideals that becomes considerably more intelligible when we situate it in relation to what else was occurring at the San Francisco exposition with light and attempts to capture and focus the attention of visitors. This analytic strategy allows us to see the educational work of this early-twentieth-century international exposition as not simply inhering in the industrial processes, public health exhibits, and lecture programs. Instead, we can also see "educating" and the formation of human dispositions and modes of being in the very manner of how spectators were to experience the exposition.

The educational exhibits in the Palace of Education and Social Economy benefit from being similarly viewed in terms of the broader social and cultural context. The national synthesis that the US exhibits were collectively to represent speaks in one part to attempts to establish that the US had a "national" system of education. In another part, however, it speaks to particular concerns about the cohesion and fragmentation of human perception – the very conditions on which the discernment of a national system of education rested. The significance of attention to spectatorship at the 1915 PPIE suggests yet another dimension in which international expositions are cultural productions of profound significance for understanding trends and transformations of the modern world.

49 New York State Panama-Pacific Exposition Commission, State of New York at the Panama Pacific International Exposition, 298.

114 Attention and Spectatorship: Educational Exhibits at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco 1915 Noah W. Sobe

Résumé

San Francisco 1915

A l'exposition internationale de San Francisco 1915, la problématique concernant le contrôle du champ visuel et la manipulation de la perception humaine circulait à travers plusieurs domaines. De l'architecture de l'exposition aux principes principaux qui ont guidé les expositions éducatives américaines, tout comme les présentations individuelles, on observe un souci permanent de concevoir des formes appropriées de l’attention humaine. Cet article est une discussion sur les voies employées, à travers les différents domaines culturels, pour atteindre l’objectif clé qui était de maintenir l’attention soutenue et continue et le résultat escompté d’une planification et coordination attentives. L’attention humaine a fourni une plateforme d’intervention, a suggéré des techniques pour construire la certitude du progrès, et est devenue, comme l'article l’explique, l’une des préoccupations éducatives centrales de l'exposition de 1915.

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117

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[…] l'exposition constitue une œuvre d'enseignement; à cet effet, elle s'organise sous la forme d'une sorte de musée pédagogique et technique permettant de reconnaître les progrès de la civilisation dans son ensemble ou dans des branches particulières.1

La délégation française chargée de défendre les intérêts de la France aux négociations d'une nouvelle Convention sur les expositions internationales trouvait dans ses instructions cette définition d'une exposition et de ce qui constituait leur caractère exceptionnel. Les négociations qui se déroulaient en novembre 1928 à Paris consacraient beaucoup de temps aux définitions, établissant non seulement les critères permettant de distinguer les différentes catégories d'expositions, mais aussi les caractéristiques particulières qui devaient les mettre à l'abri de confusions avec d'autres manifestations internationales de ce genre, et notamment les foires.

La Convention précédente, signée en 1912,2 n'était jamais entrée en vigueur, le nombre requis de ratifications n'ayant pas été réuni avant que la Première Guerre mondiale n'anéantît toutes les ententes entre belligérants. Le projet d'un accord intergouvernemental s'était progressivement imposé dans les dernières décennies du XIXe siècle, alors que les expositions universelles – qui n'en avaient parfois que le nom – s'étaient multipliées à un rythme effréné. Les critères de ce qui constitue une « exposition universelle » n'ayant pas été définis à cette époque, il n'est pas aisé d'en faire le décompte, mais en ne considérant que celles qui ont bénéficié d'une certaine reconnaissance, le monde avait été convié, en quarante ans, à une vingtaine de ces manifestations3. Une telle prolifération avait fini par provoquer la bien connue « lassitude des expositions », voire ici et là de l'irritation à l'endroit de pays ou de villes dont l'engouement pour ce genre de rassemblements onéreux était jugé abusif.

C'est dans cette atmosphère d'un mécontentement croissant qu'en 1906-07 la Chambre des Communes britannique avait entrepris une grande enquête sur les expositions internationales.4 Elle avait accumulé de nombreux témoignages dénonçant le dilemme auquel faisaient face tant les États invités que les entreprises dont la participation était sollicitée : d'une part, les dépenses qu'entraînait leur participation étaient disproportionnées par rapport

1 Note établie pour les membres de la délégation française à la conférence chargée de l'établissement d'une convention relative aux expositions internationales (1928), Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 5. 2 Elle était signée par seize États : Allemagne, Autriche, Belgique, Danemark, Espagne, France, Grande- Bretagne, Hollande, Hongrie, Italie, Japon, Norvège, Portugal, Russie, Suède et Suisse. 3 1879-80 Sydney, 1880-81 Melbourne, 1883 Amsterdam, 1883-84 Boston, 1884-85 Nouvelle-Orléans, 1885 Anvers, 1886 Édimbourg, 1888 Barcelone, 1888 Glasgow, 1888-89 Melbourne, 1889 Paris, 1893 Chicago, 1894 Anvers, 1897 Bruxelles, 1900 Paris, 1901 Buffalo, 1901 Glasgow, 1904 St Louis, 1905 Liège, 1906 Milan, 1910 Bruxelles, 1913 Gand. 4 Grande Bretagne. House of Commons, Parliament Papers, 1908, vol XLIX, International Exhibitions Committee (sous la présidence de Sir Alfred Bateman), Minutes of Evidence.

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aux retombées commerciales alors que, d'autre part, leur absence produisait à coup sûr des effets négatifs. L'enquête concluait que le commerce extérieur profitait tout au plus indirectement de ces événements et que ce n'était généralement que pour des raisons de politique extérieure que les États croyaient ne pouvoir décliner une invitation.

On pouvait entendre des opinions similaires dans la plupart des pays industrialisés de l'époque : afin d'assurer une représentation digne et avantageuse de leur pays, les gouvernements étaient obligés d'y investir des fonds substantiels et d'exercer des pressions sur les industries et institutions nationales pour que celles-ci, conscientes de leur devoir patriotique, se mobilisent et montent à leur frais des présentations prestigieuses. Les motifs de politique extérieure intervenant au niveau des gouvernements n'étaient pas nécessairement partagés par les milieux d'exposants. Ainsi, la volonté d'influencer les décisions gouvernementales sur les participations et d'assurer, le cas échéant, l'organisation efficace des présentations, les amena dans plusieurs pays à fonder des Comités permanents5 qui, en 1908, formèrent la Fédération internationale des comités permanents d'exposition. Leur action concertée contribuait à préparer la Conférence diplomatique tenue en grande pompe en 1912 à Berlin dont l'objectif primordial était l'endiguement du flot des expositions internationales.

Seize ans plus tard, en 1928, il s'agissait alors de faire aboutir les efforts d'avant-guerre en élaborant une nouvelle Convention. L'objectif était le même, à savoir d'instaurer une réglementation internationale qui réduise la fréquence des expositions internationales et leur impose des principes uniformes d'organisation et de fonctionnement.

Au lendemain de la guerre, et en dépit de la déstabilisation des relations économiques internationales, les projets d'expositions avaient recommencé à proliférer. Tout indique que la plupart des plus de 750 projets recensés à la veille de la guerre6 furent ranimés aussitôt que les hostilités avaient cessé. Pendant quelques années les tensions internationales persistantes empêchaient de songer sérieusement à un règlement intergouvernemental. Ce n'était donc pas un hasard si ce ne fut qu'en octobre 1925, à l'époque même des Accords de Locarno, qu'en marge de l'Exposition internationale des Arts décoratifs de Paris et suivant une suggestion venant du ministère français du Commerce, des représentants de Comités nationaux d'expositions exprimèrent le vœu qu'une nouvelle conférence diplomatique reprenne l'œuvre de 1912. En janvier 1928, le gouvernement français convoqua cette conférence pour le mois de novembre suivant. Après dix jours de délibérations, la nouvelle

5 Le Comité français des expositions à l'étranger existait déjà depuis 1885; les autres se constituèrent après le tournant du siècle : Comité belge des expositions à l'étranger, 1903; Comitato nazionale per le esposizioni all estero, 1905; Ständige Ausstellungskommission für die deutsche Industrie, 1906; Office central suisse pour les expositions, 1908; Ständige österreichische Ausstellungskommission, 1910. 6 Burch, A.v.d. (1927): "L'utilité des expositions et des foires commerciales", Bulletin commercial 81, 19 décembre, 2887.

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Convention concernant les expositions internationales fut signée à Paris, le 22 novembre 1928.7

À peu de choses près, le texte reprenait les principes et outils du projet de 1912. La classification des expositions faisait cette fois-ci la distinction entre les expositions générales de première et de deuxième catégorie (c'est-à-dire impliquant ou non l'obligation de construire des pavillons nationaux) et les expositions spéciales (consacrées à une ou plusieurs branches de l'activité humaine). Les contraintes quant à leur fréquence en furent accentuées. La création du Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), chargé de veiller au respect de la Convention, marquait toutefois une différence de taille par rapport au texte de 1912. La fonction de surveillance devait s'exercer par le truchement d'un enregistrement auprès du BIE d'expositions « officielles » ou « officiellement reconnues » qui, seules, bénéficieraient du statut consigné dans les diverses dispositions de la Convention. Désormais, les organisateurs de grandes expositions internationales devaient donc compter avec l'insertion dans des relations jusque-là essentiellement bi-latérales, de la dynamique particulière d'une bureaucratie internationale.8

À la fin des années vingt, la situation semblait d'ailleurs, plus que jamais, exiger de grands moyens. Car, au moment où l'on s'apprêtait à arrêter une nouvelle prolifération des expositions, ce même problème d'encombrement affectait les foires commerciales prétendant au titre d'internationales. Foires, « salons » et « semaines » de toutes sortes ne s'étaient pas seulement multipliés ; ils commençaient aussi à transgresser, ici et là, la frontière qui devait les séparer des « expositions » proprement dites, en regroupant, par exemple, des objets par pays d'origine, en attribuant des prix ou en étendant l'accès aux visiteurs. Dans les milieux acquis à la mission culturelle des expositions et conscients de la reconnaissance que ces manifestations pouvaient apporter à leurs pays, leurs bureaucraties, leurs institutions ou leurs métiers, des voix s'élevaient alors pour dénoncer cette confusion. Elle était jugée d'autant plus inquiétante que l'on craignait qu'une limitation draconienne de la fréquence des expositions n'incite les organisateurs d'une exposition à l'appeler « foire » et à contourner ainsi toute réglementation. Ou encore, que l'attrait des foires, plus rentables du point de vue commercial, n'amène les manufacturiers à déserter les expositions.

De plus, les foires pouvaient désormais s'appuyer sur des organisations à l'échelle internationale : en 1920, le Congrès International des Chambres de Commerce, qui se réunissait à intervalles irréguliers depuis 1869, avait fondé la Chambre de Commerce Internationale (CCI) dont la mission englobait les foires. Puis, en 1925, des organisateurs de

7 Les États signataires étaient les suivants : Albanie, Allemagne, Australie, Autriche, Belgique, Brésil, Canada, Colombie, Cuba, Danemark, République dominicaine, Espagme. France, Grande Bretagne, Grèce, Guatemale, Haïti, Hongrie, Italie, Japon, Maroc, Pays-Bas, Pérou, Pologne, Portugal, Roumanie, Royaume des Serbes, Croates et Slovènes, Suède, Suisse, Tunisie, URSS. 8 Voir pour plus de détails Schroeder-Gudehus, Brigitte / André Bzdera (1992): "La réglementation internationale des expositions", in : Schroeder-Gudehus, Brigitte et Anne Rasmussen : Les fastes du progrès. Guide des Expositions universelles, 1851-1992, Paris, 992, 39-55.

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foires et propriétaires d'infrastructures s'étaient regroupés dans l'Union des Foires Internationales (UFI) dont l'objectif était de défendre les intérêts de cette industrie.9 Tandis qu'en 1912, les foires n'avaient guère attiré l'attention des négociateurs, il était évident qu'il allait en être autrement en amont de la Conférence diplomatique de 1928, pendant les négociations et après l'entrée en vigueur de la Convention.

Dans des cercles particulièrement alarmés par la confusion entre expositions et foires et par les effets néfastes que cette confusion risquait d'avoir sur le succès des expositions, le plan surgit alors de faire bonne mesure et de compléter la nouvelle Convention en y intégrant une réglementation des foires. Le premier projet, que le gouvernement français soumit en préparation de la Conférence diplomatique, avait d'ailleurs défini les expositions sujettes aux dispositions de la future Convention d'une manière si large que les foires auraient pu s'y trouver incluses.10 Cette définition fut jugée trop compréhensive dès les premières délibérations de la Conférence. Après deux séances laborieuses en sous-commission, elle fut précisée à l'effet que, d'emblée, la Convention ne s'appliquerait pas aux événements d'une durée inférieure à trois semaines.11 Or, les foires ne dépassaient pratiquement jamais cette durée.

La Conférence renonça donc à compléter la Convention par une réglementation des foires, même si une majorité des délégations déclarait, en principe, la souhaiter ardemment. Mais les négociateurs savaient fort bien qu'au plan national, une telle réglementation se heurterait à de sérieuses réserves de la part de leurs industriels et milieux d'affaires. Ceux-ci – tout en donnant leur appui à une réglementation des expositions – avaient déjà clairement affirmé un peu partout que les foires répondaient aux besoins spécifiques de chaque branche industrielle et devaient rester du ressort exclusif de ces branches. La devise des industries et milieux d'affaires britanniques, selon laquelle on attendait de l'État, en matière de commerce extérieur, « promotion without regulation »,12 reflétait aussi, à quelques nuances près, l'attitude des milieux similaires sur le continent.

L'hésitation des négociateurs à s'engager sur le terrain des foires s'expliquait de plus par l'impuissance de certains gouvernements à influencer efficacement l'organisation d'événements commerciaux de ce genre. Alors que, dans le cas des grandes expositions internationales, leur dépendance envers l'appui moral et financier de l'État donnait à celui-ci des moyens de régulation, les foires – qui étaient généralement des entreprises privées –

9 L'UFI fut fondée le 15 avril 1925 à Milan par les centres de principaux foires européennes (Bordeaux, Bruxelles, Budapest, Cologne, Danzig, Frankfurt (Main), Leipzig, Ljubljana, Lvov, Lyon, Milan, Nizhny Novgorod, Padua, Paris, Prague, Reichenberg, Utrecht, Valencia, Vienne et Zagreb). 10 Premier projet de convention. Propositions du gouvernement français pour la Conférence diplomatique relative aux expositions internationales, du 17 janvier 1928. République française. Conférence diplomatique relative aux expositions internationales. Paris, 12-22 novembre 1928 (1930), Paris : Imprimerie nationale, 10. 11 Procès-verbaux. Ibid., 146-58. 12 Voir Clark, William H. (1923) : "Government and the promotion of Trade", The Journal of Public Administration, 22-34.

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pouvaient fort bien se passer de cet appui. La Conférence émit cependant le voeu que le gouvernement français convoque une commission chargée de préparer une réglementation des foires. Elle en soulignait même l'urgence en proposant un échéancier de dix-huit mois, faisant valoir « que l'application de la présente Convention ne donnera pleine satisfaction que lorsque toutes les manifestations de présentation de modèles et d'échantillons, de quelque nature qu'elles soient, seront réglementées ».13

Le Gouvernement français procéda rapidement, confiant à cette Commission Internationale des Foires – « à cause de la connexité existant entre les expositions et les foires » – la tâche supplémentaire de préparer le règlement du BIE. La Commission se réunit en décembre 1929 et commença aussitôt à interroger les gouvernements adhérents et de grands organismes économiques sur l'opportunité de réglementer les foires internationales. Un an plus tard, elle devait constater que ses questionnaires avaient produit des résultats trop divergents pour permettre la rédaction d'un projet commun de réglementation. Entre approbation sans réserve et opposition catégorique, la majorité des répondants avaient exprimé des considérations mitoyennes : tout en reconnaissant la nécessité de mettre de l'ordre dans un secteur hypertrophié et chaotique, elle demeurait peu favorable à une réglementation des foires enchâssée dans un accord international.14 Quand, avec l'entrée en vigueur de la Convention en janvier 1931, le BIE fut mis en place et doté de ses structures internes, le dossier passa à la Commission de classification. Deux mois plus tard, le BIE sollicita auprès des pays signataires de la Convention, de la CCI et de l'UFI l'autorisation d'entamer une étude méthodique des foires, de réunir les informations nécessaires par voie de questionnaires tout en contrôlant, le cas échéant, les réponses par des enquêtes approfondies. Sur la base de ces études, il produirait alors chaque année, au cours des trois années suivantes, un rapport « sur les manifestations internationales de moins de trois semaines qui méritent d'être recommandées ».15

Seule une minorité de pays adhérents à la Convention était prête à investir le BIE d'un pouvoir de « recommandation » et de « contrôle » des foires. Ceux qui y flairaient l'intention d'arriver, par des voies détournées, à une amorce de réglementation,16 l'emportèrent et le mandat du Bureau fut réduit à une collecte d'informations en vue d'un rapport ne traitant que de l'opportunité d'une réglementation des foires. Le directeur du BIE se mit au travail, s'adjoignant des membres du Conseil et des représentants de la CCI et de l'UFI. En 1934,

13 Protocole annexe, 1er vœu. Ibid., 547. 14 Note concernant les réponses des gouvernements et des organismes internationaux au questionnaire qui leur a été adressé par la Commission internationale des foires (et supplément). Paris, s.d. (1931?), 30+3p. Archives publiques du Canada, RG 25, vol. 1514, file 1928-328-II. 15 Procès-verbal de la 2e session du Conseil d'administration du Bureau international des Expositions, Bulletin du Bureau international des Exposition (1), décembre 1931, 22. 16 Voir pour l'opposition des milieux d'affaires françaises, Courtois, Robert (1931) : "Liberté !", Agir 3, 5- 6.

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l'échéance du rapport fut reportée de deux ans, mais entre temps, le problème des foires semblait avoir perdu son acuité.17

En fait, dès son entrée en fonction et jusqu'à la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le BIE dut affronter des crises qui faisaient peu à peu passer au second plan le souci de discipliner les foires. La Convention était à peine entrée en vigueur, que la France, déjà hôte de deux grandes expositions internationales depuis la fin de la guerre,18 brusquait certains gouvernements adhérents en réclamant le droit d'en organiser une troisième, et de grande envergure, en 1937. Accusée de contrevenir à l'esprit et à la lettre de la Convention et objet d'un rappel à l'ordre du BIE, le Gouvernement français refusait néanmoins de reculer. Cette « Exposition internationale des Arts et techniques dans la vie moderne » avait à peine ouvert ses portes que l'autorité de la Convention se trouvait de nouveau défiée par bon nombre de pays adhérents qui acceptaient de participer au World's Fair de New York de 1939/40, en dépit du fait que les organisateurs de cette exposition ne respectaient pas les conditions de fonctionnement qui leur étaient imposées suite à l'enregistrement auprès du BIE.19 Le Bureau ne pouvait rien faire de plus que dénoncer cette complicité malencontreuse auprès des gouvernements responsables.20

La confrontation suscitée par l'Exposition parisienne de 1937 était plus grave et plus significative que les ennuis avec le World's Fair de New York dont le rayonnement international était, de toute façon, sérieusement terni par le déclenchement de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. L'indiscipline française touchait, par contre, à la raison d'être de la Convention et portait atteinte ainsi à son autorité. Si l'on avait prévu que la France allait se réserver le droit d'organiser des expositions à des dates si rapprochées, déclarait le représentant britannique au Conseil du BIE, son pays n'aurait pas signé la Convention.21 La crispation qui allait caractériser jusqu'à l'après-guerre les relations franco-britanniques au sein du BIE avait cependant des racines plus lointaines.

La Grande-Bretagne qui avait inauguré en 1851, dans la splendeur du Crystal Palace, l'ère des expositions universelles, s'était progressivement désintéressée de ce type d'opérations de prestige. Le Board of Trade avait pris l'habitude d’évaluer leur opportunité carrément selon les perspectives qu'elles ouvraient au commerce extérieur. La performance des expositions universelles étant considérée comme peu convaincante à cet égard, c'était avant

17 Voir aussi Isaac, Maurice (1941 ?) : Le Bureau International des expositions. Ses moyens d'action et son oeuvre. 1931-1939. MS dactyl., 33-6. Isaac, Maurice (1942-3) : Le Bureau International des Expositions et la réglementation des foires. MS datcyl., BIE, Archives, volume sténotypes. 1e à 15e session, 1931 à 1939. 18 L'exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, 1925, et l'Exposition coloniale, 1931. 19 Selon l'art. 11 (3) de la Convention, les États signataires auraient dû refuser leur participation. Les États-Unis n'avaient pas adhéré à la Convention. 20 Voir au sujet de ces crises : Schroeder-Gudehus, Brigitte / André Bzdera, art.cit., 51-2. 21 E. Crowe à Howard-Smith, le 2 novembre 1932. Public Record Office (PRO), BT 60/74/4.

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tout leur coût excessif qui, en 1912 déjà, avait motivé le gouvernement britannique à participer à l'élaboration d'une Convention internationale qui réduise le nombre d'expositions.

A cette époque, la France, pays organisateur autant sinon plus que participant, s’inquiétait davantage d'une autre conséquence du nombre sans cesse croissant d'expositions universelles. Cette prolifération risquait de les priver de leur caractère exceptionnel et menaçait ainsi de les banaliser.22 Célébrations du progrès et grandes entreprises de vulgarisation de savoirs et pratiques, elles étaient aussi des plate-formes sans pareil pour témoigner du génie de la nation et déployer les fastes qu'une puissance culturelle de premier rang était en mesure d'offrir au monde. À une époque où, sur d'autres plans – politique, économique et scientifique – la France sentait qu'un premier rang auquel elle croyait avoir droit, se trouvait remis en question, les grandes expositions demeuraient sur un terrain où elle était sûre de sortir victorieuse de la compétition.

Un quart de siècle plus tard, à la fin des années vingt, alors que la nouvelle Convention semblait pouvoir discipliner les expositions, le danger de leur banalisation surgissait donc à nouveau avec l'essor en nombre et en éclat des foires internationales. Et à nouveau s'imposait aux partisans des grandes expositions internationales la conviction qu'à moins qu'elles réussissent à conserver leur lustre exceptionnel et leur dignité – et leur attrait tant pour les exposants que pour les visiteurs – leur pays allait perdre un outil de rayonnement et de mobilisation sans pareil. Une telle vision des choses était étrangère à la politique sur les expositions de la Grande Bretagne. Empreinte de l'idée du libre échange qui avait donné le coup d'envoi, en 1851, au mouvement des expositions, la position britannique n'était certes pas imperméable à des préoccupations politiques, comme dans le cas des Empire Exhibitions qu'elle voulait voir soustraites aux dispositions de la Convention. En ce qui concernait les expositions internationales, le Board of Trade continuait d'évaluer leur utilité en fonction de leurs retombées commerciales. Aux yeux du gouvernement britannique, le rang du pays parmi les grandes puissances ne semblait qu'accessoirement affecté par sa présence aux expositions universelles, de sorte que l'on n'hésitait pas à admettre le peu d'intérêt qu'on leur portait et à qualifier de « sentimentales et pittoresques »23 les raisons pour lesquelles certains pays aimaient à les organiser.

Pour la France, visée par ces critiques à peine voilées, il ne pouvait être question d'ouvrir la porte à des considérations de rentabilité commerciale des expositions, puisque cela les aurait désavantagées à coup sûr dans la concurrence avec les foires dont il s'agissait, justement, d'enrayer l'influence. Il était cependant évident qu'en présence des nombreuses oppositions, le projet d'une réglementation risquait de faire long feu, même si elle demeurait le moyen le

22 Voir Comité français des expositions et Comité national des expositions coloniales, Cinquantenaire. 1885-1935. Paris, 1935, 206. 23 Voir le compte rendu des délégués britanniques à la Conférence diplomatique (E. Crowe, J.R. Cahill, et H. Cole) au Secrétaire du Foreign Office du 20 décembre 1928, 2. PRO, FO 371/1361, fol. 253.

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plus sûr pour les remettre à leur place. On considérait alors la possibilité de se servir de la Convention telle qu'elle avait été adoptée, mais en accentuant la démarcation entre expositions et foires d'une manière si radicale qu'elle éliminerait au moins tout risque de confusion : c'est ainsi que s'explique la profusion des références à la mission d'« enseignement » des expositions en des termes dont l'emphase semblait sortie tout droit du « militantisme éducatif » des premières expositions universelles.24 Ainsi l'exposé des motifs qui, en mai 1929, accompagnait le dépôt du projet de loi portant sur la ratification de la Convention par la Chambre des députés française, revenait-il lourdement sur la noblesse des expositions, sur leur caractère de grandes « leçons de choses », d'oeuvres éducatrices organisées selon « un plan logique, didactique même, coordonnant les objets exposés selon une classification rationnelle ». C'est en certifiant qu'une exposition sera inspirée par des « buts d'enseignement » et qu'elle constituera « une manifestation désintéressée au profit de la science ou dans l'intérêt de l'industrie » qu'un pays allait être autorisé à l'organiser. L'objectif des foires serait, en revanche, strictement mercantile, et leur fonction se limiterait à mettre face à face vendeurs et acheteurs, à l'exclusion de visiteurs, et sans qu'il y ait ni classification rationnelle, ni groupement des produits par origine nationale, ni encore concours ou récompenses.25

À la fin des années vingt, l'importance accordée aux classifications rationnelles pouvait paraître assez déconnectée de la réalité puisqu'à cette époque l'utilité de ces constructions savantes était sérieusement mise en question26 et que les classifications étaient déjà en train d'évoluer vers d'autres principes d'organisation.27

Quant à l'exaltation de la mission d'enseignement des expositions, elle passait sous silence, bien entendu, le fait que les expositions - même celles, « classiques », du XIXe siècle – avaient toujours aussi servi à vendre, à conquérir ou à défendre des marchés. Pas plus tard qu'aux premiers jours de la Conférence de novembre 1928, ce fait était rappelé avec force. Les délibérations sur les manifestations auxquelles la Convention serait applicable et celles qui resteraient en dehors, achoppaient rapidement sur la distinction entre expositions et foires. Quand le secrétaire de la Conférence, membre de la délégation française et futur directeur du BIE, proposa comme critères le caractère didactique des unes et commercial des autres, il se fit immédiatement reprocher l'excès de rigidité de ces définitions. En Allemagne, fit remarquer le délégué de ce pays, « on voudra aussi faire des affaires dans les

24 Voir à ce sujet : Bensaude-Vincent, Bernadette (1983) : "Florilège des sociétés industrielles", in : Union centrale des Arts Décoratifs (éd.) : Le livre des expositions universelles, 1851-1989. Paris : Éditions des Arts Décoratifs, 270-81. 25 Voir Projet de loi portant approbation de la convention relative aux expositions internationales, signée à Paris, le 22 novembre 1928. Annexe au procès verbal de la séance du 23 mai 1929. République française. Chambre des députés, quatrième législature, session de 1929, 1-5 et passim. 26 Comité français des expositions, op.cit., 203. 27 Voir à ce sujet Rasmussen, Anne : "Les classifications d'exposition universelle", in Les fastes du progrès, op.cit., 21-38.

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expositions ».28 Le président de séance, le délégué belge, se ralliait aussitôt à cette observation, déclarant que « toutes les expositions, même internationales officielles ou universelles, ou spéciales, ont comme aboutissement un but commercial » et sont portées « à développer les industries de tous les pays et à conclure des affaires », et qu'il ne s'agissait pas seulement d'un objectif indirect.29

Ces prises de position étaient sûres de rallier la délégation britannique. Dès que l'avant- projet français de la Convention avait été communiqué aux pays invités, le Department of Overseas Trade avait déjà interprété la définition très large de l'article premier comme une tentative d'étendre l'emprise de la Convention aux foires commerciales et il avait immédiatement demandé qu'une telle éventualité soit éliminée par une définition plus précise. Puis, en réponse à l'enquête de la Commission internationale des Foires de 1930 portant sur l'opportunité de réglementer les foires, la Grande Bretagne avait répondu par la négative. Enfin, en octobre 1931, au sujet de l'étude des foires, ses représentants auprès du BIE furent instruits que, tout en manifestant son accord avec l'étude, le gouvernement britannique s'opposait à l'établissement d'une liste de foires « recommandées » et à toute tentative, au terme de l'étude, de réglementer les manifestations qui ne tombaient pas déjà sous les dispositions de la Convention.30 Quelques mois plus tard, en mars 1932, Sir Edward Crowe, le représentant britannique au Conseil du BIE, se plaignait de l'énergie et des montants d'argent que le BIE se préparait à investir dans cette étude des foires, étant donné que la Grande Bretagne contribuait financièrement au fonctionnement du Bureau pour assurer la limitation du nombre d'expositions et non pas pour étudier les foires. Il commentait ainsi une réunion du Conseil du BIE qui eut lieu à Leipzig au cours d'une visite de la Foire de cette ville. Il y avait été, de plus, piqué au vif par la tentative de la délégation française d'emporter par surprise un consentement du Conseil à la tenue d'une exposition en 1937 à Paris. Faisant valoir qu'une question de cette importance aurait dû se trouver à l'ordre du jour de la réunion, Sir Edward fit échouer la manoeuvre, mais prit plutôt mal qu'un membre de la délégation française fît remarquer, en plaisantant, que la décision aurait pu être prise d'autant plus facilement que le Conseil réuni à Leipzig avait quorum et que la France représentait aussi le Maroc et la Tunisie.31

Quand, en 1946, un ancien membre de la délégation anglaise à la Conférence de 1928 et auprès du BIE, exprima sa satisfaction à l'endroit de la réforme du BIE parce qu'elle allait enfin en finir avec la domination française et son rôle d'être « little more than an annexe to

28 Conférence diplomatique, op.cit., Procès verbaux, Sous-comité de la première commission, réunion du mardi, 13 novembre 1928, 152 (M. Heimann). 29Ibid., 153 (A. v.d.Burch qui était un vétéran de la Conférence diplomatique de 1912). 30 DOT. Draft Memorandum. October 1931 (MEC.30705/2/1928); Memorandum on the Conference of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) held in Paris from October 27th-29th, 1931, du 4 novembre 1931. PRO, BT 60/34/3. 31 E. Crowe (DOT) à R. Cahill (Ambassade du Royaume Uni à Paris), le 11 mars 1932 (30705/3/28). PRO, BT 60/37/4.

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the Quai d'Orsay »,32 il pêchait sans doute par quelque exagération. Toujours est-il que la France, force motrice du projet de la réglementation des expositions, faisait connaître ses points de vue avec toute l'assurance d'un pays auquel sa longue tradition d'expositions prestigieuses conférait une autorité qu'elle était déterminée à conserver. Ceux qui soupçonnaient que la forte présence française dans la genèse de la Convention allait se prolonger dans le fonctionnement du BIE, en reçurent la confirmation quand Paris fut choisi comme siège du Bureau, même si d'autres pays avaient préféré Berne ou Genève, et quand Maurice Isaac, rapporteur pour les foires et expositions au ministère français du Commerce, et secrétaire général de la Conférence diplomatique, fut élu directeur du BIE.

Maurice Isaac incarnait en quelque sorte cette autorité dont la France se réclamait dans le domaine des expositions, et la lutte tenace qu'il livrait pour marquer la distance séparant les expositions des foires n'était pas exempte de condescendance. Le profond désaccord qui existait déjà entre sa conception de la raison d'être des expositions et la position britannique, qui n'y voyait que de l'affairement sentimental, n'allait jamais s'estomper, bien au contraire : en mai 1944, la Grande Bretagne dénonça la Convention de 1928. Au lendemain de la guerre et suivant les recommandations d'un comité convié par le Secrétaire du DOT, le gouvernement britannique faisait dépendre sa ré-adhésion à la Convention d'un certain nombre de révisions, dont, entre autres, une définition plus stricte de la catégorie des expositions de seconde catégorie et la rotation, dans un rythme raisonnable, de directeurs de nationalités différentes en charge du BIE.33 L'allusion au coup de force de l'exposition de Paris de 1937 était manifeste, comme l'était le mécontentement envers les manières souveraines du premier directeur. Un commentaire confidentiel des révisions était plus explicite en soulignant qu'il n'était, en effet, pas souhaitable qu'un directeur de nationalité française se trouve perpétuellement, à Paris, à la tête du BIE, « où il est inévitablement exposé à des pressions de la part de ses compatriotes et de son gouvernement ».34

Maurice Isaac n'était plus témoin de la défection britannique ni des révisions qui, en 1948, allaient sauver la Convention – et le BIE – de la disparition. Même si la réglementation des foires avait progressivement disparu des ordres du jour du Conseil du BIE, elle n'avait jamais cessé de le préoccuper comme le montre un long texte de 1942/43.35 Sa position avait cependant évolué en ce sens qu'il ramenait la mission des expositions à une présentation des progrès accomplis dans une ou plusieurs branches de la production. Quant aux foires, il contestait simplement l'existence même de foires « internationales » : il n'y avait, selon lui,

32 Guy Locock (Federation of British Industries) à E.M. Tunnicliffe (Department of Overseas Trade), le 23 octobre 1945 (Public Record Office, BT 273/1, 115855). 33 Report of the committee appointed by the Secretary for Overseas Trade under the chairmanship of Lord Ramsden to consider the part which Exhibitions and Fairs should play in the promotion of Export Trade in the Post-War era and to advise on the policy and plans to be adopted to derive the maximum advantage from such displays. Board of Trade. H.M.S.O., Londres, mars 1946, Cmd. 6782, 10. 34 Mémorandum accompagnant une lettre de L.K. Purkiss à J.V. Rob (Foreign Office) du 18 janvier 1947, p. 4. PRO, BT 237/2. 35 Isaac, Le Bureau International des Expositions, op.cit., 49-50 et passim.

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que des foires tout court, dont certaines pouvaient accueillir des firmes étrangères. Mais voilà : dès que les foires s’engageraient dans une politique de prestige en groupant les produits de ces firmes en sections nationales, ces sections constitueraient des « expositions » tombant sous l'emprise de la Convention de 1928. Au lieu de compléter cette Convention par une réglementation des foires, Maurice Isaac proposait de simplement en reformuler l'article 1er, de sorte qu'elle puisse obliger les pays adhérents d'empêcher leurs nationaux participant à des foires de se regrouper en sections nationales, tout en les aidant, le cas échéant, à présenter leurs produits dans les diverses sections techniques. L'avenir des foires lui semblait alors difficile à prévoir, et il voulait que le BIE entreprenne, en collaboration avec la CCI et de l'UFI, une enquête permanente sur leur évolution.

Ces suggestions ne furent manifestement pas retenues. Dans l'après-guerre, le projet d'une réglementation des foires internationales allait encore faire surface,36 mais jusqu'à aujourd’hui, foires, salons et semaines ont résisté à toute tentative de régulation internationale de leur calendrier, organisation ou fonctionnement.

Ce n'est qu'en 1972, au moment de la refonte de la Convention, que la mission d’enseignement des expositions y sera enfin insérée, l'article 1er définissant une exposition comme étant « une manifestation qui, quelle que soit sa dénomination, a un but principal d'enseignement pour le public, [...] faisant ressortir dans une ou plusieurs branches de l'activité humaine les progrès réalisés ou les perspectives d'avenir. »37 Ce but d'« enseignement » semble toujours renvoyer aux grandes entreprises de vulgarisation qu'étaient les premières expositions, à la diffusion de savoirs et savoir-faire, à la présence d'artisans et de délégations ouvrières envoyées par leurs patrons ou des sociétés d'arts et métiers pour enrichir leurs compétences, aux rétrospectives et mises en scène de contrées lointaines. Pourtant, au tournant du XXe siècle déjà, les grandes expositions internationales visaient autant sinon plus à captiver qu'à instruire, à convaincre qu'à expliquer, à divertir qu'à informer. Cette tendance s'est accentuée avec les années, de sorte qu'aujourd'hui le caractère exceptionnel des expositions ne semble plus guère menacé par les foires – qui ont d'ailleurs, contrairement aux sombres pressentiments de Maurice Isaac, connu un développement vigoureux. Ce qui menace la survie des grandes expositions internationales, c'est leur lente absorption par l'industrie du loisir dans un monde où d'autres institutions – des télécommunications au tourisme – les ont relayées sur le terrain de l'enseignement.

36 Voir Note sur la question des foires et salons traités par le BIE, mars 1955, dactyl. Archives BIE, vol. : Étude d'ensemble faite pour les foires. 37 Protocole du 30 novembre 1972 portant modification de la Convention.

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Abstract

When the 1928 Convention on International Exhibitions was expected to finally provide the regulations that would prevent these lavish tournaments of nations from proliferating and, in the process, turning both trivial and unprofitable, a new challenge arose from the seemingly unbridled multiplication of international trade fairs. As an international agreement regulating the organisation and frequency of the fairs proved to be impossible, one way to protect the exhibitions from this potentially stifling competition was to forcefully underscore the differences separating the lofty, educational mission of the exhibitions from the purely commercial objectives of the fairs. During the 1930s, the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) – and its director in particular – never stopped trying to extend some form of control over the organisation of international trade fairs. However, member states were far from sharing unanimously the BIE's ambition. Disagreement in this matter was in many ways just another reflection of conflicting visions regarding the role and significance of international exhibitions, and world's fairs in particular.

1st logo of the BIE Current logo of the BIE

130

Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

131

132 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

In May 1931, one month after the proclamation of the second Republic, the Spanish government issued a decree that created the “pedagogical missions”, a ground-breaking project for sending temporary expeditions of cultural activists to the countryside to mobilise Spain’s rural population. These missions, which operated between 1932 and 1935, were meant to disseminate basic notions of republican citizenship, and aimed at spreading general culture through lectures, theatre, cinema and circulating libraries. They were an innovative project that emerged from one of the most progressive of the Republican sectors, those linked to the Institución Libre de Enseñanza.1 Yet the “pedagogical missions” were not originally a Spanish idea. In fact, they were inspired on a Mexican project, the “cultural missions” that had been going on in that country since 1923, where they were designed as part of the post-revolutionary effort to integrate the rural masses to an idea of nation and to provide them with some basic instruction that should, gradually, transform the Mexican economy.2 How did a Mexican idealistic institution emerging from the revolution become a fundamental reference for a Spanish program of the second Republic? This happened, to a considerable extent, through the forum for cultural and intellectual exchange provided by the 1929 Ibero American Exhibition in Seville.

Publicity flyer for the Mexican tourists visiting the Seville Exhibition. AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 21

The purpose of this essay is to analyse a process of transmission of a particular kind of educational knowledge within the framework of the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition in

1 The Institución Libre de Enseñanza (ILE) was a secular and independent institution founded in 1876 under Krausist principles and was related to the international movement of the “new school”. Francisco Giner de los Ríos, Gumersindo de Azcárate, Nicolás Salmerón and Bartolomé Cosío were among its founders and main collaborators. The ILE played a crucial role during the second republic in the design of educational policies, and the pedagogical missions were put in charge of the Pedagogical Museum, which was a dependency of it. See Urtaza, Eugenio Manuel Otero (1982): Las misiones pedagógicas, La Coruña: Do Castro; Roca, Francisco Caudet (1988): “Las Misiones pedagógicas: 1931-1935”, Cuadernos hispanoamericanos 453, 93-108. 2 On the Mexican cultural missions, see Santiago Sierra, Augusto (1973): Las misiones culturales (1923- 1973), México: Secretaría de Educación Pública: Dirección General de Educación Audiovisual y Divulgación; Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (1999): Misiones culturales: los años utópicos 1920-1938, México, Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes : Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes: Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo; Lazarín, Miranda (1996): “Las misiones culturales. Un proyecto de educación para adultos (1923-1932)”, Revista interamericana de educación de adultos 4 (2), 105-16.

133 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

Seville. Although the example described refers to an influence from an invited country to the host country, we will show the ways in which the very planning and staging of that international exhibition contributed to transformations in the educational policies of both countries. We discuss, on the one hand, how the demands of an international event, and the preparation of the educational section of the exhibit, affected the construction of legitimacy of Mexico’s post-revolutionary governments and of their institutions. On the other hand, we examine the ways in which Mexico reached out to the Spanish public and the reception that the educational exhibit had in Spain itself. With this, we want to shed some light on the study of the role that international events such as world exhibitions play in processes of internationalisation of educational knowledge.

Seville in the World

The first project of an Ibero-American Exhibition in Spain appeared directly after the “disaster” of 1898, year in which Spain handed over its last colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States. First conceived in 1905, the idea of such an exhibition was that the former power could show that it was still the head of a cluster of nations and retained its world influence. However, the project had to be delayed for a number of reasons until 1929.

The interwar period was the time of the so-called colonial exhibitions in Europe. A British Empire Exhibition was held in Wembley, London, in 1924; French colonial expositions took place in 1924 (Strasbourg), 1931 (Paris), and Belgium organized its own in Antwerp in 1930.3 Whereas Spain could no longer claim a prominent place among the colonial powers (her only overseas possessions at the time of the exhibition were Equatorial Guinea and its islands, Morocco and Sidi Ifni), it did intend to revitalise the idea of a Spanish civilising mission by giving an impulse to the notion of Hispanism – a concept of linguistic, cultural and even religious connotations. Through the exhibition, Spain should be represented as the Motherland of the American continent and thus it would be able to assert her important position within the world concert of nations; indeed, statements of the exhibition’s organisers suggest that their historical memory of the Americas as colonies was very “vivid”.4 At the same time, the revival of a radiant and idealised past as colonial power should serve Spain as

3 Cf. Knight, Donald R. / Alan D. Sabey (1984): The Lion Roars at Wembley, London, Barnard & Westwood; Jennings, Eric T. (2005): “Visions and Representations of French Empire”, The Journal of Modern History 77, 701–21; Stanard, Matthew G. (2005): “Selling the Empire between the Wars: Colonial Expositions in Belgium, 1920-1940”, French Colonial History 6, 159-78; Morton, Patricia (2000): Hybrid Modernities: Architecture and Representation at the 1931 Colonial Exposition, Paris, Cambridge (Mass.), MIT Press. 4 In the budget presented to the city council in February 1910, organiser Rodríguez Caso referred to the economic participation of the “Spanish colonies of America”. “La exposición Hispano-Americana. Reunión magna en el Ayuntamiento”. El Liberal, 21 February 1910.

134 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

a model to solve the problems of the present and show the path to the future.5 In this respect, it is significant that the Spanish government invited his old rival in the colonial race, the United States – described in an official Seville publication as “the nation providentially appointed to fulfil the Columbine enterprise”.6 Puerto Rico and the Philippines, by contrast, were not invited directly but through the US government, which annoyed independent and traditional groups in these countries.7

The organisation of the exhibition was affected by the political, economic and ideological tensions between different groups as to the particular aims and the profits of the event. Originally thought to be celebrated in Madrid, the traditional rivalry among Spanish cities led artisan and commercial sectors of Seville to propose their city as host for the exhibition, arguing that this was the most appropriate place in view of its traditional relations with the Americas. These sectors saw the exhibition as the chance to awaken an impoverished city that was facing the first waves of modern immigration whilst lacking the minimal infrastructure (paving, sewage, lighting), let alone factories and trade that could employ this new labour force. The exhibition should also serve to transform the nationwide stereotype of Andalusia as a lazy and festive region, and give it a more respectable place among the Spanish regions. The lack of economic resources and necessary infrastructure, as well as the city’s political disputes for the sharing of profits led the exhibition to be delayed until the year 1929.8 The exhibition was eventually possible thanks to an impulse given by dictator Primo de Rivera, as part of his programs of economic re-activation through the investment in public works (programs that were largely intended to give popularity to his government). The Seville exhibition, following the attempts of the unfulfilled Corroza and Molini projects (1852 and 1902 respectively), was to accomplish the construction of a new fluvial port and a better connection with the Atlantic Ocean.

The exhibition and its contents were contested. For many there was no reason to celebrate a commercial exhibition given that trade and tourism between Spain and the Americas were so negligible; others argued that communications with America and with the rest of Spain and Europe were poor and expensive, and that Spain would gain little from such an event. Some argued that the money should be used instead in commercial representations that would

5 This can be seen, for example, in the architecture of the Spanish pavilions, which should contrast with the sixteenth-century buildings of the city of Seville. In the norms for the design of pavilion projects, the city council explicitly stated that any project in “Modernist” style would be considered. “Sesión Municipal”, in El Liberal, 23 July 1910. On the other hand, there were common statements in which the Exhibition was seen as a magical remedy to reach the much desired progress. “Las últimas conversaciones”, El Noticiero Sevillano, 23 March 1910. 6 “Y en nombre de la Patria llamó también Sevilla a los Estados Unidos del Norte de América además de las naciones americanas, Brasil y Portugal para que de este modo resuene completo en su recinto el himno de gratitud que Occidente debe a la Nación providencialmente elegida para realizar la empresa colombiana.” “Real decreto” and “Significación del certamen”, en Exposición Iberoamericana de Sevilla, 1929: la participación de México (1928), México: Talleres Gráficos Galas, 7. 7 “Filipinas en las Exposiciones de Sevilla y Barcelona”, El Sol, 2 September 1928. 8 Bernal, Eduardo Rodríguez (1981): La Exposición Iberoamericana en la prensa local, 2 ed., Sevilla: Exma. Diputación Provincial de Sevilla.

135 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

foster the import of Spanish products by Latin-American countries.9 Reflecting these concerns, the official program for the Exhibition changed radically during the course of its planning. In 1912 the program comprised sections on art, agriculture, industries, commerce, small industries, education, hygiene, and “women and mode”.10 In that year the organising committee further stated that conferences on education, law, engineering, architecture, military arts, sociology and charity, fine arts and retrospective art (sic), agriculture and stockbreeding, medicine and hygiene, commerce and industry, and the sciences were to take place during the exhibition.11 Accordingly, the commissions created for the organisation of the event followed the structure of the planned conferences. However, the final program presented in 1927, elaborated in the framework of the dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera (in power since the military coup of 1923), was considerably less ambitious; it excluded all the social and military aspects and its sections focused mainly on Spanish themes: “art” (royal collections and modern painting), “history” (of the relations between Seville, America and the Spanish regions, special focus on housing and furniture); “industry and commerce” (history of trade with America and Portugal; industries of Andalusia, books, magazines and journals, an “international car exhibition”, and a “colonial exhibition”); “agriculture” (a livestock and farming technology exhibition); “Portugal”; “America” (national pavilions), and “tourism”.12 The removal of the sections on sociology, education, and medicine and hygiene was probably related to the fact that those were fields in which the reformers opposed to the dictatorship had an important presence. Moreover, the “industry and commerce” section was shadowed by the fact that, on that same 1929, a world exhibition took place in the city of Barcelona which had a more distinct commercial focus.

Mexico in Seville

Mexico’s objectives in taking part in the Ibero-American exhibition were equally diverse, and were deeply affected by the domestic policies of the post-revolutionary years. The official invitation from Spain was received in May 1924 (at this point the exhibition was scheduled for 1927). Mexico waited until the new government of President Calles took office and sent its positive reply in May 1925. Only the following year an organising committee, headed by Francisco A. Sáenz, was formed in the ministry of commerce.13

9 Ibarra, Tomás (1994): “La Exposición Hispano-Americana”, El noticiero sevillano, 13 march 1910. In fact, the relatively small number of commercial visitors and tourists to the exhibition were to confirm these fears. See Bernal, Eduardo Rodríguez (1994): Historia de la Exposición Ibero-Americana de Sevilla, Sevilla: Ayuntamiento de Sevilla. 10 “Índice del programa”, La Exposición, 7 January, 1912. 11 “La exposición Hispano-Americana. Reunión del Comité”, El Liberal, 31 March 1912. 12 Exposición Ibero-Americana. Sevilla 1927: Programa, Madrid: s.n., s.a. 13 Exposición Ibero-Americana. Sevilla, 1929, 11-3.

136 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

Flyer for the Mexican tourists visiting the Seville Exhibition, which explains both the Mexican and the Spanish purposes in organising the event. AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 21.

The committee tried to follow the Spanish guidelines for the exhibition; yet the purposes of revolutionary Mexico in taking part contrasted highly with those of Primo de Rivera’s Spain in organising the event. Aside from the commercial interests – which, as seen above, had a relatively small importance – the organisers of the Mexican participation in Seville had in mind other purposes of a political and ideological nature. First, within the set framework of “Hispanism”, they wanted to portray Mexico as the most advanced of all Spanish American countries. Second, in a display of national sovereignty, they wanted to present Spain with an overview of what Mexico had accomplished in over a century of independence. As Sáenz put it, Mexico considered itself as “the country that most looks like its progenitor… the most Hispanic of all Hispanic countries”, and thus it had in Seville “the highest mission”: to present to the Mother Country a balance of what Mexico has done in a hundred and something years of independence [...]. Mexico will go to Spain to show that, if it [as the New Spain] was always the favourite daughter, that daughter, obeying a natural law and getting married with the spirit of independence, left the sunny paternal house to go live in its own home, but has always honoured the virtues it received from its elders, and has also enhanced them through its culture, progress and civilisation.”14

14 “[La Exposición] no se reduce a un certamen comercial, industrial y artístico, de productos más o menos negociables, entre los distintos paises americanos de habla española. No; esa gran convivencia de pueblos que tienen un denominador común – el idioma – marca el cenit de una obra que, por grande, será imperecedera e inmortal; el hispanoamericanismo [...] Nosotros, la Nueva España, el país que más se asemeja al progenitor en espíritu indómito, en exhuberancia imaginativa, en plétora de energías y en pasionalidad de sentimiento; nosotros, la Nueva España; México el país más hispano de todos los hispanos y el mas latino de todos los latinos [...] A nuestro país le está reservada en Sevilla una más alta misión; la de presentar a la Madre Patria un balance de lo que ha hecho México en ciento y pico de años de independencia [...] México irá a España a demostrar que, si siempre fue la hija predilecta, esa hija al obedecer una ley natural y celebrar sus nupcias con el espíritu de la Independencia, al dejar el hogar solariego para vivir en su propio hogar, ha sabido siempre ser digna de las virtudes que recibiera de sus mayores, y ha sabido también acrecentarlas por medio de su cultura, del progreso y de la civilización.” Sáenz, Francisco A.: México en Sevilla. Printed pamphlet in Historical Archive of the Ministry of Education (herafter AHSEP), Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 21, Pamph. 19.

137 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

These purposes reflected the complex relationship typical of every former colonial power with its ex colonies, full of contradictions and ambiguities which showed, for example, in the design of the exhibition buildings. In the Spanish plan, the common Spanish roots of the American countries were indicated by the exhibition buildings made in the Spanish imperial- colonial style of the sixteenth century. By contrast, the winning design of the Mexican pavilion was a mixture of different styles of pre-Hispanic cultures (Maya, Toltec and Aztec), suggesting that the Mexican state – contrary to other Latin-American countries – existed prior to the Spanish colonisation. This implicitly questioned Spain’s assumptions at the exhibition as the motherland of all America. Moreover, the pavilion’s architect, Manuel Amábilis, underlining the “nationalism” of the building,15 proudly described the domed octahedron that constituted its central part as a structure based on “Toltec arches” forming a “Toltec vault”.16 Nevertheless, whereas no pre-Hispanic culture used the vault or the dome in their architecture, Amabili’s vault rather resembled a Caliphal vault or an extant ribbed dome, a usual technique in Spain from the time of the Cordoba Caliphate onwards, employed in a similar way to cover octahedrons, sometimes with glass implementations.17

A third purpose of the Mexican representation in Seville was to overturn Mexico’s negative image as a violent country that had originated in the years of the revolution. The members of the organising committee, virtual agents of a government that had emerged out of the revolutionary process, seemed rather concerned about the “false Mexican legend” forged by the “capitalist propaganda” and disseminated in the “civilised countries”, which depicted the Mexican revolution as “an anarchic movement, lacking all elevation and nobility, and led by men with no moral responsibility and no mental balance”.18 In fact, the exhibition book Mexico, prepared explicitly for Seville, devoted most of its introduction to explaining the revolution in terms of its legitimate social claims with respect to the social and economic oppression of the past, even justifying the violation to private property and foreign investments that the revolutionaries sometimes perpetrated. The book described the revolution – and, by extension, the “revolutionary government” – as “the movement that has given back to most of the Mexican citizens the capacity of being owners of themselves, that tries to bring down the prerogatives of the foreign investors to the limits of what is fair, and

15 “Este sentimiento nacionalista abriga hoy bajo sus inmensas alas el pabellón de Mexico en Sevilla [...]. El proyecto del Pabellón de Mexico responde al propósito de demostrar que nuestro Arte Arcaico Nacional puede solucionar los modernos problemas de edificación sin perder ninguna de sus características”. Amábilis, Manuel (1929): El pabellón de México en la Exposición Iberoamericana de Sevilla, México, Talleres Gráficos de la Nación, 24- 5. 16 Ibid., 45. 17 The star dome is present in Cordoba’s Mosque, The Mosque of Bib al Mardum in Toledo, and with glass implementations in the Alhambra or the ochavo (octahedron) of the Condestable’s Chapel in Burgos’ Cathedral. 18 “Por todos los medios se ha procurado hacerla aparecer a la Revolución mexicana como un movimiento anárquico, desprovisto de elevación y de nobleza, y dirigido por hombres sin responsabilidad moral y sin arraigo mental de ninguna especie”. México, México: Talleres Gráficos de la Nación, 1929, XXVIII. As to the “false legend” of the revolution, so did the Mexican Ambassador in Madrid, Enrique González Martínez, put it: “[la feria] contribuirá a disipar la falsa leyenda mexicana, situando a aquella nación en este certamen universal en el sitio que le corresponde [...] mostrando que a pesar de sus agitaciones políticas el país ha llegado a prosperar y reconstruirse en todos los órdenes de la vida nacional [...] México confia en que su Exhibición en Sevilla llamará mucho la atención”. La prensa, 29 January 1929.

138 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

that has embarked in the spiritual and material re-conquest of the Nation for its own children”.19 This purpose was also at odds with those of the Spanish organisers of the exhibition, given that by 1929 the loyalist regime of Primo de Rivera was threatened by republican movements which had regular contacts with Mexican intellectuals and looked to revolutionary Mexico as a model for political and social transformations.

Taking these purposes into practice was a process in which different opinions were contested, and in which the very contradictions of the principles of social reform were reflected. After its formation, the organising committee prepared a draft project of Mexico’s exhibit and sent it to delegates appointed for the effect in other ministries (agriculture, communications, education, public health, statistics and factories), asking for corrections and enhancements. Although the Spanish rules stated that the main corpus of the exhibition was to be “ancient and modern art”, “history”, and “industry, commerce, agriculture and livestock”, countries were free to exhibit whatever they wanted in their own pavilions.20 Accordingly, the draft project comprised ten sections that exceeded the Spanish demands: history; agriculture; mining, natural industries and oil; grand industries; papermaking and graphic arts; small industries and popular handicrafts; communications, public works and tourism; general education; public health; military industries; sociology.21 With the corrected versions returned by the delegates, the organising committee put together a final project, to which one more section (national statistics) was added. In this revised project, apart from changes related to aspects of social organisation and improvements in the peasants’ life in the section of agriculture, the most important modification was the considerable enlargement of the education exhibit. A whole new chapter on primary schooling and teacher training was added – with much detail as to the new methods of teaching –, chapters on “publishing”, “libraries” and “education through radio” were introduced, and rural and indigenous education became much more prominent, including a whole new division on the work of the “cultural missions”. In this way, the Ministry of Education (Secretaría de Educación Pública, SEP) was represented in all its departments – Fine Arts and National Museum, Cinema, Psycho-pedagogy and Hygiene, Technical Education, Archaeology, Primary and Normal Schooling, Communal Savings, Cultural Missions, Statistics, Rural School and Indigenous Incorporation, Buildings Inspection, Libraries, National University and Publishing.22

19 “[La revolución es] un movimiento que ha restablecido a la mayoría de los ciudadanos mexicanos en su calidad de seres dueños de sí mismos, que se esfuerza por reducir a los límites de lo justo las prerrogativas del inversionista extranjero, que ha emprendido la reconquista espiritual y material de la Nación para sus propios hijos”. México, XXX. 20 Reglamento general de la Exposición Ibero-Americana (1927), Sevilla: Tip. A. Padua y Margall 7, arts. 3-4. 21 “Anteproyecto de clasificación para el contingente de productos nacionales que se enviarán a la Exposición Iberoamericana de Sevilla, 1927”, in AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 20, docs. 56-79. 22 Given the federal nature of the educational system, the SEP was not directly in charge of schooling in the states – except from rural schools, normal schools, cultural missions and some special schools – but the states closely followed the programs and methods set up by it.

139 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

The importance given to the educational section, which contrasted with Spain’s removal of this theme in the final project, was new in the history of the participation of Mexico in world exhibitions.23 Certainly, the minimum economic relations between Spain and Latin America contributed to diminish the prime emphasis on industry and trade that characterised other world exhibitions and gave culture a fundamental importance; yet the value given to education in the Mexican representation in Seville, indicated even in the distribution of space inside the pavilion (about 1/8 of the exhibition’s surface),24 was motivated by other kinds of reasons that were essential for the revolutionary government. To provide schooling was, in the first place, the means to carry out the revolutionary aspirations of justice and equity, the way to smooth out the social and political differences that gave birth to the revolution in the first place, and the main means to engage the restless masses who had mobilised in the revolution in a national project. Moreover, education was the epitome of the revolution, a revolutionary act as such, and one of the sources of legitimacy of the governments that emerged from the armed struggle. Finally, education was, after all, a superior need that transcended the revolution, something which could not be questioned by the reactionaries or by the political enemies of those in power.

Of all the policies intended to the expansion of education, it was rural and indigenous education – and cultural missions in particular – that were dearest to the revolutionary government. That was the one area in which it could claim innovativeness and the one most linked to social change. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the delegate appointed by the SEP to work with the exhibition’s organising committee, José Guadalupe Nájera, was the deputy chief of the department of “rural schooling and indigenous incorporation”. The SEP considered that this particular aspect of the educational system had to be emphasised, and there is no doubt that Nájera gave the SEP exhibit his personal emphasis on rural and indigenous schooling.

The indigenous topic was particularly relevant in Mexico’s exhibit in Seville, and it is an example of the contradictory manner in which the aims of Mexico’s representation were to be fulfilled. Certainly, throughout the history of its participation in world exhibitions, Mexico had played the “exoticism” card by sending reproductions of objects from the ancient Maya and Aztec civilisations, as well as contemporary indigenous handicrafts, and Seville was no exception in this.25 The Mexican pavilion certainly looked indigenous in its exterior appearance and in its decoration with paintings of popular Mexican types.26 The art section

23 For example, a comparison with Mexico’s exhibition in Paris 1888 indicates that, even though the Paris official classification listed education as one of the primary issues to be shown, in the Mexican catalogue to that event there is no single reference to this topic. This might have partly to do with the decentralised administration of the Mexican educational system at the time, but it is anyway significant that Mexico largely emphasised the promotion of its raw materials and industries. See Boletín de la Exposición Mexicana en la Universal de Paris (1888), México: Ofic. Tip. de la Secretaría de Fomento. 24 In a two-storey building of 2600 m2, the education exhibition had a room of 204 m2. 25 See Tenorio-Trillo, Mauricio (1996): Mexico at the World’s Fairs: Crafting a Modern Nation, Berkeley, University of California Press. 26 Amábilis (1929).

140 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

showed a balance of Spanish and indigenous pieces, but it also wanted to emphasise the mixture resulting from both cultures by sending a series of colonial objects that explicitly showed “the application of our indigenous art to the Spanish architecture, decorative arts and heraldry”, as well as contemporary handicrafts from “industries in which nowadays indigenous peoples dominate, but the starting point of which dates from the colonial time”.27 This emphasis on the indigenous coincided with an internal effort to forge a new revolutionary nationalistic culture in which the indigenous and the popular sectors were an important component – which did not necessarily mean a vindication of the indigenous culture. Indeed, something the exhibition wanted to convey, which was new to Mexico’s participation in these world events, was the so-called “incorporation of the Indian to civilisation”, which the revolutionary government argued had been neglected by all governments since independence. This was to be shown especially through the education exhibit. Among other elements, the topic was presented through material about the “experiment” of the House of the Indigenous Student (Casa del Estudiante Indígena), a boarding school in Mexico City in which “pure” Indians of the interior were educated and transformed in Western-dressed, Spanish-speaking and educated individuals, as well as through photographs and objects related to the cultural missions in the countryside, and through illustration of the schools of painting “in the open air” – the students of which were mostly indigenous. However, the Mexican exhibit could not overcome a tradition of sending indigenous handicrafts that contributed to the “exotic” image it used to attract attention – Indian cloth, sandals, furniture in Aztec and Maya styles, and images of popular traditions. This was, for some, a contradiction with the representation of Mexico’s programs intended to “civilise” the Indian. The Mexican consul in Berlin, F. R. Serrano, wrote in 1925 to Aarón Sáenz, then minister of foreign affairs, his opinion about what Mexico should send to international exhibits: “I find it contradictory that on the one hand we try to expunge the white cotton trousers and leather sandals of the Indians from our nation, while on the other hand we make an effort to exhibit these articles in foreign countries.”28 Indeed, the contradictory message that Mexico was sending with this mixture of elements was one that lay at the core of the indigenous policies in Mexico in the 1920s: the desire to give value to the indigenous culture as integral and representative of national culture, and at the same time, the desire to transform that indigenous culture for the sake of “civilisation”.29

The SEP had, then, a fundamental task in Seville in presenting education and educational reform not only as a token of civilisation, but also as the main element that should make the

27 Letter from Luis Castillo Ledón, director of the National Museum of Archeology, History and Ethnography, to the head of the Department of Fine Arts (16 June 1927): “El contingente de arqueología o sea de moldeados [...] [incluye], y esto es muy importante, la aplicación de nuestro arte indígena a la arquitectura, la decoración y la heráldica hispánica [...]. En lo referente al contingente etnográfico se ha procurado formar algunas colecciones de objetos de las industrias en que actualmente trabajan indígenas, pero cuyo punto de partida corresponde a la época colonial [:] jícaras decoradas [...] rebozos [...] zarapes y [...] bolsas de mano, así como [...] cerámica.” AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, file 7, doc 2. 28 Cited in Tenorio-Trillo (1996), 233-4. 29 See Knight, Alan (1994): “Popular Culture and the Revolutionary State in Mexico, 1910-1940”, Hispanic American Historical Review 74 (3), 393-445.

141 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

revolution be positively seen as a the necessary step towards progress and modernity. Putting that into practice was an interesting process affected by both internal and external demands.

Exhibiting Education

The preparation of the Mexican exhibit took place in a crucial political moment that shaped its outcome: the last stages of the Calles government (1924-1928). This was the second administration after the end of the armed struggle and it had the explicit aim of stabilising the country and consolidating the institutions necessary to carry out the revolutionary demands established in the 1917 Constitution.

Facade of the Mexican pavilion, from the booklet Mexico in Sevilla (Mexico, Aurelio Garduño y Hno., 1928). AHSEP, Departamento de Escuelas Rurales, Box 14, File 27.

The coincidence of dates (aided by the fact that the exhibition was delayed for several years) was thus a fruitful occurrence that contributed to give the exhibition its special tone, particularly in the realm of education: instead of appearing simply as a collection of innovative policies tending towards social reform, it was largely as a presentation of the successful results of those policies. Indeed, all of the SEP’s dependencies were engaged during 1927 and 1928 in a recapitulation of their works under Calles, and producing luxurious reports of achievements much of which found their way to Seville. Therefore, it is possible to say that during the period of preparation for Seville, the different sections of the SEP were facing two simultaneous demands: an internal demand to deliver results of a number of concrete policies and an external demand to exhibit the visible aspects of progress and civilisation. Both requirements often coincided and sometimes clashed, but, as we will see, they definitely influenced one another. And they both contributed to the process of self- reflection of the SEP towards the end of the first decade of the revolutionary government – which eventually would lead to major changes in the following decade.

The contribution of the SEP to the Seville exhibition consisted of 33 boxes containing reproductions of archaeological pieces and of colonial works of art, objects made by students of different schools, photographs of urban and rural schools and about the work of the cultural missions, school books and pamphlets, books available in the school libraries, and a

142 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

collection of propagandistic reports of achievements of several of the SEP’s departments.30 Of this, only a fraction was produced specifically for Seville - the plaster reproductions of works of art, a handful of commissioned paintings and sculptures from the school of fine arts, some of the photographs (most of them existed already, simply had to be reproduced), some maps, and a book on the use of radio for teaching.31 The rest, as the budget shows, was material already available that simply needed to be put together.32 But an examination of the selection and gathering of the materials suggests that this was not an uncontested process, and gives an idea of the mutual influence of the mentioned internal and the external demands.

Of all the materials sent by the SEP, books were among the main means through which the demand of delivering results and that of showing advancements in civilisation could be articulated. Their material character – which allowed for displays of technological advancement in terms of the quality of the paper, binding and photographs – and their ability to convey successful narratives regardless of the reality they referred to, made them ideal objects for exhibition and as presents to give away in international events.

The epitome of Mexico’s representation in Seville was to be the book Mexico, a luxurious volume that showed the state of culture and civilisation in the country, comprising chapters on the political system, geography and history of the country, Mexico’s foreign relations, education, finances, communication and public works, agriculture, livestock, fishing, industry and labour. The book, edited by Luis A. Herrera, was formed by the compilation of a self- description requested to the different departments of the national ministries. As to the chapters about the SEP, each of its departments was asked to write a description that should include the following: the significance of that department within the ministry, its social utility, its way of operation, its history, and “its achievements during the period of Mr. Calles”.33 The texts sent by the different departments were then edited (either by Herrera or by some officer in the SEP), and published in the book Mexico. Apart from aspects of textual editing, syntaxes and organisation of the information, the most significant change between the manuscripts and the printed versions of them was the elimination of information that

30 “Relación que manifiesta los objetos enviados por los diversos departamentos de la Secretaría de Educación, para su exhibición en la feria de Sevilla”, AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 21, docs. 10-38. 31 See AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 13. 32 The SEP had a total budget of 19,265 pesos for the Seville exhibit, of which the largest amounts were allocated to the Department of Fine Arts and the National Museum (4,800 pesos, for the reproduction of archaeological pieces), the Department of Technical Education (2,000 pesos, largely for the commission of elaborate frames for a portrait of Calles and a portrait of King Alfonso XIII), the Department of Libraries (4,000 pesos for the purchase of a collection of luxurious editions of books, official reports and modern typographically relevant books), and the National University (2,2000 pesos, for the commission of a number of paintings and sculptures). See “Proyecto de presupuesto [definitivo] de la Secretaría de Educación Pública y de la Universidad Nacional, para su contribución a la Exposición Ibero-Americana que se efectuará en Sevilla en la primavera de 1929”, in AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 9, docs. 21-25. 33 See letters from Chief Administrative Officer Alfredo A. Uruchurtu to the Jefe de la Dirección de Misiones Culturales (AHSEP: Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 20, doc. 7) and to the Jefe del Departamento de Escuelas Rurales (AHSEP: Dirección de Escuelas Rurales e Incorporación Cultural Indígena, Box 14, File 27, doc 29), both dated 1 June 1928.

143 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

explicitly referred to Calles, as a way to make the book look more distant from internal politics (certainly, by the time the exhibition finally opened, Calles was no longer in office).

On the other hand, the propaganda books about the achievements of the different departments of the SEP published in the last part of the Calles administration are also clear examples in which the delivery of results of the post-revolutionary educational policies was properly combined with a showy display of the advancement of civilisation in Mexico. These works were prepared not only a justification of the use of resources (for Congress and for a wider audience), but they also constituted a broader way for the Calles government to give legitimacy to its administration. Thus, the Department of Rural Schools and Indigenous Incorporation, for example, was able to send to Seville hundreds of copies of luxurious volumes it had already prepared about the cultural missions, the rural schools, the House of the Indigenous Student and the schools of painting in the open air. 34 These works, printed on fine paper and lavishly illustrated with photographs, faithfully represented the “advancement of civilisation” and the promising results of the post-revolutionary educational policies, and they did so in the bright and attractive way that a world exhibition required. Likewise, the yearly statistical analysis of education, a systematic compilation of achievements which began to be published during the Calles government, was an elegant work with a highly scientific appearance that could contribute to the positive impression Mexico wanted to give in Spain.35 Although the Seville exhibition did prompt the Departments of Rural Schools and of Statistics to accelerate the publication of some of the books, it is not possible to say that the books were shaped according to the demands of the exhibition. Yet in other occasions the demands from the exhibition did affect the Calles propagandistic books, such as in the case of the book: El esfuerzo educativo de México… durante la administración del presidente Plutarco Elías Calles (1924-28), (“Mexico’s Educational Effort… during the Plutarco Elías Calles Administration”) (1928) produced as a special edition of the yearly memoirs of the SEP to the Congress.36 In this book, designed as a systematic compilation of the results of the educational policies of the Calles government, we find descriptions of each of the departments of the ministry that look remarkable similar to those they sent for the exhibition book Mexico. Indeed, the evidence suggests that some of the departments – such as that of rural schooling – used the same self-description they had first prepared for the

34 SEP (1926): Monografías de las Escuelas de Pintura al Aire Libre, México: Cultura; SEP (1927): La casa del estudiante indígena: 16 meses de labor en un experimento psicologico colectivo con indios, febrero de 1926-junio de 1927, México: Talleres Gráficos de la Nación, 1927; SEP (1928): El sistema de escuelas rurales, México: Talleres Gráficos de la Nación; SEP (1928): Las misiones culturales en 1927: las escuelas normales rurales, México: SEP. 35 Noticia estadística sobre la educación pública de México correspondiente al año de 1925 (1926), México: Talleres Gráficos de la Nación. 36 El esfuerzo educativo de México: la obra del Gobierno Federal en el ramo de educación pública durante la administración del presidente Plutarco Elías Calles (1924-1928). Memoria analítico-crítica de la organización actual de la Secretaría de Educación Pública: sus éxitos, sus fracasos; los derroteros que la experiencia señala. Presentada al H. Congreso de la Unión por el Dr. J. M. Puig Cassauranc, secretario del ramo, en obediencia al artículo constitucional (1928), 2 vol., México: Publicaciones de la Secretaría de Educación Pública.

144 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

Sevilla publication in the official Calles report, with some alterations.37 Certainly, the self- complacent tone that the book Mexico required fitted well with the propagandistic line that El esfuerzo educativo demanded.38

In addition, the Seville Exhibition was the thrust for the publishing of some books that were already in preparation but there had been not enough resources or initiative to finish them. That was the case of a comprehensive bibliography of the Mexican Revolution and a luxurious re-edition of Joaquín García Icazbalceta’s Bibliografía Mexicana del siglo XVI.39 The publication of this latter work coincided well with a competition organised by the exhibition authorities around the topic “the book in Spanish America”.

By contrast with the suitable character of books as testimonies of both advancement in civilisation and concrete results of Calles’ educational policies, the objects sent by schools did not so easily serve both of those demands. In a nationwide campaign, all schools dependent from the SEP throughout the country were requested to send material from their students for the exhibition. Since the period to send the objects was very short, and given that the request was sent at the beginning of the vacation period, schools were not able to prepare anything new, but they had to select from the materials they already had.40 Although technological and secondary schools in Mexico City had a positive response and sent a good collection of materials produced by their students – textiles, mechanical objects, tools, sculptures, paintings – rural schools were not so enthusiastic about the request. Several education officials reportedly felt uneasy in sending the objects prepared by the students of their region – drawings, handicrafts, toys – for they thought they were not suitable for an international exhibition. For example, the Federal Director of Education of the state of Sonora accompanied the shipment of objects from his state with a note warning the SEP that most of the works he was sending were “important only from the educational point of view, and serve to show that in our schools we have not neglected one of the main purposes of rural education, but they cannot be displayed in an exhibition abroad, because these first works might not bee duly appreciated with regards to the circumstances in which they have been

37 A comparison between the annotated manuscript of the Department of Rural Schools’ self-description and its corresponding printed versions in the exhibition book México (1929), México: Talleres Gráficos de la Nación, and in El esfuerzo educativo de México, suggests that the manuscript was first prepared for the exhibition book and then corrected and enhanced for the official memoir. See AHSEP, Dirección General de Educación Rural e Incoorporación Indígena, Box 14, File 27, docs. 113-25; El esfuerzo educativo, vol. 1, 1-23. 38 This whole set of educational publications contrasted with the comparatively poorer publications on education sent by other Spanish American countries to the exhibition, and to the non-existing materials of this sort in the Spanish representation. For example, Uruguay sent a modest pamphlet entitled La enseñanza primaria en el Uruguay: Noticia escrita para la Exposición Ibero-Americana de Sevilla (1929), Montevideo: Imprenta Nacional, printed on plain paper in a small format. 39 AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 8, docs. 9-10. 40 Regarding rural schools and cultural missions, letters were sent at the beginning of June 1928 to all Federal Inspectors of Education, who turned them to the Federal School Inspectors of their respective states. Objects were to be sent to Mexico City within a period of two months. See AHSEP, Dirección de Enseñanza Rural e Incorporación Cultural Indígena, Box 14, File 27, several docs.

145 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

made”.41 In a similar tone, the director of Rural Education of the state of Tabasco apologised for the fact that the objects he was sending were “few and of little merit” given that his state was mostly agricultural and rural teachers had little preparation in small industries, adding that the material sent was “valuable only in terms of the effort made by teachers and students”.42 As these examples show, objects made by students (and rural teachers) were not the self-evident testimonies of civilisation that were expected from an international exhibition, even though they were perfect examples of achievements of the schools in their local environment, and were often exhibited in school fairs. It is not known to us whether the SEP made a further process of selection before sending their objects packed and catalogued to the Ministry of Commerce, which in turn shipped them to Seville. In any case, these problems of selection criteria illustrate the difficulty of “exhibiting” education in an international event and the tensions between fulfilling an internal demand of delivering results and meeting an international requirement of displaying certain commodities as showcases of civilisation.

On the other hand, the nationwide collection of objects from the schools contributed to the process of standardisation of certain elements of a national culture as was promoted during the Calles government. In making their selection for Seville, teachers, school directors and directors of rural education of all regions sent more or less the same kind of articles. Among others: dolls and puppets representing popular characters – china poblana, tehuana, mestiza, charro –, dolls representing Indians from different ethnic groups (“Indian woman selling flowers” was a common motive); textiles that included the outfit of those characters, in addition to other popular dress items such as rebozos, jorongos and embroidered blouses and skirts; handicrafts (hats, bags, floor mats, baskets) made of ixtle (a natural fibre), palm and corn leaves; toys made of wood.43 The process of selection and gathering of objects from all over the country contributed to consolidate the transformation of certain regional motives into symbols of national identity that had begun in the period prior to the revolution (such as the charro and the china poblana), and to standardise new ones (such as the tehuana, an Indian from the Tehuantepec Isthmus, other indigenous dolls, and the objects made of ixtle). In this case, therefore, the external demands posed by an international exhibition contributed to an internal process of formation of national stereotypes, even though these stereotypes

41 “El resto de los trabajos tiene importancia sólo desde el punto de vista educativo y para demostrar además que no se ha descuidado una de las finalidades importantes que debe perseguirse en la escuela rural, pero no podrían ser exhibidos en una exposición fuera del país, porque estos primeros trabajos quizá no fueran apreciados en justa relación con las circunstancias en que han sido hechos.” Letter from the Inspector de Educación Federal, Sonora, to the Jefe del Departamento de Escuelas Rurales e Incorporación Cultural Indígena, 18 August 1928. AHSEP, Dirección de Enseñanza Rural e Incorporación Cultural Indígena, Box 14, File 27, doc. 44. 42 “Deseo manifestar a usted, que los objetos son pocos y de escaso mérito, en virtud de que el pueblo Tabasqueño es esencialmente agrícola por la misma naturaleza de su suelo, ocupando las industrias un campo muy limitado. Además los maestros que actualmente están al frente de las Escuelas conocen pocas industrias por no tener, la mayoría, un sólo curso de perfeccionamiento, - por tal motivo el envío que se hace hoy solo es valioso por el esfuerzo que han desarrollado maestros y alumnos.” Letter from the Director de Educación Rural, Tabasco, to the Jefe de Misiones Culturales, 2 October 1928. AHSEP, Dirección de Enseñanza Rural e Incorporación Cultural Indígena, Box 14, File 27, doc. 55. 43 See AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 6, docs. 56-60.

146 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

would be perceived as part of the “exotic” character of the Mexican representation in Seville. This inevitably contributed to sending a somewhat contradictory message about the advancement of civilisation in Mexico and the education of the Indians and the popular classes.

In any case, the process of organising, selecting and putting together the books and objects for exhibit in Seville, contributed to the fixing and the consolidation of the stereotypes of a national culture, gave the SEP a visible face that helped consolidate it as one of the most important post-revolutionary institutions, and all this constituted a point of reference for future institutional reforms.

Two views of the Mexican pavilion, from the booklet Mexico in Sevilla (Mexico, Aurelio Garduño y Hno., 1928). AHSEP, Departamento de Escuelas Rurales, Box 14, File 27.

Teaching the Revolution

Mexico’s educational exhibit in Seville was not only intended as a showcase of civilisation and as a positive presentation of the achievements of the revolution. In fact, its organisers wanted to use this exhibition to promote their educational reforms, to propagate what they saw as Mexico’s most innovative policies and thus to raise the country within the Spanish- speaking community as a model to follow. This was to be achieved by targeting both intellectual and popular sectors of the Spanish society.

This idea responded to the rhetoric of the Mexican revolution, which preached an alliance between those two sectors of society in the crusade for modernity and social reform, and demanded the participation of both to make change possible.

The way in which the exhibit was organised was meant to raise the interest of the visitors throughout the whole year of the exposition, but more direct strategies to engage the public were carried out in the framework of the so-called “Mexican Week” (Semana de México),

147 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

which took place in the last week of the event.44 Contrasting with the other national weeks, the Mexican one had a clear ideological and didactic tone. As the Royal Commissioner stated in the presentation of the program of the “Mexican Week” to the press, “the Mexican government tries to make his week something educative, pedagogical that… establishes a durable relationship with the Spanish intellectuals”. And in order to reach “the people of Seville”, the Mexican representation programmed a number of fiestas, which “should have a generous and wide significance”.45

The methods used to engage the public during the Mexican week reproduced some of the mechanisms of instruction that the SEP had designed in Mexico for the training of cultural missionaries, rural teachers and students in general. In Seville, the SEP put in practice the “learning-by-doing” ideology of the so called “school of action” – a heterodox Mexican appropriation of John Dewey’s pedagogical theories – which oriented much of the expansion of rural schooling in post-revolutionary Mexico.46 According to the principles of the “school of action”, “personal experience” was considered as “the source of all knowledge” and the “fundamental means” to “acquire knowledge, habits, aptitudes and ideals”. The school of action attempted to “make use of the activities of the students within the environment in which they are inserted [...] in agreeable conditions that make [activity] spontaneous, enthusiastic and persistent”, so that “stimulus to work is not external but internal”. 47

Furthermore, the “Mexican Week” also echoed the “Education Weeks” instituted by the Calles government in which the schools organised a series of festive activities to attract the

44 Originally planned to take place a week before the exhibition’s official close (starting 9 June 1930), the “Mexican Week” was delayed for one week, becoming a real ending for the whole event and gaining significant protocol relevance. It is not clear whether this delay was deliberate or the result of organisational problems (the official program was given to the press only on 10 June). The shine of the Mexican Week was only tarnished by the fact that it followed the official week of the colonies, Equatorial Guinea and the Moroccan Protectorate, and because some of the last events of the Week took place on the same day of the exhibition’s closing ceremony by the Prince of Asturias. 45 “Pretende que su semana sea algo educacional, pedagógico, que deje una huella bienechora, que establezca vínculos sólidos con la intelectualidad española y, que a la vez, tengan sus fiestas una significación generosa y amplia y de ahí el objetivo de la fiesta popular”. “Visita oficial del comisario regio a los pabellones de Panamá, Colombia y México”. El noticiero sevillano, 10 June 1930. 46 The pedagogical ideas of John Dewey had widespread though mixed reception in Mexico. Whereas the first head of the SEP, José Vasconcelos, was critical of the American’s inductive method of learning through individual discovery – which he considered led the child to adapt to his social environment but not to modify it – Moisés Sáenz, undersecretary of education and the main ideologue during the Calles period (1924-1928), actively promoted Dewey’s philosophy. See Ivie, Stanley D. (1966): “A Comparison in Educational Philosophy: José Vasconcelos and John Dewey”, Comparative Education Review 10, 404- 17, and Morales, Meneses, 429-37, 449-451. One of the areas in which the “learning by doing” was most implemented was in the cultural missions, in which the missionaries transmitted a series of practical knowledge to rural teachers in the same way in which teachers were then meant to teach them to their students: through taking part in workshops of small industries, sports, and the organization of festivals. The cultural missionaries, teachers with a more formal degree of instruction in pedagogy, had in turn been instructed in a similar way in their training courses in Mexico City. 47 “Considerando que la experiencia propia es la fuente de todo conocimiento y el medio de fortalecer toda aptitude o capacidad, la escuela nueva proclama la acción del individuo como fundamental en la adquisición de los conocimientos, hábitos, aptitudes e ideales. Se caracteriza, pues, por el aprovechamiento que hace de las actividades de los alumnos dentro del medio en que se encuentran [...] Si la actividad es el factor educativo más eficiente para ser provechoso, necesita desplegarse en condiciones de agrado que la hagan espontánea, entusiasta y persistente. El estímulo para el trabajo no debe ser externo, sino interno. Debe ser resultado de un impulso y no de una compulsión.” El esfuerzo educativo de México, vol. 1, 189-90.

148 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

participation of their neighbourhoods.48 Fiestas were indeed the most successful activities in engaging the popular sectors of the Seville society. One evening of the “Mexican Week” was dedicated to a fiesta mexicana – celebrated in the gardens of the pavilion – to which all students and workmen were invited. The fiesta included film projections about oil in Mexico and about the most salient pre-Hispanic archaeological sites (Teotihuacan and Maya ruins), as well as traditional dances and songs (including the inevitable chinas poblanas, charros and tehuanas). This fiesta was, in a way, a replication of the fiestas that the SEP organised in every corner of the Mexican republic in order to promote the development of a nationalistic culture among the masses; at the same time, it constituted a canon of the themes that would become the norm in the Mexican participation in world exhibitions in the following years.49 The fiesta combined an exhibition of Mexico’s raw materials that should secure the future of the country, a reminder of the great achievements of the past that clearly distinguished it from Spain, and an enactment of the local traditions of the different states (dances) that should become a standardised component of the culture of every Mexican.

Other activities were specifically targeted to the popular classes. The fiesta mexicana was followed, a couple of days later, by a popular children’s fest, to which 1500 children of the state schools of Seville (lower class) and their teachers were invited. The program included a visit to the Mexican pavilion, a theatre play, Mexican and Andalusian dances, a light meal, and a visit to the rest of the exhibition, in particular to the amusement park. The light meal was not only a replication of the popular “school breakfast” that the SEP had introduced in Mexico a few years before50, but it seems to also have been given in other occasions by the organisers of the exhibition.51 Similarly, on another day of the Week, the Mexican representation offered a visit to the exhibition and a lunch to members of the workers’ associations of Seville. The president of the socialist organisation expressed the “deep emotion of the Sevillan worker who comes into the Mexican house, speaks with their people, and admires the exemplary organisation of the country’s welfare”.52 This unusual invitation was originally not listed in the program Mexico presented to the press, which suggests that it was either included afterwards, or the Mexican representation preferred not to publicise its more explicit political work to avoid upsetting the official organisation.

48 El esfuerzo educativo de México, vol. 1, 213-4. 49 Pre-Hispanic Architecture and Ruins, Oil and different aspects of Folk culture were part as well, for instance, of the Brussels Exhibition 1958, curated by Fernando Gamboa, a former rural teacher and high civil servant in the SEP, and later the museographer of a lavish program of international artistic exhibitions designed to support the Mexican position in the international arena. 50 School breakfasts (desayunos escolares) were introduced in the Federal District by Vasconcelos in 1922, and this practice has remained since then an essential part of the Mexican government’s public commitment with the education of the poor. Morales, Alberto Meneses (1998): Tendencias educativas oficiales en México, 1911-1934, México, CEE –UIA, 318-20. 51 “Hoy se clausura oficialmente el certamen”, La Unión, and “La semana de Mejico”. El Noticiero sevillano, 20 June 1930. 52 Dr. Aceituno, president of the socialist organization, “manifestó la honda emoción con la que el obrero sevillano entra en la casa de M. y fraterniza con sus hombres y admira las organizaciones ejemplares de su obra social”. “Informaciones de la Exposición”. El Liberal, 20 June 1930.

149 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

Finally a live radio broadcast organised during the “Mexican Week” was also used to attract the general public, with a program of music by Spanish and Mexican artists, recitations and a literary speech. It is important to notice that the Mexican representation organised free transportation to bring people from popular quarters of the city of Seville to the Mexican pavilion during the whole week.

The strategies to reach more educated public were of a different kind. The core of the “Mexican Week” program was an invitation to 100 intellectuals – writers, archaeologists, academics, art critics, university professors and school teachers – from the entire Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) to visit the exhibition, all expenses paid, and be present at the closing ceremony. The purpose of the invitation was, in the words of the Commissary, to “make a positive act of spiritual union between Spain and the peoples of America, bringing this big group of well prepared individuals to the Exhibition [;] so that when they return to their places, they can contribute to teach and disseminate whatever is shown to them here”.53 Interestingly, more than half of these guests were school teachers, a profession that in Spain was not necessarily considered an “intellectual” one, whereas only six university professors and eleven secondary professors from Colleges (institutos) from the vicinities were invited.54 The weight given to the school teachers by the Mexican organisers is revealing of the strategic importance that popular primary education had as an achievement, goal and justification of the revolution. This highly contrasted with the situation of Spain, where the demands for universal primary education had been until then hindered by the conservatives and by the Catholic Church, and where the profession of school teacher was considered to be at the bottom of the scale of civil servants. Moreover, in the Spanish elitist system, secondary and tertiary education were significantly more highly regarded than primary schooling.55 The “modernity” of the conception of the teacher as an intellectual was further highlighted by the protocol of the events at the “Mexican Week”: whereas one of the university professors gave a speech in the occasion, prior to him a school teacher was invited to speak – even though his communication did not receive much attention from the press. A director of a teachers’ school who also worked as a journalist, gave a speech in which he praised Mexico’s cultural policies and expressed his gratitude towards Mexico for showing the Spaniards that it was possible to blur the distinctions between academics and other

53 “Vendrán a visitar el pabellón de México y toda la expo 100 intelectuales de todas partes de la península, incluso Portugal; escritores, arqueólogos, académicos, artistas, criticos de arte, catedráticos, maestros nacionales, etc. Los gastos del viaje y permanencia en Sevilla, todos por cuenta del Gobierno de México. Al hacer este esfuerzo se persigue realizar un acto positivo de unión espiritual entre España y los pueblos de América, atrayendo a este gran grupo de personas preparadas, que, sin duda, al volver a sus lugares podrán hacer una gran labor de enseñanza y difusión de cuanto aquí se les muestre”. “Visita oficial del comisario regio a los pabellones de Panamá, Colombia y México”. El noticiero sevillano, 10 June 1930. 54 “Presentación de los coros montañeses”. El noticiero sevillano, 13 June 1930. 55 The importance given to higher education by the conservative government is shown in the cultural contests of the exhibition: one of them was a writing composition on “The Ibero-American child” (and not the school) and the other was an essay on the history of Spanish universities in America.

150 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

professionals such as “journalists or specialists, whose academic chair is in the books and the press”. He finished his speech making a vow to expand culture to the streets.56

During their visit to the Mexican pavilion this group of broadly-defined intellectuals received as presents the propaganda books of achievements of the Calles government. In fact, Mexico had sent to Seville 1000 copies of the book México, 300 copies of Las misiones culturales en 1927, 300 copies of La Casa del Estudiante Indígena, 100 copies of El sistema de escuelas rurales en México, 400 copies of the pamphlet Situación total actual de la población indígena de México, and 150 copies of the pamphlet Educación rural y programa de la escuela rural, together with precise instructions as to what to do with them.57 For example, of the book Las misiones culturales, “several copies are to be exposed in an appropriate place, opened on random pages, so that the visitors can easily read them and examine them”; “275 copies have a dedication so that they can be distributed among prominent individuals, people enthusiastic about educational issues, and who show some interest in the work that is currently being carried out in Mexico”, namely “ministries, diplomats, heads of universities, directors of pedagogical museums, directors of public education, of normal schools, and of the main libraries, directors and writers of important newspapers and magazines”.58 Not only those “prominent” individuals, but also regular school teachers – also “intellectuals” in the broad sense pointed out before – visiting the pavilion ended up as the receivers of those books.

In addition, the “intellectuals” heard a lecture from the pedagogue Juan Rubio Carretero entitled “The school in Mexico“, a “dissertation particularly devoted to the Seville teachers”, which was virtually the closing lecture of the exhibition.59 Rubio Carretero analysed the dominant orientations of education in Mexico, stressing what he considered the most modern

56 Andrés Ovejero, from The Central University, expressed his “gratitud por haber brindado a España la ocasión de romper la insolidaridad entre los elementos universitarios e intelectuales que coadyuban fuera de las aulas a la satisfacción de nobles ansias espirituales, por la simpatía demostrada hacia un sector excluido casi siempre de las solemnidades oficiales. Con esto [...] México nos ha señalado una norma y nos ha ofrecido un ejemplo [...]. El Sr Orozco ha venido a darnos un ejemplo de cómo debe establecerse un vínculo de solidaridad entre los viejos universitarios y los nuevos elementos que tienen su cátedra en la tribuna, en el periódico o en el libro [...] Dijo que la cultura debe salir de los centros universitarios para airearse en la calle”. “El Príncipe de Asturias declara clausurada la Exposición Ibero-Americana”. ABC, 22 June 1930. 57 “Relación que manifiesta los objetos enviados por los diversos departamentos de la Secretaría de Educación, para su exhibición en la feria de Sevilla”, AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 21, docs. 10-38. 58 “Los libros, en número suficiente quedrarán expuestos en lugar apropiado, abiertos indistintamente, para que los visitantes puedan leerlos y examinarlos fácilmente. De los 300 ejemplares, 275 que llevan una esquela de obsequio, serán distribuidos entre las personas prominentes y entusiastas para asuntos escolares, y que demuestren interés por conocer la labor de educación que se realiza en México [... tales como] jefes o secretarios de Estado, representantes diplomáticos, rectores de universidades, jefes o directores de museos pedagógicos, directores o jefes de educación pública, directores de escuelas normales, directores de bibliotecas principales, directores y redactores de periódicos o revistas importantes [...]. Terminada la exposición, los libros restantes serán obsequados de acuerdo con lo indicado arriba”. Ramírez, Rafael: “Instrucciones para la exhibición y distribución de los libros Las misiones culturales en 1927”, 31 October 1928. AHSEP, Dirección de Misiones Culturales, Box 46, File 20, doc. 37. 59 ”Hoy se clausura oficialmente el certamen“ en La unión y “La semana de Mejico“ en El noticiero sevillano, 20 de Junio de 1930.

151 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

elements. He reinforced the explanations about the educational graphs and models given by the Mexican commissioner, Orozco Muñoz to the teachers and intellectuals during their visit to the pavilion, he reaffirmed that culture and aesthetical education had an eminent role in the Mexican school, and added that “the primary education had a practical aspect and prepare the child for his future social performance.”60 Moreover, in his speech at the closing ceremony, the Mexican commissioner praised that “valuable force” of Portuguese and Spanish teachers and intellectuals as “the Spanish culture and thought” “that should give birth to spiritual germinations”, and “should help to the beneficent sowing of the seed of my country in Spain”. The motive of “the good seed that is fallen in a good furrow” and “will germinate” was mentioned several times in his speech, reaffirming the idea that Mexico was a model to imitate for being at the vanguard of social reform.61

Now, to what extent was the image of the Mexican revolution abroad changed through this propaganda work? Did the representation of educational reform in Seville serve to construct an idea of Mexico as being in the path of modernity and civilisation? How did these ideas “germinate”?

All the press reports are telling of the enthusiastic reception met by the Mexican exhibition, in particular during the “Mexican Week”. Although we do not know about the personal experiences of the teachers taken by Mexico to the Week, the speeches given by Spanish scholars in the occasion – intended as part of the publicity of the Mexican delegation – are already an indication of the positive reception of Mexico’s self-representation in Seville. These scholars were invited by the Mexican organisers to give general speeches at the beginning and at the end of the Week, or to give specialised lectures to the invited intellectuals.

At the closing ceremony of the “Mexican Week” Antonio Salvat, a university professor, referred to the modernity of Mexico and his role in the opening a new way for humanity: “in the current spiritual renovation and change of direction of humankind”, Mexico is “at the vanguard and it deserves attention, study and admiration from all peoples of the World”.62 He stated that the “Mexican Week” was a good culmination to the entire exhibition because it showed the attention that the Mexican government gave to education in all its phases and to every spiritual manifestation.63 Both utterances perfectly reflected the ideological objectives of the Mexican organisers in setting up the exhibition.

60 “En México la enseñanza primaria tiene un aspecto práctico y prepara al nino para su futura actuación social”. “El principe de Asturias declara clausurada la exposición iberoamericana”, ABC. 22 de junio 1930. 61 “Una semilla que mando el gobierno de México y que ha caido en el mejor surco. Y germinará”. “El principe de Asturias declara clausurada la exposición iberoamericana”, ABC, 22 de junio 1930. 62 “En esta renovación espiritual de la humanidad, Mexico figura gallardamente a la cabeza y en estrema vanguardia, (lo que…) unido a su creciente progreso, la hacen digna de estudio, de atención y del más sincero homenaje de todos los pueblos”. “La jornada de ayer en la Exposición”, in El noticiero de Sevilla, and “Noticias de la feria”, ABC, 17 June 1930. 63 “Habia destacado matices culturales reveladores de la atención que presta el gobierno de México a la ensenanza en todos sus grados y a las manifestaciones del espíritu”. “El principe de Asturias declara clausurada la exposición iberoamericana”, ABC, 22 June 1930.

152 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

On the other hand, the professors invited to give specialised lectures went further in their consideration of Mexico as a model to follow. These scholars belonged above all to the circles opposed to the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. The first of those lectures was given by Fernando de los Ríos, a socialist university professor who had given up his chair when Primo de Rivera came to power, director of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza, and who had recently arrived from a visit to Mexico. In his piece, entitled “Impressions of my recent journey to Mexico”, he referred to the “racial problem” and to the educational reforms in a tone that was perfectly in line with the rhetoric of the revolutionary government. He considered that the Indios, in spite of being “the power of the race” (Mexican or Hispanic), “have a very melancholic look” and that the task of the “revolutionary government should be to redirect the power that they have within themselves towards the outside”, something that had began with “the revolutionary constitution of 1917”. He referred to the evangelisation of the Indios by the monastic orders in the sixteenth and seventeenth century as a source of inspiration for the new educational policies. And he underlined the progress of the Mexican education, emphasising its artistic component, which he compared to the orientation of the Institución Libre de Enseñanza under Giner de los Rios. The end of his lecture was a perfect interpretation of the message that Mexico wanted to convey in the exhibition: “People save themselves through their hope in the future and Mexico should carry the sign of the destiny of the Hispanic world to a better future.”64

This lecture was followed by one of Luis Araquistain, another socialist opponent to the regime, who dealt with “Mexico’s social evolution“. The future ambassador of the Spanish Republic in France, and organiser of the Spanish representation in the 1937 Paris exposition, must have been impressed by the Mexican revolution, because on the same year 1929 he published a book entitled “The Mexican Revolution: its origins, its men and its works”.65 The book, product of a visit to Mexico in 1927, was a staunch defence of the Mexican Revolution against some European scholars who used the term “Mexicanisation” to denote social and political chaos and violence – replacing “Balkanisation”, a term that was to close a reminder of the “European” chaos and violence of the First World War. 66 A whole chapter of the book was devoted to the education in Mexico as a part of the revolutionary program.67 He stated that education of the masses was necessary to consolidate and build the revolution and preventing the old elites regaining power on his cultural superiority; he praised the work of the Calles administration, especially regarding the promotion of primary rural education and the Misiones culturales for the improvement of rural teachers.

Both Fernando de los Ríos and Luis Araquistain were soon to become members of the republican government that came to office in 1931. In that capacity they were to adopt and

64 “La semana de México”, La Unión, 19 June 1930. 65 Araquistain, Luis (1930): La revolución mejicana: sus orígenes, sus hombres, su obra, Madrid: Compañía Ibero-Americana de Publicaciones. 66 He refers to Guglielmo Ferrero, the Mexican Exiles, and International Firms. Ibid., 5-7. 67 A chapter significantly entitled “The education of the Indio”. Ibid., 225 ff.

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adapt some of the reforms they had learned from Mexico, most notably the cultural missions – which they called “pedagogical missions”. This indicates that the Mexican exhibit in Seville was indeed successful in publicising a positive idea of the revolution, yet not among the circles most affected by the “capitalist propaganda” of which the editor of the exhibition book complained, but rather among those republican and socialist circles who were already sympathetic to that social movement. For them, getting to know the revolutionary educational policies in the exhibition was a reassurance of what they already perceived as positive reform through their knowledge of Mexico and their relations with the Mexican elites. Thus, contradicting some of the semi-colonial assumptions of the host country in organising the exhibition, Mexico’s representation played in the hands of the political enemies of the very government that set up the whole event, and eventually influenced their educational policies when they came to power.

Conclusion

Throughout this essay we have shown how the Seville international exhibition provided a forum for the transmission of a particular kind of educational knowledge, and we have discussed how the exhibition constrained the presentation and the reception of that knowledge. In terms of processes of internationalisation of educational policies, Mexico’s educational exhibit in Seville is an interesting example of what countries undergo in the act of “exporting” some kind of policy and in the act of “importing” that policy from abroad for implementation in a local program. According to theories of internationalisation of educational models, countries tend to “externalise” themselves by invoking examples from other countries or from their own history when the introduction of certain reforms cannot be sufficiently legitimated by the current framework of references.68 In this sense, one can say that the Spanish intellectuals of the second republic appealed to Mexico’s social revolution as a positive repository from which they could take not only inspiration but also legitimacy for their own social reform through education. However, this “externalisation” approach often pays little attention to the processes suffered by the “externalising” actor in the process of offering something for imitation, and to the specificities of certain contexts in which this internationalisation takes place. Here we have attempted to shed light also on those aspects.

In the preparation its educational exhibition for an international event, Mexico faced a number of internal demands, deriving from the political post-revolutionary conjuncture, and several external demands imposed by the framework of a world exhibition and by the nature of Mexico’s relations with Spain and the rest of the Spanish speaking countries. We have

68 See Jürgen Schriewer, Jürgen (1990): “The Method of Comparison and the Need for Externalization: Methodological Criteria and Sociological Concepts“, in: Schriewer, Jürgen / Brian Holmes (ed.): Theories and Methods in Comparative Education, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 25-83; Steiner-Khamsi, Gita (2002): “Re-Framing Educational Borrowing as a Policy Strategy”, in: Schriewer, Jürgen (ed.): Internationalisierung / Internationalisation: Comparing Educational Systems and Semantics, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 57-89.

154 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

seen how the internal demands of the Calles revolutionary government –stabilising the country, creating a feeling of national unity through social inclusion and the making of stereotypes of national identity – and its primary concern with delivering results to obtain legitimacy affected the shaping of the exhibition. Moreover, the external requirements of the Seville exhibition of showing the visible faces of civilisation and progress, and of presenting Mexico as a model to follow within the Hispanic world, further affected the design, selection and layout of the exhibit, at the same time as they shaped the display of achievements of the Calles government, and eventually contributed to the institutional consolidation of the SEP. Finally, the staging of the exhibition in Seville itself brought about specific processes of knowledge transmission and construction of legitimacy: through its populist strategies (using the inclusive rhetoric of the revolution, the ideology of the “school of action”, and the methods proved in Mexico to engage the masses), Mexico was rather successful in reaching out those sectors of the Spanish public – workers, socialist intellectuals, school teachers – that already had a sympathetic idea of the revolution, and who could find in Mexico’s social and educational reform a model to follow. Through this, the revolutionary government gained international legitimacy and Mexico’s place within the international concert of nations gained a certain stature, at least among those countries that were embarked in processes of social transformation. At the same time, by defining its public broadly as “intellectuals”, and by showing the “results” of the policies of social and educational reform, the Mexican representation in Seville had a small incidence upon the social identities of the organised movements that were undermining the dictatorship and supporting the establishment of the republic. It was this specific political conjuncture which enabled the leading educational officials of the 1930s to successfully “externalise” towards the Mexican model and make “the seed germinate” through measures such as the implementation of the pedagogical missions, one of Spain’s finest “republican” institutions.

155 Exhibiting the Revolutionary School: Mexico in Sevila’s Ibero-American Exhibition, 1929 Carlos Martínez Valle & Eugenia Roldán Vera

Résumé

Séville 1929

Cet article étudie la représentation du Mexique à l'exposition Ibero-américaine de Séville en 1929 s’attachant particulièrement à la façon dont l'éducation et la réforme éducative ont été dépeintes à l’occasion de cet événement. Nous analysons, d'une part, la manière dont ont été présenté ensemble l’éducation et la réforme et comment celles-ci se sont harmonisées ensemble - un processus qui impliquait de recueillir les matériaux dans tous les départements du Ministère de l’Education et les Ecoles rurales de tout le pays – afin de rendre cohérents les résultats de la réforme éducative présentée par le Gouvernement du Président Calles (1924-1928). Puis, nous nous intéressons à l’accueil que Séville a réservé à la présentation sur l'éducation mexicaine, et en particulier à l'impression positive que cette présentation a produite sur un groupe de professeurs et d'intellectuels espagnols de gauche qui s’opposaient à la dictature, qui s’effritait, de Primo de Rivera qui avait accueilli l'Exposition Ibero-Américaine. Enfin, nous réfléchissons sur le rôle qu'une exposition internationale peut avoir sur la représentation de la stabilité d'un pays post révolutionnaire compliqué et sur la façon dont son accueil peut renverser les intentions de ses organisateurs et jouer un rôle entre les mains de ses adversaires politiques.

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Bruxelles, 1958 : La Lanterne magique, un exemple d’innovation audiovisuelle à but éducatif Daniela Bambasova

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Bruxelles, 1958 : La Lanterne magique, un exemple d’innovation audiovisuelle à but éducatif Daniela Bambasova

I. Introduction

L’Exposition universelle et internationale de Bruxelles 1958 joue un rôle important dans l’histoire politique et culturelle de la Tchécoslovaquie d’après-guerre. La participation tchécoslovaque à cette Exposition relève d’une expérience nouvelle pour le régime politique mis en place en 1948. Dans le contexte de la guerre froide, il est impératif pour les dirigeants communistes de se réclamer de l’appartenance au bloc socialiste. Les objets exposés dans le pavillon doivent refléter cette conviction politique et faire la propagande de la pensée communiste, tout en soulignant le caractère national de la présentation. Le problème qui se pose aux autorités tchécoslovaques est de trouver le juste équilibre entre la participation nationale à travers l’insistance sur l’histoire et la culture tchécoslovaques, ainsi que sur les produits du pays, et la mise en scène du mouvement international qu’est le communisme au sein du pavillon. De plus, la propagande politique n’est pas censée apparaître au premier plan, mais doit constituer un élément suggéré dans la présentation du pays, car une propagande trop ouverte pourrait produire un effet négatif sur les visiteurs occidentaux.

Manifestement, malgré sa présence, la propagande politique n’est pas si dérangeante car la participation tchécoslovaque rencontre un écho très positif de la part des journaux et des visiteurs belges, comme en témoignent les réactions de la presse et les inscriptions dans le livre mis à la disposition des visiteurs à la sortie du pavillon. Cet enthousiasme concerne surtout le programme culturel appelé la « Lanterne magique » qui peut être considérée comme la clé du succès populaire du pavillon tchécoslovaque. En forçant quelque peu le trait, on peut dire que les belges se sont « approprié » le spectacle et sont même à l’origine de son nom. En effet, durant la préparation du spectacle, les Tchèques s’y réfèrent toujours sous le nom de « Non-stop revue » et ce n’est qu’après sa première projection à Bruxelles que le nom de « Lanterne magique » commence à être couramment utilisé par les journalistes belges. La presse belge insiste surtout sur le caractère novateur du spectacle qui combine de façon originale le théâtre avec le cinéma. Cette innovation s’accompagne d’une utilisation de techniques théâtrales et cinématographiques modernes, et d’un souci de synchronisation parfaite de ces deux composantes du spectacle.

Peut-on voir dans cette modernité une volonté des autorités tchécoslovaques d’impressionner le public belge ? Selon elles, le haut niveau technique de ce spectacle montrerait la réussite du régime communiste. Ainsi, grâce à cette innovation, les communistes espèrent-ils faire une sorte d’éducation politique du public occidental ?

159 Bruxelles, 1958 : La Lanterne magique, un exemple d’innovation audiovisuelle à but éducatif Daniela Bambasova

Comme nous l’avons vu, dans le pavillon tchécoslovaque, le but du gouvernement est de présenter le pays et de faire de la propagande communiste. On peut donc supposer que la « Lanterne magique », spectacle qui présente la vie du peuple en Tchécoslovaquie, est censée défendre la même idéologie politique et montrer la haute qualité de vie dans le pays. Lors de la préparation du spectacle, c’est ce que les responsables communistes laissent entendre aux artistes créateurs. Le problème, c’est que ces derniers, avec à leur tête le metteur en scène Radok, ne partagent pas leur conviction. Pourtant, on ne trouve pas de Radok tensions particulières entre ces deux groupes au cours de la préparation. Comment est-ce possible ? Il se peut que les responsables communistes aient vu des significations politiques dans des parties du spectacle qui, selon les créateurs, n’en exprimaient pas vraiment.

Quelle est alors la réaction du public occidental face à ce spectacle d’un pays communiste ? La presse belge ne remarque pas du tout le fond politique du spectacle ou constate qu’il n’y en a pas. Cela signifie-t-il que l’éducation politique du public belge a échoué ? Il se peut que, finalement, elle ait été plutôt discrète car même si le gouvernement tchécoslovaque a envie de propager le communisme, il a également peur d’aller trop loin et de faire fuir le public en faisant un spectacle ouvertement propagandiste. Dans tous les cas, il semble que les spectateurs occidentaux ne considèrent pas la « Lanterne magique » comme l’instrument d’un régime politique, mais plutôt comme un divertissement novateur, intéressant sur le plan artistique, et qu’ils parviennent à apprécier un spectacle d’un pays communiste. Comment expliquer cette ambiguïté ?

Afin d’éclaircir ces points, voyons d’abord ce qu’est la « Lanterne magique », et quelles raisons ont mené à sa création. Ensuite, nous pourrons nous intéresser à l’accueil de la « Lanterne magique » à Bruxelles, et à son évolution après l’Exposition universelle.

II. Qu’est-ce que la « Lanterne magique » ?

Le thème du pavillon tchécoslovaque est « Une Journée en Tchécoslovaquie ». Les organisateurs choisissent ce thème pour illustrer de façon dynamique, vivante et intéressante la présentation de l’activité industrielle et agricole de la Tchécoslovaquie, mais aussi sa vie culturelle et scientifique, tout en insistant sur la variété des secteurs d’activité qui occupent le peuple. Le thème est conçu non seulement comme la présentation d’une image de la vie quotidienne, mais également comme une invitation en Tchécoslovaquie qui veut appliquer la devise de l’Exposition « Bilan pour un monde plus humain ».

160 Bruxelles, 1958 : La Lanterne magique, un exemple d’innovation audiovisuelle à but éducatif Daniela Bambasova

La section est répartie en trois sous-groupes, « Le Travail », « Le Repos » et « La Culture », qui correspondent selon les organisateurs aux activités des différentes phases de la journée. Le sous-groupe consacré au « Travail » présente notamment l’industrie tchécoslovaque verrière et textile, l’agriculture à l’aide d’un diorama1 sur la fabrication de la bière, la production énergétique et les produits des usines Škoda. L’essor de l’industrie lourde est attribué à la politique communiste qui privilégie ce secteur aux dépens des autres.

« Le Repos » s’ouvre sur un ensemble appelé « Enfants et marionnettes », sur l’histoire du théâtre de marionnettes en Tchécoslovaquie, et s’achève sur la présentation des sites naturels et des monuments historiques de la Tchécoslovaquie. Les monuments, associés au temps libre, sont donc considérés comme une source de loisir et non comme une source de culture ou d’éducation, révélant ainsi le désir des autorités tchécoslovaques de montrer le patrimoine historique en tant que passe-temps.

« La Culture » commence avec la présentation de la littérature tchécoslovaque, puis de la musique tchécoslovaque. Dans cette « Journée en Tchécoslovaquie », on ne mentionne pas explicitement une activité politique, mais la propagande idéologique est présente dans le choix des objets exposés. L’accent est mis sur la littérature communiste. Les hussites2 sont présentés comme précurseurs des communistes en ce qu’ils adoptaient une conception égalitaire de la société. L’idéologie pénètre ainsi tous les secteurs d’activité en Tchécoslovaquie.

Pour clore la section, répartie sur plusieurs salles, un spectacle est préparé dans la Salle de la Culture. Cette salle est destinée à diffuser le programme culturel du pavillon, un spectacle qui, à l’origine, porte le nom de « Non-stop revue ». Il est créé par le metteur en scène Alfréd Radok, directeur du Théâtre National de Prague, et l’architecte Josef Svoboda. Selon Radok, ce programme doit « compléter l’exposition tchécoslovaque sur le plan idéologique et, par un moyen artistique, donner l’image des différents domaines de la vie en Svoboda Tchécoslovaquie ».3 Cette phrase est surprenante : par idéologie, entend-il la propagande du système communiste ? Radok n’est pourtant pas un partisan du régime tchécoslovaque. Des « allusions idéologiques » du spectacle sont vues surtout par les responsables communistes, et non par le public belge. La

1 Grande peinture sur toile présentée dans une salle obscure afin de donner l’illusion, grâce à des jeux de lumière, de la réalité et du mouvement. 2 Au XVème siècle, les hussites luttent surtout pour la liberté religieuse, leur foi étant proche du protestantisme. 3 Fond du Ministère de l’Education, Archives nationales de Prague, MSK carton 12.

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définition de Radok est donc, en premier lieu, une expression qui doit satisfaire les autorités tchécoslovaques et sera celle qu’elles retiendront.

La « Non-stop revue » doit son nom au fait qu’elle est passée sans arrêt dès l’ouverture du pavillon à 10 heures du matin jusqu’à sa fermeture à 18 heures. Il s’agit d’un spectacle qui combine essentiellement deux expressions artistiques, le théâtre et le cinéma, mais également la musique, la danse et le ballet. Le spectacle est divisé en deux parties comportant chacune plusieurs ensembles : un ballet accompagné de projection de film, suivi d’un concert de cymbales, une danse sur le podium puis un concert de piano.

L’appellation « Non-stop revue » ne suggère en rien qu’il s’agit là d’un spectacle exceptionnellement remarquable. Ce nom plutôt neutre insiste surtout sur son caractère permanent, sur sa projection ininterrompue. Pourtant, ce même spectacle se transforme en « Laterna Magika » ou « Lanterne magique » et provoque une véritable sensation à Bruxelles, à tel point que le pavillon tchécoslovaque obtient le Grand prix de l’Exposition. Ce succès est d’autant plus surprenant que la « Non-stop revue » est loin d’être la seule nouveauté cinématographique de l’Exposition, et sans doute la moins attendue.

La « Non-stop revue » se transforme donc en « Lanterne magique », mais pendant la phase des préparatifs et lors de l’ouverture du pavillon tchécoslovaque, on se réfère au spectacle dans la Salle de la Culture exclusivement comme à la « Non-stop revue ». Ses créateurs Alfréd Radok et Josef Svoboda l’appellent ainsi, de même que les responsables de la participation tchécoslovaque et la presse tchèque. Les organisateurs emploient toujours ce terme : tous les documents de préparation de la section tchécoslovaque, qui se trouvent dans les Archives nationales à Prague, utilisent ce nom.

Le quotidien communiste Rudé právo (Le droit rouge) publie, le 26 mai 1958, un article de Miloš Vacík, intitulé « Les expérimentations de Bruxelles »4 où l’auteur compare le film panoramique dans le Cinérama américain, le Circarama français, le Congorama belge, le « Poème électronique » de l’entreprise Philips inventé par Le Corbusier et la « Non-stop revue » de la Salle de la Culture du pavillon tchécoslovaque. Le journaliste conclut que la Tchécoslovaquie peut être fière de son invention, même si la concurrence internationale est grande, en l’appelant toujours « Non-stop revue ».

Dans le journal Večerní Praha (Prague-Soir), un grand article datant du 29 juin 1958 traite du pavillon tchécoslovaque et qualifie la « Non-stop revue » de bijou de l’Exposition. Cette réaction enthousiaste provient sans doute du fait que les journaux belges écrivent déjà des articles élogieux à propos du spectacle et que l’auteur se rend compte de son succès, même si le terme « bijou » a plutôt une connotation affective.

4 « Bruselské experimenty » en tchèque.

162 Bruxelles, 1958 : La Lanterne magique, un exemple d’innovation audiovisuelle à but éducatif Daniela Bambasova

L’appellation « Non-stop revue » est donc couramment utilisée par l’ensemble de ses créateurs et par l’opinion publique. Cependant, en l’absence de témoignages antérieurs, il semble que le nom de « Lanterne magique » apparaisse dans les journaux belges suite à la première projection du spectacle réservée aux journalistes le 11 mai 1958.5 La Belgique aurait-elle ainsi baptisé le spectacle ? En effet, le terme commence à être employé en premier par la presse belge. Après la première projection, le nom « Lanterne magique » est très vite utilisé par les organisateurs de la section tchécoslovaque pour désigner le spectacle, le plus souvent entre guillemets.6 Peut-être ces deux noms ont-ils coexisté déjà auparavant ? Radok n’en parle pas explicitement : dans les interviews, il utilise ces deux noms indifféremment. Simplement, les organisateurs ont préféré le nom « Non-stop revue », puis, après la projection, ils utilisent également « Lanterne magique ». L’impulsion pour une utilisation plus répandue de « Lanterne magique » est donc dans tous les cas donnée par les médias belges qui préfèrent cette deuxième appellation.

Le quotidien belge La Dernière heure écrit que « ce spectacle, cette lanterne magique, constitue une expérience artistique des plus intéressantes, ouvrant la voie aux nouveaux moyens scéniques ».7 La qualification ne comporte pas encore de majuscules, comme ce sera le cas ultérieurement, ce qui laisse supposer qu’il s’agit plutôt d’une appellation spontanée, semblable à une comparaison ou plutôt à une métaphore. Mais pourquoi précisément la « Lanterne magique » ?

« Lanterne magique » est un terme utilisé dès le XVIIème siècle pour désigner une sorte d’ancêtre des appareils de projection. Le savant allemand Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680) décrit en 1640 la lanterne magique dans son livre Le grand Art de la lumière et de l'ombre. Trois éléments de base constituent la lanterne magique : une source lumineuse, une plaque de verre peinte et une lentille convergente. La source lumineuse naturelle (soleil) et les images projetées (paysages) sont petit à petit remplacées par des éléments artificiels (lampe et plaque de verre peinte). La lumière passe par la plaque de verre puis par la lentille pour projeter l'image inversée peinte sur la plaque. Le spectacle de la lanterne magique devient populaire et donne l’occasion à des « magiciens » de se produire lors des foires d’attraction. Au XIXème siècle, en Angleterre, on introduit encore une nouveauté à la lanterne magique : elle est associée à des dispositifs mécaniques d'effets spéciaux afin d'obtenir plusieurs transformations successives d'une même vue, par exemple du jour à la nuit, de l'été à l'hiver. On peut aussi donner de l'animation à la vue déjà projetée sur l'écran, par des effets complémentaires, comme par exemple la neige ou l’incendie.

5 Information du livre Laterna magika EXPO 58 (1959), Prague, 2. 6 Fond du Ministère de l’Education, Archives nationales de Prague, MSK carton 12. 7 Article du 12 mai 1958.

163 Bruxelles, 1958 : La Lanterne magique, un exemple d’innovation audiovisuelle à but éducatif Daniela Bambasova

On peut effectivement trouver des similitudes entre l’appareil de projection d’images associé à des effets spéciaux du XIXème siècle et le spectacle tchécoslovaque, associant la projection d’images, d’un film, à d’autres formes d’art. Mais le nom « Lanterne magique » évoque aussi une originalité, une invention, une innovation artistique comme l’a été jadis la lanterne magique au XVIIème siècle.

L’innovation du spectacle tchécoslovaque réside surtout dans sa conception : la combinaison du film et du théâtre est très originale. A une projection de film sur un écran de cinéma s’ajoute le jeu d’acteurs sur un podium placé devant cet écran. Les acteurs réagissent alors à ce qui se passe dans le film, comme s’il s’agissait d’une scène unique.

Ce spectacle suppose une synchronisation parfaite des danseurs ou des musiciens avec ce qui se passe sur l’écran. Des acteurs vivants sur scène peuvent par exemple s’entretenir avec des projections d’eux-mêmes sur l’écran, ils peuvent se dédoubler, ils peuvent danser avec des partenaires fictifs,... Il s’agit alors de transgresser les frontières entre deux modes d’expression, entre homme et technique, entre scène et vie réelle. L’imaginaire gagne ainsi une nouvelle dimension : il semble presque palpable. Cette impression provient de l’association immédiate de l’acteur vivant et de l’image : c’est comme si les images en devenaient plus vivantes, comme si les spectateurs pouvaient matérialiser leur propre imaginaire.

De plus, la multiplicité des arts et la variété des artistes, notamment des comédiens, danseurs, chanteurs, musiciens, clowns ou mimes associés simultanément à une projection de diapositives, de films, de dessins animés, produisent une synthèse artistique d’un nombre impressionnant de domaines différents et contribue sans doute au caractère novateur du spectacle. Par exemple, un danseur vivant attrape dans un cerceau l’image projetée de son amoureuse en fuite, qu’il doit poursuivre et puis il la porte sur le podium, ce qui est suivi d’un concert de piano : film, comédie, danse, ballet, musique, tout est entremêlé dans ce spectacle.

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L’innovation du spectacle réside aussi dans la modernité des moyens techniques utilisés. Le théâtre de la Salle de la Culture, prévu pour 160 spectateurs, est conçu par le professeur Pavel Smetana de l’Université des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels de Prague. Le rapport officiel parle d’une « salle de spectacle luxueuse également du point de vue technique, [ainsi que] du film et d’appareil de diffusion sonore qui sont les aménagements les plus modernes étant donné la petite taille de la scène.

Aménagement de P. Smetana pour la L’aménagement coûte très cher, le budget de scène de la Lanterne magique l’équipement électrotechnique étant de 2 millions de

couronnes tchécoslovaques et l’installation du théâtre de 4 millions de couronnes ».8

On peut imaginer que le régime communiste veut montrer l’avancée technologique de la Tchécoslovaquie dans le cadre de la compétition avec le bloc socialiste et avec le bloc occidental, et dans ce but, le spectacle reçoit tout le soutien financier nécessaire à sa réalisation. Grâce à cela, les créateurs peuvent s’investir pleinement dans leurs projets.9 Les créateurs s’intéressent surtout au côté artistique du spectacle ; les organisateurs veulent aussi enseigner par ce biais les valeurs communistes au public belge. Leur but commun est de présenter la vie en Tchécoslovaquie, mais leurs motivations politiques diffèrent. Il semblerait cependant qu’il n’y ait pas eu de débat violent à propos de la conception du spectacle. Radok et Svoboda se sont concentrés sur une innovation artistique, et le message politique voulu par les organisateurs se traduit par l’image d’un pays qui réussit économiquement et socialement.

Le spectacle de la « Lanterne magique » se déroule en deux parties, chacune comportant plusieurs sous-parties thématiques. Dans l’introduction, un film court relate l’ambiance générale de l’Exposition universelle de Bruxelles 1958. La caméra parcourt l’Exposition, les différents pavillons, l’Esplanade puis le pavillon tchécoslovaque.

Ensuite, un ballet est exécuté par des danseurs du Théâtre National de Prague sur un podium tournant, avec en fond, sur l’écran, des séquences de film mettant en scène un aéroport. L’innovation tient ici au fait que le film n’est pas seulement un complément pour illustrer ce qui se passe sur scène, mais devient un élément indispensable pour l’intrigue.

8 Archives nationales de Prague, fond du Ministère de l’Education, MSK carton 12. 9 Lors des préparatifs, la question est cependant soulevée : Faut-il installer le spectacle de la « Non-stop revue » comme prévu ou s’il faut se contenter de projeter un film sur fond de musique, ce qui reviendrait moins cher ? Finalement, la première version du spectacle est préservée, mais cela montre l’existence d’un débat parmi les responsables, qui manifestement ne se rendent pas compte de l’importance que le spectacle va prendre.

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Une conférencière se place ensuite sur le podium pendant que deux images d’elle-même sont projetées sur l’écran. Elle s’entretient avec ses doubles en français, en anglais et en allemand. Cette séquence témoigne de la volonté des artistes de créer un spectacle compris par le plus de visiteurs possible.

D’autre part, la conférencière parle de la réussite économique et sociale de la Tchécoslovaquie, ce qui peut être pris pour un éloge du régime communiste. Ce spectacle est destiné aux Occidentaux qu’il faut encore « convertir » au communisme, et pour cela on s’adresse à eux dans leur langue. Cependant, il est probable que Radok n’avait pas d’intention politique particulière pour ce moment du spectacle car il n’est pas un communiste convaincu, étant donné son passé récent.10

Ensuite, les danseurs exécutent un ballet sur une projection de paysages tchèques, puis un concert de cymbales annonce une nouvelle forme d’art : trois musiciens jouent sur le podium, accompagnés, derrière eux, sur l’écran, par leurs doubles habillés en costume traditionnel slovaque. Ce costume souligne non seulement l’identité nationale tchécoslovaque mais accentue plus particulièrement le caractère slovaque. Dans les Expositions universelles, les Slovaques sont L’actrice S. Daníčková lors d’une toujours représentés à côté des Tchèques, afin de séquence de la Lanterne magique montrer une image de l’ensemble du pays. A Montréal 1967 ou Séville 1992, ils ont leur propre restaurant, une place est réservée aux peintres et aux artistes slovaques dans la section consacrée à l’art tchécoslovaque. Ainsi dans le spectacle, ce costume rappelle au visiteur la spécificité de la Slovaquie, de sa langue, de sa nation, de son passé et de sa culture. Cependant, toutes ces spécificités nationales restent dans le cadre d’un même Etat uni par une même idéologie communiste.

Suit une scène poétique appelée « Inspiration », inventée par le metteur en scène Karel Zeman. Des figurines en verre, projetées sur l’écran, deviennent vivantes et se transforment en danseuses sur le podium. A nouveau, le concept de base du spectacle de la « Lanterne magique » se retrouve dans l’interdépendance des moyens scéniques et des expressions artistiques. Cette première partie du spectacle se clôt avec « La fantaisie de la danse », où des danseuses sur le podium dansent avec des partenaires projetés sur l’écran.11

10 Au début des années 1950, Radok est très critiqué par les communistes, surtout pour son film sur la persécution des juifs. 11 Zeman obtient le Grand prix lors de cette Exposition, durant le Festival du film de long métrage, avec son « Invention diabolique », film de science-fiction inspiré du roman éponyme de Jules Verne dont l’originalité réside dans son aspect visuel qui tient compte des illustrations originelles des romans des peintres E. Riou et L. Benett.

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La deuxième partie du spectacle commence avec une spartakiade, un exercice de gymnastique exécuté comme une danse sur fond du stade de Strahov à Prague.12 Dans l’imaginaire communiste, ces exercices ont une forte signification politique : montrer une nation saine et célébrer le régime qui veille à ce que sa population se maintienne en bonne forme physique. La spartakiade de la « Lanterne magique » peut ainsi être perçue comme une célébration du communisme. La Deuxième Spartakiade nationale aura lieu à Prague en 1960, les gymnastes s’entraînant déjà en 1958. C’est pourquoi cet exercice est représentatif de la Tchécoslovaquie.

Ensuite, les « Danses slaves » du célèbre compositeur tchèque Antonín Dvořák sont interprétées sur le podium tandis que le film montre des paysages tchèques, l’agriculture du pays, ses industries, ses usines ou ses stars du sport. La tradition est ici liée à la modernité : d’un côté, le spectateur perçoit la culture du pays, sa musique ; de l’autre, des informations sur la production industrielle et agricole de la Tchécoslovaquie communiste. La synthèse du passé et du présent aurait ainsi presque l’air de légitimer le système actuel, comme si cette évolution était approuvée par Dvořák et ses contemporains, comme si elle pouvait trouver ses racines à leur époque.

Cette présentation permet de donner des informations concrètes sur le pays, par exemple le nombre d’habitants (13.282.000 en 1958), le salaire moyen des ouvriers (1375 couronnes/mois), le volume global de la production industrielle tchécoslovaque (qui a augmenté de 2,7 fois par rapport à 1937), l’absence de chômeurs ou le fait que la Tchécoslovaquie occupe la première place mondiale pour la fabrication de chaussures par habitant (4,2). Il s’agit d’une propagande politique, ces chiffres sont donnés pour prouver au spectateur que la Tchécoslovaquie est en pleine réussite économique, que son système politique lui permet d’augmenter sa production industrielle et d’éliminer le chômage.13

Après une autre série de ballets, dont l’un appelé « Les jeux de l’amour fatidique ou l’amant dans l’armoire », et de chants, le spectacle de la « Lanterne magique » s’achève sur le concert d’un pianiste, accompagné par ses doubles sur l’écran, jouant chacun d’un instrument différent. Ce musicien et acteur s’appelle Jiří Šlitr et, en 1959, il fonde avec Jiří Suchý le théâtre Semafor à Prague, théâtre qui devient très populaire dans les années 60.

La conception de l’ensemble du spectacle est donc très novatrice. Cependant, la « Lanterne magique » n’est pas la seule innovation du pavillon tchécoslovaque à Bruxelles, mais s’inscrit

12 Les spartakiades remplacent sous le régime communiste les exercices de gymnastique des Sokols, association sportive de la Première République tchécoslovaque. 13 En réalité, la Tchécoslovaquie connaîtra une crise économique liée principalement au fait que l’URSS, acheteur principal de son industrie lourde, commencera à importer surtout des produits de consommation et l’industrie tchécoslovaque perdra ainsi un débouché important. Mais cette crise ne s’amorcera qu’après 1958.

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dans un effort plus vaste : elle est complétée par le spectacle du « Printemps de Prague ».14 Ce spectacle est installé dans la section « Culture », partie Musique, du pavillon tchécoslovaque. Un film montre deux jeunes amoureux se promenant dans les anciennes rues de Prague, admirant ses parcs, ses jardins, ses statues, ses galeries d’art, sur fond de musique interprétée par l’Orchestre philharmonique tchèque. Ce film est projeté sur un appareil appelé « polyécran », c’est-à-dire un écran divisé en sept surfaces blanches irrégulières, placées sur un fond noir. Cet appareil qui nécessite 15 projecteurs est conçu par l’architecte Josef Svoboda et par Emil Radok, le frère d’Alfréd Radok.

En dehors de la Salle de la Culture, les créateurs de la Lanterne magique créent donc également des nouveautés technologiques pour d’autres sections du pavillon tchécoslovaque, illustrant ainsi la volonté des artistes et des responsables de montrer la Tchécoslovaquie comme un pays moderne. Le but des responsables de la participation est politique, mais quel est le but de ses créateurs ? Qui sont-ils, et pourquoi envisagent-ils de créer ce spectacle ?

III. Les raisons de la création de la « Lanterne magique »

En 1958, Alfréd Radok est metteur en scène et directeur du Théâtre National de Prague, mais son chemin vers le poste de « responsable du programme de la Salle de la Culture » du pavillon tchécoslovaque à Bruxelles est loin d’être simple. Né en 1914 à Týn nad Vltavou, une petite ville de la Bohême centrale, dans une famille juive, il commence à travailler dans différents petits théâtres à la fin des années 1930. En 1939, il prépare une mise en scène de la pièce « Entre deux orages » de Jiří Mahen où, pour la première fois, il utilise une projection de film. On peut y voir les racines du futur spectacle de la « Lanterne magique », son projet le plus cher, car Radok continue d’expérimenter avec cette technique. C’est un concept qui s’établit progressivement et qui constitue l’une des bases de son œuvre artistique.

Il continue de lier la scène du théâtre avec le film plusieurs fois dans le Théâtre du 5 Mai à Prague, qui était, à l’époque, un lieu important et où siège aujourd’hui l'Opéra de Prague. Il y travaille comme metteur en scène et y rencontre Josef Svoboda, son futur collaborateur. Peut-être aurait-il inventé le spectacle de la « Lanterne magique » bien avant l’Exposition de Bruxelles si le coup d’Etat communiste de 1948 n’avait pas bloqué sa carrière professionnelle et ne l’avait pas obligé à se retirer du Théâtre National suite à son film censuré par les communistes15 sur la persécution des juifs. Cependant, ce Théâtre connaît ensuite une crise,

14 Le nom ne fait pas référence au mouvement de réformes qui aura lieu en Tchécoslovaquie en 1968, mais au festival de musique classique qui a lieu tous les ans au printemps à Prague, et qui s’ouvre toujours sur la composition « Ma patrie » de Bedřich Smetana. 15 Son film, « Un long voyage », sur la persécution des juifs à Prague, occupée par les nazis, est censuré en Tchécoslovaquie et Radok est considéré comme un « ennemi du socialisme ». Les communistes voient dans la dénonciation des pratiques du dictateur nazi une allusion à leurs propres pratiques.

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et, en 1955, Radok est nommé pour le diriger, notamment grâce à l’influence de son ami, l’acteur O. Krejča, communiste convaincu.

Dès 1956, le Ministère de l’Education et de la Culture est chargé de préparer le programme culturel de la section tchécoslovaque à l’Exposition de Bruxelles 1958.

La même année, de sa propre initiative, Radok soumet une proposition pour présenter des objets dans la section tchécoslovaque d’une nouvelle manière : à l’aide d’une projection de film, de son et de lumière. Il parle également d’un spectacle où des acteurs vivants seraient synchronisés avec un film.16 La conception du programme n’est pas très concrète, mais finalement, le 20 juin 1957, Radok est définitivement nommé responsable artistique des programmes culturels du pavillon tchécoslovaque, qui se tiendront dans la Salle de la Culture, donc de la « Non-stop revue ».

Pour créer son spectacle, Radok s’entoure d’une équipe de collaborateurs, dont les plus importants sont l’architecte et scénographe Josef Svoboda et le metteur en scène Miloš Forman qui s’occupe du scénario.

Josef Svoboda achève en 1951 ses études d’architecture à l'Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Prague, chez le professeur Pavel Smetana. C’est d’ailleurs lui qui conçoit la Salle de la Culture du pavillon tchécoslovaque. Svoboda est engagé au Théâtre du 5 Mai où il rencontre Alfréd Radok. Aussitôt, il devient chef des décors et commence à réaliser ses premières grandes scénographies. En 1956-57, il est chargé avec Radok de créer un spectacle aussi compréhensible que possible pour le public étranger de Bruxelles, selon sa propre définition.17 Ils décident de poursuivre leur projet initial et de lier le théâtre à une projection de film. C’est à ce moment qu’ils invitent le jeune scénariste Miloš Forman à se joindre à eux. En 1955, Forman vient d’achever ses études à la FAMU (Académie du Film) de Prague. Il se présente déjà comme acteur, scénariste et assistant metteur en scène, bien que ses films les plus célèbres soient encore à venir. Après 1968, il s’installe aux Etats-Unis, et en 1975, son film « Vol au-dessus d’un nid de coucou » avec Jack Nicholson dans le rôle principal reçoit cinq Oscars et le propulse parmi les metteurs en scène les plus convoités de Hollywood. En 1984, son film « Amadeus », relatant les dix dernières années de la vie de Mozart, fait sensation et reçoit huit Oscars.

La volonté de ces trois créateurs est d’apporter une nouveauté artistique dans le domaine du théâtre et de la cinématographie, de la rendre intéressante et compréhensible pour le public belge, ce qui est affirmé lors des réunions avec les organisateurs de la participation tchécoslovaque, lorsque Radok met l’accent sur « l’originalité des principes de création, la

16 Fond du Ministère de l’Education, Archives nationales à Prague, MSK carton 12. 17 Ibid.

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fusion des expressions artistiques - acteur, danseur - avec des moyens techniques - un film ».18 L’ensemble doit créer une émotion forte chez le spectateur : le film est un facteur actif et direct de l’action sur scène en ce qu’il a une fonction dramatique.

Les responsables de la participation tchécoslovaque sont le Commissaire général Adámek et son adjoint Rossman, qui dirigent l’installation du pavillon sur le plan idéologique et celui du contenu, c’est-à-dire qu’ils supervisent le choix des objets exposés et ont le droit d’accepter ou de refuser les œuvres des artistes, dont celle de Radok. Ils coopèrent avec les membres d’une commission nommée par le Gouvernement, présidée par Karel Poláček, l’adjoint du Premier Ministre Viliam Široký. Ils se rendent compte que « de par sa conception et ses méthodes originales, le spectacle proposé par le metteur en scène Radok pour la Salle de la Culture peut s’avérer exceptionnel à l’échelle de toute l’Exposition ».19 Mais pour eux, l’aspect le plus important est le contenu idéologique du spectacle : la présentation de la Tchécoslovaquie comme un Etat de démocratie populaire qui réussit sa « construction » du communisme. Le but du Gouvernement reste la propagande communiste, tant l’éducation du public occidental sur la Tchécoslovaquie, qu’une éducation politique sur les bienfaits de son système. Comme le dit Poláček à propos de la section tchécoslovaque, « notre programme culturel en tant que représentant de la nouvelle culture socialiste devrait être exprimé surtout par l’inventivité des créateurs et l’intérêt de son expression, la pureté de sa conception idéologique et le haut niveau de sa réalisation ».20 L’émotion générée par la « Lanterne magique » est censée faciliter la propagande politique.

L’approche des créateurs et des organisateurs diffère donc dès le début dans la conception de base : pour les uns, le concept est de présenter un spectacle artistique novateur qui communique une image de la vie en Tchécoslovaquie, sans viser spécialement un but politique ; pour les autres, il s’agit d’une occasion de propagande à but politico-éducatif. Comment se peut-il que la réalisation de la « Lanterne magique » ait pu avoir lieu sans créer des tensions considérables parmi ces deux groupes ?

Même si Radok, Svoboda et Forman ne sont pas partisans de l’idéologie communiste, Forman puis Radok finissant même par émigrer à la fin des années 1960, il ne semble pas que la préparation du spectacle de la Lanterne magique soit accompagnée de mésententes majeures entre eux et la commission du gouvernement. Radok déclare même, tout en insistant sur l’importance du film et l’apport de la culture tchécoslovaque à l’Exposition, que « le spectacle peut représenter en toute dignité le haut niveau artistique et culturel d’un Etat de démocratie populaire et ainsi compléter idéologiquement la section tchécoslovaque. »21

18 Ibid. 19 Ibid. 20 Ibid. 21 Ibid.

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Il est assez étrange de voir ces paroles prononcées par un metteur en scène qui, entre 1948 et 1954, fait constamment l’objet d’une critique violente, voire de persécution, de la part des communistes. Une explication possible réside dans le fait que, sans s’engager plus que nécessaire sur le terrain idéologique, il veut contenter les responsables de la participation tchécoslovaque et les rassurer sur le contenu du spectacle. Il sait que, compte tenu de son passé récent, certains membres du Gouvernement n’ont pas forcément confiance en lui et il veut ainsi éviter des changements importants dans sa conception du spectacle. Il se concentre surtout sur la préparation du côté technique du spectacle, et c’est encore plus valable pour Josef Svoboda qui s’occupe des appareils de projection, de l’installation du podium et d’autres aménagements techniques.

Peut-être que malgré ses problèmes récents avec le régime, sa vision du communisme n’est pas si négative puisqu’il n’émigre qu’après 1968. En ce sens, il rejoindrait un bon nombre de partisans du communisme qui ne changent de conviction qu’après l’occupation soviétique de la Tchécoslovaquie en août 1968, comme le journaliste Jiří Pelikán ou l’homme politique Zdeněk Mlynář.

Une autre explication possible est que le spectacle de la « Lanterne magique » ne contient pas tant de messages de propagande. Ce sont surtout les responsables communistes qui veulent y voir une forme d’éducation politique du public occidental. Il se peut alors que les organisateurs aient trouvé des significations politiques dans certaines parties du spectacle ou, en tout cas, qu’ils les présentent comme telles devant la commission du Gouvernement, même si Radok ne pense pas spécialement faire de la propagande. Notamment le passage « Inspiration », où des figurines de verre projetées sur l’écran se transforment en danseuses sur le podium, peut être perçu simplement comme une œuvre poétique et une idée de présentation du verre tchécoslovaque au public belge. Les communistes y voient par contre « un éloge du travail de l’ouvrier tchécoslovaque et de la qualité de sa fabrication du verre. La poésie sert ici un but utile ».22 Ce but utile est donc de faire une propagande politique.

De cette façon, n’importe quel élément du spectacle peut acquérir une signification politique, si on associe toutes les images au travail de l’ouvrier. C’est peut-être ce qui explique que les créateurs et les responsables communistes peuvent collaborer ensemble sur le projet sans trop de problèmes. En même temps, le public peut voir dans cet élément du spectacle une œuvre poétique, alors que les communistes y voient une œuvre de propagande.

Le succès du spectacle pour les autorités communistes réside alors dans le fait que le public le perçoive comme une œuvre artistique sans parvenir à décrypter consciemment le message de propagande politique.

22 Laterna magika EXPO 58 (1959), Prague, 9.

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Les artistes créateurs ont alors la main libre dans le sens où le Gouvernement leur accorde tout le soutien financier nécessaire et que Radok, en tant que chef du programme culturel de la section tchécoslovaque, n’a pas à affronter d’opposition de la part des responsables de la participation.

En dehors de l’innovation artistique et technique, le spectacle de la « Lanterne magique » est donc réalisé dans le but d’instruire le public occidental sur la Tchécoslovaquie, sur son industrie, ses paysages et sa vie culturelle, tandis que les responsables communistes tentent de valoriser une éducation politique. Dans quelle mesure est-elle réussie ?

IV. La réception de la « Lanterne magique » à Bruxelles

Pour ce qui est de l’ensemble de la presse belge, on peut dire que le spectacle de la « Lanterne magique » est accueilli dès sa première représentation avec un très grand enthousiasme. Il suffit de regarder les titres des articles : « La Salle de la Culture tchécoslovaque et son éblouissant spectacle » (La défense sociale), « Un hymne à la beauté et à l’Art » (L’écho de la Bourse), « A la Salle de la Culture du Pavillon tchécoslovaque, un des spectacles les plus allègres et les plus ingénieux qu’on puisse voir » (Le Peuple), « Un spectacle sensationnel au pavillon tchécoslovaque » (Le Drapeau rouge).23

En examinant les réactions des journaux de plus près, on se rend compte que le mot « magie » est très fréquemment employé pour décrire le spectacle. L’écho de la Bourse affirme que « c’est en effet de magie qu’il faut parler lorsqu’on veut qualifier une telle représentation, d’une magie dispensée avec un goût et une perfection rares dans la recherche comme dans l’inédit ». La Défense sociale relate que « cette réalisation procède d’une véritable magie, voire d’une fantasmagorie étincelante » et Le Drapeau rouge note que « ce n’est plus du théâtre, ce n’est plus du cinéma, c’est de la magie, de la sorcellerie ». Et enfin, La nouvelle gazette rapporte que « c’est tout bonnement fantastique, cette "Lanterne magique", secret, magie ou sorcellerie, peu importe ».24 Le nom de « Lanterne magique » est donc utilisé dès le lendemain de la première représentation de la « Non-stop revue » ce qui montre que l’appellation a été inventée très rapidement, probablement le soir même de la représentation.

Une autre idée soulignée par les journalistes, c’est l’originalité de la « Lanterne magique ». Le Peuple parle de « l’ingéniosité de l’idée », Le Drapeau rouge affirme que « jamais on n’a vu un spectacle aussi original » et La nouvelle gazette conclut que « c’est de la féerie, de l’inédit. Voilà un spectacle qui ouvre une ère nouvelle pour nos salles ». L’idée de combiner le

23 Tous ces articles paraissent le 12 mai 1958, le lendemain de la première représentation du spectacle. 24 Tous ces articles sont publiés en mai et regroupés dans le bulletin du pavillon tchécoslovaque édité par celui-ci durant l’Exposition.

172 Bruxelles, 1958 : La Lanterne magique, un exemple d’innovation audiovisuelle à but éducatif Daniela Bambasova

théâtre avec le cinéma est alors perçue comme réellement novatrice, et explique aussi le succès de la « Lanterne magique ».

La presse belge remarque également le niveau exceptionnel de la synchronisation du spectacle. Le Peuple accentue « la rigueur avec laquelle tout cela fonctionne au centimètre et à la minute près » et Le Drapeau rouge s’attarde sur la « synchronisation dans les jeux de scène et de l’écran, dans les dialogues ». Ce besoin de précision est inhérent au spectacle car le cinéma et le théâtre ne peuvent bien fonctionner ensemble que s’ils sont parfaitement synchronisés l’un avec l’autre. S’agissant d’une très bonne maîtrise technique, elle constitue un moyen de propagande et d’éducation politique pour les communistes. La modernité du spectacle sert ainsi leurs ambitions idéologiques.

Les journalistes soulignent aussi que le public belge est ravi par le spectacle. L’écho de la Bourse affirme que « la beauté d’un tel spectacle a laissé une profonde impression sur l’assistance ». Le Peuple parle de « l’ébahissement admiratif des spectateurs de cette ‘première’ », et Le Soir relate que « les applaudissements maintes fois répétés de l’assistance affirmèrent, lundi, le grand succès de cette originale représentation »25. L’enthousiasme est donc général.

Ces échos positifs de la première représentation se répandent alors rapidement et tout au long de l’Exposition, la « Lanterne magique » accueille un grand nombre de visiteurs. Lors de son discours au Sénat de Prague en mai 2006, qui avait pour thème « La Tchécoslovaquie à l’Exposition universelle de Bruxelles 1958 », Mme Valérie Piette de l’Université libre de Bruxelles parle de cette énorme popularité de la « Lanterne magique ». Enfant, ses parents lui en parlaient très souvent : en effet, les files d’attente devant la Salle de la Culture du pavillon tchécoslovaque étaient tellement longues que les spectateurs devaient se ranger en quatre files d’attente, et qu’il a fallu créer des listes d’attente, une sorte de réservation de billets. Georges Sadoul, journaliste des Lettres Françaises, rapporte que « les gens se battaient pour pouvoir accéder dans la petite salle du pavillon tchécoslovaque »26 et, selon La nouvelle gazette, « on s’entasse dans la Salle de la Culture ». Selon le rapport officiel, la moyenne se situait autour de 274 visiteurs par spectacle, alors qu’il n’y avait que 160 places assises. Au total, environ 150 000 spectateurs ont assisté aux représentations de la « Lanterne magique ».27

Les spectateurs sont donc enthousiastes, mais que retiennent-ils de cette présentation de la Tchécoslovaquie ? Les responsables de la participation tchécoslovaque espèrent, comme on l’a vu, faire la propagande du communisme. C’est ainsi que le perçoit le Commissaire général

25 Articles parus le 12 mai 1958. 26 Sadoul, Georges (1958) : Lanterne magique, Lettres Françaises 744, mai 1958. 27 Laterna magika EXPO 58 (1959), Prague, 15

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du pavillon de l’URSS, après avoir visité la « Lanterne magique » : « Le spectateur est bouleversé par la magie de notre monde socialiste ».28

Mais il semble que le public belge ne voit pas la « Lanterne magique » comme un spectacle de propagande politique. Néanmoins, le quotidien belge Le Soir rapporte que la « Lanterne magique » « n’est autre qu’un spectacle de propagande touristique, mais d’où toute considération politique est exclue et qui bénéficie d’une présentation d’une ingéniosité, d’une variété d’expression aussi extraordinaires qu’inattendues ».29 Et La Défense sociale s’intéresse plutôt au « digeste admirablement équilibré du pays et de sa capitale, de leurs beautés architecturales et naturelles, de leur patrimoine culturel, artistique et folklorique »,30 sans mentionner une seule fois la politique. Aucun journal n’est vraiment hostile au spectacle. Tout au plus, n’est-il pas mentionné, comme dans La libre Belgique qui n’en parle pas du tout.

La différence avec le but éducatif des communistes est frappante : il semblerait que les journalistes ne retiennent pas du tout leur message politique et ne s’intéressent qu’aux informations sur la culture et l’architecture tchécoslovaque. Est-ce un oubli volontaire, ou bien la propagande politique n’est-elle pas réellement perçue ? Si tel est le cas, les journalistes et le public belge voient le spectacle de la même façon que les artistes créateurs, c’est-à-dire comme une œuvre poétique qui invite le spectateur en Tchécoslovaquie.

Cependant, les visiteurs belges sont conscients de la présence de la propagande politique dans le reste du pavillon tchécoslovaque. Dans le hall d’entrée du pavillon, un panneau affiche des extraits de la nouvelle Constitution de la Tchécoslovaquie communiste, qui évoquent notamment que « la terre appartient à ceux qui la travaillent » et que « toute activité économique est dirigée par l’Etat ». Dans son article paru le 3 mai 1958 dans le journal Le Soir, Hugues Vehenne fait une description du pavillon tchécoslovaque et conclut que « le pavillon tchécoslovaque réjouit le cœur du visiteur européen, trop souvent enclin à croire que la vie et la civilisation s’arrêtent chaque fois qu’un pays n’a pas le régime politique que lui – le cher visiteur – trouve idéal ». Cela montre que le journaliste est conscient de la présence d’une propagande politique puisque la visite du pavillon lui rappelle qu’il s’agit d’un pays avec un régime communiste. Cependant, le journaliste voit la section tchécoslovaque d’une manière favorable, en dépit de l’aspect politique.

28 Ibid., 7. 29 De même, Mme Piette parle de l’émerveillement des spectateurs devant cette innovation artistique, mais qui ne constitue pas une propagande politique. 30 Ces articles paraissent en mai et sont regroupés dans le bulletin du pavillon tchécoslovaque.

174 Bruxelles, 1958 : La Lanterne magique, un exemple d’innovation audiovisuelle à but éducatif Daniela Bambasova

Mosaïque du Pavillon Tchécoslovaque

Ainsi, la propagande politique dérange un peu les visiteurs occidentaux, mais le spectacle de la « Lanterne magique » n’est pas considéré comme un spectacle de propagande politique – serait-il, en ce sens, un exemple d’éducation manquée ? En effet, le but éducatif dans le sens de renseignement du public belge sur la vie en Tchécoslovaquie, son industrie, son agriculture et sa culture est atteint car les spectateurs retiennent une image du pays. Ce qui est plus discutable, c’est la réussite du message politique des communistes qui veulent montrer le haut niveau de vie dans un pays de démocratie populaire et donner envie d’en adopter le régime. Il semble donc que cette éducation soit manquée dans le sens que la propagande politique n’attire pas l’attention des journalistes belges et on peut supposer que le public n’est pas converti à la pensée communiste.

La « Lanterne magique » est donc reçue surtout comme une innovation, comme du « jamais vu »,31 et les spectateurs estiment essentiellement la richesse et la variété artistique du spectacle, ainsi que l’originalité de l’idée de Radok, comme en témoigne le journaliste Francis Boite : « Et il en sera de mille trouvailles, tout au long du spectacle : cinéma, ballet, musique, revue, comédie, humour, chants joyeux, danses... On m’a dit que le directeur artistique était M. Alfréd Radok. Je ne le connais pas. Mais je lui tire, ainsi qu’à toute son équipe, mon chapeau bien bas ».32

Les spectateurs ne perçoivent pas le côté politique, mais le côté culturel du spectacle : « Cette réalisation témoigne de la richesse de la vie culturelle de la Tchécoslovaquie » (La Dernière heure).33 Cependant, son côté éducatif est mentionné par le journal La Côte libre : « Cette réalisation, par sa diversité même, témoigne de la richesse de la vie culturelle du pays où se confondent qualités artistiques et ingéniosité au service du divertissement et de

31 Expression de Mme Piette. 32 Boite, Francis (1958) : « La Lanterne magique », La nouvelle gazette, 21 mai. 33 Article du 14 mai 1958.

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l’éducation des peuples ».34 Toutefois, il semble que l’éducation soit pensée ici au sens neutre, celui de diffusion d’informations, et non pas de propagande politique.

A. M. Brousil, historien, professeur et critique de film, se souvient du moment où la conférencière sur le podium s’entretient avec ses doubles sur l’écran en français, en anglais et en allemand, et le qualifie d’un des plus grands succès du spectacle, toujours accompagné d’applaudissements.35 Selon lui, le public belge est conscient de la présence de la propagande politique, mais à chaque fois que cela pourrait devenir trop visible et donner une impression de lourdeur négative au spectateur, un allègement est prévu pour souligner à nouveau le côté artistique. Il évoque notamment le moment où « le film montre le travail dur de nos ouvriers dans une aciérie. Lorsque le but de propagande commence à être trop accentué, trois danseuses viennent se produire sur le podium devant l’écran, et sur la musique des Danses slaves, elles apportent de la magie et de la tranquillité. Ainsi, les spectateurs continuent d’accepter cette leçon de construction socialiste ».36

Peut-on alors encore parler d’une éducation manquée ? Il semblerait que selon les communistes, la propagande politique atteigne son but, même si c’est de façon camouflée. Avant que cela ne devienne trop pesant, le ton du spectacle est allégé par une production artistique. Cependant, c’est la vision communiste du spectacle : ainsi, les journaux belges ne mentionnent ni ce moment, ni la présence d’une propagande, ce qui signifie plutôt qu’ils n’associent pas ce moment à une quelconque propagande politique.

L’interprétation subjective de Brousil ne montre donc pas l’effet du spectacle produit sur le public belge, mais plutôt l’effet que les responsables communistes tchécoslovaques espèrent produire. Néanmoins, les réactions de la presse belge ne semblent pas confirmer la réussite de ce but. La vision du spectacle est alors différente entre le camp occidental et le camp socialiste. Les deux s’accordent sur la réussite du spectacle, mais pour les premiers, il est fondé sur l’originalité de l’idée et l’innovation artistique, tandis que pour les seconds, c’est l’éducation politique qui prime dans ce jugement. Selon Rapatzki, le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères polonais, « le succès du pavillon tchécoslovaque est le succès de tous les pays de démocratie populaire » : ainsi, les autorités politiques du bloc socialiste perçoivent la « Lanterne magique » comme une réussite commune de la pensée communiste.37

Une réception aussi positive surprend les créateurs de la « Lanterne magique », qui ne s’attendaient pas du tout à un tel écho, notamment Radok, comme le rapporte G. Lhoir, journaliste du Drapeau rouge, dans son « Entretien avec le magicien de la Salle de la Culture du pavillon tchécoslovaque » du 22 mai 1958. Dans cet article, Radok affirme qu’il « ne

34 « Lanterne magique », La Côte libre, 20 mai 1958. 35 Laterna magika EXPO 58 (1959), Prague, 8. 36 Ibid. 37 Discours de Mme Piette sur la Tchécoslovaquie à l’Exposition universelle de Bruxelles 1958.

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parvient pas à s’expliquer un tel succès ». Cela montre que même s’il visait à créer un spectacle attrayant et compréhensible pour le public belge, il espérait tout au plus éveiller l’intérêt, sans se rendre compte du phénomène que le spectacle allait provoquer. Cette réception enthousiaste du public belge est à l’origine de la poursuite du spectacle de la « Lanterne magique » après la clôture de l’Exposition universelle de Bruxelles 1958.

V. La « Lanterne magique » jusqu’à nos jours

A l’Exposition universelle de Bruxelles 1958, le succès du pavillon tchécoslovaque est couronné par l’obtention du Grand prix pour le meilleur pavillon. Plus particulièrement, le spectacle de la « Lanterne magique » est récompensé par la remise du Grand prix à Alfréd Radok pour sa mise en scène, des médailles d’or à l’ensemble de l’équipe de la « Lanterne magique », une médaille d’or à Josef Svoboda pour son aménagement scénique, un Grand prix à Pavel Smetana pour le projet de la Salle de la Culture et une médaille d’or à Josef Kybal pour les rideaux décoratifs de la Lanterne magique. Ces prix montrent que non seulement le public belge mais également le jury a su apprécier la qualité du spectacle, sa conception et sa mise en forme.

Dès son retour en Tchécoslovaquie après la clôture de l’Exposition, Radok obtient également le prix d’Etat de Klement Gottwald38 et il est très félicité par l’ensemble des responsables de la participation tchécoslovaque. Le gouvernement se montre lui aussi très satisfait du succès de la « Lanterne magique » à Bruxelles. František Kahuda, Ministre de l’Education et de la Culture, « souhaite que la « Lanterne magique » sache toujours attirer l’intérêt des spectateurs autant qu’elle l’a réussi à Bruxelles ». Et il souligne que « la garantie du succès de la « Lanterne magique » réside dans l’art du Parti ».39 Radok est désormais considéré comme un artiste du Parti, ce qui est assez paradoxal en raison de son passé et de ses intentions en créant le spectacle. C’est d’autant plus paradoxal par rapport à son évolution artistique peu après son retour à Prague, dont il sera question un peu plus loin.

La phrase de Kahuda témoigne de l’importance que les responsables communistes accordent au succès de la « Lanterne magique » en tant qu’outil d’éducation politique. Nous avons vu précédemment que cette éducation n’est pas perçue par le public belge. Cependant le gouvernement demeure officiellement convaincu de la réussite du spectacle sur le plan politique. Il est très difficile de mesurer s’il se rend compte de la situation réelle, c’est-à-dire le fait que le public belge n’en a pas retenu le même message, puisque tous les documents de cette époque sont basés sur des affirmations officielles. Mais on peut émettre l’hypothèse qu’étant donné le succès du spectacle, les communistes l’attribuent au moins en partie au

38 Premier Président communiste tchécoslovaque, de 1948 à 1953. 39 Laterna magika EXPO 58 (1959), Prague, 2.

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système politique tchécoslovaque. En quelque sorte, s’ils n’ont pas réussi à convertir le public occidental au communisme, ils croient cependant présenter ce pays communiste sous un jour favorable en insistant sur son industrie et sa culture de haut niveau, ainsi que sur sa haute qualité de vie.

Brousil va jusqu’à affirmer que « la « Lanterne magique » a donné envie de vivre dans un pays de démocratie populaire. Elle a réuni la tradition de la création nationale et populaire, notre culture et la lutte actuelle pour la paix ; elle a laissé entrapercevoir la future vie heureuse de notre pays. Là se trouve sa signification politique et artistique. La « Lanterne magique » montre des images d’enfants heureux qui vivront dans le communisme ».40

Satisfait du résultat, le Ministère de l’Education et de la Culture, notant que plusieurs pays41 ont montré durant l’Exposition leur intérêt d’accueillir des représentations de la « Lanterne magique » chez eux, décide de prolonger l’existence de la « Lanterne magique » et d’installer le spectacle dans le cinéma Moskva au palais Adria dans le centre de Prague, au croisement de l’Avenue Nationale et de la rue Jungmannova. Cet emplacement au centre de Prague, près du Théâtre National, témoigne de l’importance accordée à la « Lanterne magique ».

Tout d’abord, on y joue le même spectacle qu’à Bruxelles, mais dès 1959, Radok prépare une nouvelle mise en scène appelée « Ouverture des fontaines », en coopérant de nouveau avec Miloš Forman.42 Ce spectacle est accompagné par la musique du compositeur tchèque Bohuslav Martinů et Radok y montre des personnages cachés dans l’ombre, exécutant des danses sur fond de paysages, de prairies ou de forêts. Après avoir assisté à la première représentation, le Premier ministre Kopecký qualifie la pièce « d’expressionnisme sioniste » et elle est interdite de projection. Ce retournement hostile du Gouvernement communiste est très surprenant car il survient peu après la remise du Prix d’Etat à Radok et l’approbation générale de son spectacle de Bruxelles. Cela montre que, même si une coopération entre les artistes créateurs de la « Lanterne magique » et le Gouvernement communiste était encore possible en 1958, la différence de leurs convictions politiques s’avère de plus en plus insurmontable et s’exprime dès le spectacle suivant, un an plus tard. Une future coopération se révèle impossible pour Radok qui, dès 1960, se voit retirer sa fonction de responsable artistique du programme de la « Lanterne magique ». Le désaccord politique s’achève par l’émigration de Radok en août 1968. Il s’installe avec sa famille en Suède où il continue à faire de la mise en scène. Quant à Miloš Forman, il émigre la même année aux Etats-Unis où il continue à tourner des films. Seul reste Josef Svoboda qui devient le responsable artistique de la « Lanterne magique » de 1973 à 1992. Bien qu’il ne soit pas partisan de l’idéologie

40 Ibid., 8. 41 Dont la Belgique, l’U.R.S.S., les Etats-Unis, le Japon, le Mexique, la France, la Grande-Bretagne, l’Autriche, l’Espagne et les Pays-Bas. 42 Pour cette fois, Josef Svoboda n’y participe pas, mais il sera présent dès 1963 pour s’occuper des spectacles de la Lanterne magique.

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communiste, il se montre plus discret dans l’expression de ses opinions et se concentre sur l’aspect technique du spectacle et sur l’aménagement de la scène. Son travail commence à acquérir une renommée internationale et il se voit décerner de nombreux prix, notamment The International Theater Award à New York en 1976.

La « Lanterne magique » continue donc d’exister après l’Exposition universelle de Bruxelles, et en 1966, un spectacle commence à être préparé pour l’Exposition universelle de Montréal 1967. A nouveau, c’est un succès : 50 000 spectateurs viennent voir la « Lanterne magique » durant les 17 jours suivant l’ouverture de l’Exposition.43 Un spectacle est également préparé pour l’Exposition universelle d’Osaka 1970. « La Lanterne magique » est ainsi associée à la représentation tchécoslovaque de la période communiste dans les Expositions universelles, même si le spectacle change à chaque Exposition. Pour Montréal 1967, le spectacle est préparé par les metteurs en scène Ladislav Rychman et Jan Procházka, qui se concentrent sur la thématique de la télévision.

La « Lanterne magique » a gardé une existence jusqu’à nos jours et depuis 1992, elle siège dans la Nouvelle scène du Théâtre National qui se trouve juste à côté de ce dernier, dans l’Avenue Nationale. Depuis 1958, ses nombreux spectacles sont toujours caractérisés par la combinaison des techniques du théâtre et du le cinéma. Malgré les changements d’emplacements, de metteurs en scène ou de responsables politiques, son nom est resté le même depuis l’Exposition universelle de Bruxelles, et la plupart des Tchèques, aujourd’hui, savent ce qu’elle signifie, quand bien même ne connaissent-ils pas les origines et l’histoire de la « Lanterne magique ».

43 Janček, Václav / Štěpán Kubista (2006) : Laterna magika, Prague, 326.

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Abstract

The Czechoslovakian pavilion Expo’58

The Czechoslovakian pavilion at Brussels’ 1958 World’s Fair presented a cultural program called the « Magical Lantern », an innovative spectacle that combined theatre with cinema. By showing scenes of the day to day life in Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic), the communist regime hoped to disseminate its ideology to act as a sort of political education for Western people. Nevertheless, the Belgian press reacted enthusiasticly and did not mention this aspect of the spectacle, perhaps due to the fact that the creators of the Magical Lantern did not share the political convictions of their government and the spectacle did not appear especially communist. As a result, it seems that the spectators did not consider the Magical Lantern as a political instrument of the communist regime but rather as a form of artistic entertainment. This success of the spectacle led to its continuation even today.

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Innovations in the Sustainability of the Built Environment at Lisbon 1998: New Motifs in Educational and Entertainment Programming Laura Huntoon

181

182

Innovations in the Sustainability of the Built Environment at Lisbon 1998: New Motifs in Educational and Entertainment Programming Laura Huntoon

Introduction

International exhibitions have a long history of introducing and popularizing scientific and technological innovations. Like exhibitions of the 19th century, Lisbon’s Expo ‘98 featured a series of technological marvels programmed into an experience for exposition visitors. Lisbon 1998 is characterized by significant innovations. Unlike earlier expositions, Lisbon’s theme was international in scope. As a result, many national pavilions included displays related to the exhibition theme. Lisbon’s site was conceptualized as part of the display and the post- expo use of the site guided expo plans to a greater degree than at previous exhibitions. In common with more recent expos of the postwar period, the site of Expo ‘98 presented an integrated environmental experience similar to an amusement park, providing an engaging experience in the in-between spaces that was as carefully programmed and as significant as the formal displays of pavilions. This programming of the space in-between the pavilions is not without precedence but the level of detail at Lisbon was exceptional. Both these in- between spaces that led the visitor from pavilion to pavilion as well as the more formal displays introduced a growing sensibility toward preserving the oceans, the theme of the Expo, and to sustainable practice in urban design to an international audience.

Even as Lisbon’s Expo ‘98 program followed many of the traditional structures and routines of an expo, its choice of theme and its physical representations of this constituted a break from past expos. Lisbon’s theme, Oceans – A Heritage for the Future, is both national and international in scope, simultaneously encompassing a worldwide resource and related Portuguese history. Both national and international aspects of the Lisbon1998 message are reflected in the Portuguese national programming at the site while the more international aspects of Expo ‘98's theme were amplified at many of the exhibits hosted by other nations and international organizations. In addition, this subject was reflected in the site itself with several important water features, including docks with historic vessels. Lisbon cleverly chose an international theme with rich national resonance and developed both aspects of this theme in its national pavilions.

Lisbon 98 distinguished itself by its attention to the built environment and the careful design of the site. The plans for the site reflect an awareness of the visitor’s visceral experiences when on site. Related to this concern with the built environment is the innovative use of sustainable technology in the utilities and infrastructure of the site. Innovations in site design, the cognitive content of the site, as well as the duality of the theme gave a freshness to Lisbon 98. The post-expo uses that were embedded in the site and functioned well both during and after the expo, represent a carefully nuanced conception of the potential uses of an international exhibition by a host city.

183 Innovations in the Sustainability of the Built Environment at Lisbon 1998: New Motifs in Educational and Entertainment Programming Laura Huntoon

Thus, Lisbon 98 represents a move toward sustainability of the environment being closely associated with a universal exhibition. Many of Lisbon’s pavilions and displays centered on oceans, the central organizing structure of the earth’s environment. These exhibits and pavilions amplified the environmental content by displaying related topics. Notably, Lisbon is a turning point in highlighting the environment as a substantial Expo theme. Beyond the motif of the ocean repeated in many exhibits, the entertainments, the daily programming, the creation of the site itself and planning for post-expo use of the site, its structures, and related infrastructure all taken together represent a large-scale successful project that transformed an underutilized part of metropolitan Lisbon’s urban fabric and changed the overall structure of the outer ring of the metropolitan area. This preoccupation with post- expo use illustrates the sustainable ethos embodied in the exhibition. This local focus acted as an organizing principle. In keeping with developing a global environmental awareness of the ocean, the programming also emphasized the importance of the local environment, echoing one of the main refrains of the global environmental movement to act locally all in thinking globally.

At the local level, the construction of the expo transformed brownfields, a former petroleum storage area, into the expo site as well as creating adjoining parks and multi-use residential areas that permit use of fewer resources. The brownfield had been a major source of pollution along the Tagus estuary. Its clean-up and removal represented an important environmental improvement and a working example of sustainable practice. A series of innovations helped establish the site as an example of sustainable environmental practice. The installation of infrastructure grids that included accessible underground tunnels for all utilities represented another significant innovation in the overall green construction of the site. In addition, a multi-modal transportation center served as the ante-sala to the exhibition park. The transit hub meant a reduction in automobile transport to the site and permitted visitors to travel efficiently. Within the site detailed mosaic sidewalks and pathways led visitors through the expo area, creating a pedestrian-friendly walking environment. These improvements that encouraged the use of public transit to reach the site and also encouraged walking as the principal means of traversing the site are important components of sustainable practice. The design and construction of the core buildings of the site were done with an eye to subsequent reuse of the major pavilions and landscape features. This reuse represents a commitment to sustainability.

Although much of the built environment addressed the topic of sustainability in urban practice, relatively few of the exhibits at Lisbon treated sustainability directly. Indeed, although a case could be made that sustainable practices at the site itself are part of the behaviors by humans that will help preserve the oceans, little was made of these innovations in the entertainment programs of the exhibition. In keeping with its theme ‘The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future,’ the environmental education portions of programming included:

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-Oceans and climate change (forecasts and impacts) -Distribution and melting of the polar ice caps -Natural disasters -The state of health of the oceans: marine pollution -Integrated management of coastal areas1

All of these topics have intrinsic importance, but a connection between the Tagus, the Atlantic, and the management of the expo site and Lisbon itself was not made explicit. By contrast the elements of environmental education programming identified as consistent with the official theme, received much attention in the Portuguese pavilions and the pavilions of many exhibitors. Furthermore, several pavilions sponsored by private enterprises were given preferred locations and special promotions as were the pavilions of former Portuguese colonies. These pavilions included those most visited during the Expo. The featured national pavilions were:

-Knowledge of the Seas -Future -The Oceans -Portugal -Virtual Reality -Love of the Sea/ Oceanofilia -Utopia2

Of the former colonies, Macao had the most exposed site, an independent building along the main north-south axis adjacent to the Sun Gate. Macao’s position at the Expo was unique. It had a pavilion and was neither an independent nation nor an independent private organization. The Macao pavilion had a clear focus on tourism. Its interior featured gambling and Formula 1 racing while its façade recreated an historic Portuguese church.

Pavilions of the former colonies that were independent nations in 1998 were located throughout the exhibition grounds and not organized in any recognized grouping. Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe all acknowledged their Portuguese roots but had independent pavilions in the various international areas. Angola’s display concentrated on introducing the people of the world to Angolan cultural traditions and included a mention of its beaches and maritime environments. Brazil’s pavilion emphasized the Expo line of the ocean given its historic geography that has made its Atlantic

1. Parque Expo 98. 1998, 2003. “The Theme: ‘The Oceans: A Heritage for the Future.’“ Available at http://www.parquedasnacoes.pt/en/expo98/tema.asp. Accessed July 15, 2006. 2.Comisariado de la Exposición Mundial de Lisboa de 1998 (1998): Guía Oficial de la Expo ‘98. Lisbon: Parque Expo 98, S.A.

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coastline the cultural and economic center.3 Cape Verde’s pavilion highlighted the political development of Cape Verdien democracy and its close ties to the economy of the European Union. Guinea-Bissau concentrated on its economy, its products, and its tourism industry. Like Brazil and Angola, Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau also made much of their geographic location and the importance of the ocean. Mozambique used the symbol of the ocean in the construction of a wavy pavilion roof. São Tomé and Príncipe presented representations of an historic colonial dwelling, a coffee plantation, and a fishing ‘palafito,’ a stilt dwelling built over water. Each pavilion also provided space for cultural performances. These pavilions had a brief mention of oceans but made more of unique local attractions, national culture, and economy.

Considering the exhibition grounds as a unified whole, the featured pavilions and significant outdoor areas that were attractions in themselves were located along the central axes of the site. This physical organization echoed the philosophical organization of the national pavilions and the built environment. The layout made daily outdoor entertainment relatively easy to locate. The central entrance gate provided a vista of the river. Following a line of poplar trees along the reflecting pool led the visitor to the Utopia Pavilion and then on to the Oceanarium. Following the southern axis, led to the Portuguese national pavilion.

Several parts of the site were developed as attractions, landmarks, and focal points. These were designed to remain as part of the landscape post-Expo. These were:

-Nautical Exhibition -Water Gardens/ Vitalis Park -Garcia de Orta Gardens -Vasco de Gama Tower -Cable Car -Reflecting Pool4

Each of these served as entertainment and a venue for education.

These innovative infrastructure improvements were part of the marketing of the expo to the Portuguese people and part of media reports and public relations communications preceding the event. In spite of this pre-Expo publicity and many achievements inside the park, these improvements did not receive directed didactic attention although descriptions of all these elements were available during the course of the expo.

3. Comisariado de la Exposición Mundial de Lisboa de 1998. 1998. “Brasil.” Guía Oficial de la Expo ‘98. Lisbon: Parque Expo 98, S.A., 96. 4. Comisariado de la Exposición Mundial de Lisboa de 1998. 1998. Guía Oficial de la Expo ‘98. Lisbon: Parque Expo 98, S.A.

186 Innovations in the Sustainability of the Built Environment at Lisbon 1998: New Motifs in Educational and Entertainment Programming Laura Huntoon

In order to understand the contrast between the innovative content of the site and its infrastructure with the rather predictable nature of the environmentally-themed exhibits of Expo 98, I first analyze the transformation of the official themes of international expos from the 1990s through the first decade of the 21st century. Then I consider the innovations in urban sustainability that were incorporated into the planning and pre-opening phase at Expo 98. Next, there is an overview of environmental and sustainability practices in the programming for pavilions, entertainment, and landscape features at Expo 98. This allows me to trace the history of how environmental innovations were and were not communicated to various publics both prior to and during Expo 98. In the end, Lisbon’s Expo 98 should be recognized as an innovative exposition for its introduction of themes of sustainability and urban regeneration into the discourse of International Exhibitions. These themes have been embraced by subsequent expos and the remaining expos of the first decade of the 21st century, Zaragoza 2008 and Shanghai 2010, have made environmental concerns a major focus of their work.

The Evolution of Expo Themes at the Turn of the 20th to 21st Centuries

Lisbon’s official theme ‘The Oceans, a Heritage for the Future,’ represents a break with the past and led from exhibitions celebrating national identity and national productivity typical from 1851-1992 to the more international conception of subsequent exhibitions. Typical of most international exhibitions, Lisbon’s organizers chose an overarching topic that matched preoccupations of its time. 1998 was the United Nation’s Year of Oceans. Expo 98 was identified by the UN as an opportunity for public education.5

Lisbon’s focus included a nationalist element that celebrated Portuguese discovery. But unlike previous exhibitions, Lisbon’s focus represents a rupture with the 20th century sequence of host pride being featured at the expo. The sequence of international exhibitions over time reflects pride of empires, pride of nations, and the pride of colonies aspiring to be nations.6 Taejeon 1993 emphasized South Korean economic development. Seville 1992 chose to celebrate Spanish discovery. Moreover, outsiders aspiring to insider status have used fairs as vehicles for inclusion.7 Excluded social groups have demonstrated at previous exhibitions, such as white women campaigning for the right to vote at Philadelphia’s Centennial International Exhibition in 1876, and both white women and African-Americans creating

5. United Nations Nongovernmental Liason Service. 1998. “Protecting the Seas: 1998 International Year of the Ocean”, July 1998. Accessed January 29, 2007. http://www.unsystem.org/ngls/documents/text/roundup/26ocean.txt. 6. Tenorio-Trillo, Mauricio (2002): “World’s Fairs and their Seven Deadly Sins: An Epilogue, “ in: Barth, Volker (ed.): Identity and Universality. A commemoration of 150 years of Universal Exhibitions, Paris. 7. Sear, Martha (2002): “Fair women’s worlds: Feminism and World’s Fairs 1876-1908,” in: Barth, Volker (ed.): Identity and Universality A commemoration of 150 years of Universal Exhibitions, Paris.

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parallel programs at Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exhibition in 1893.8 But at Lisbon, the central subject was indisputably global and had an important local story attached to it.

Although Lisbon’s theme was created by a committee charged with commemorating the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama’s voyage from Portugal to India, the public face of the theme was more neutral, not emphasizing a straightforward Portuguese perspective. Instead, it emphasized an international concern with the future of the world’s oceans. Perhaps the organizers of Lisbon 98 had learned from the controversy that surrounded the theme for Seville’s International Exhibition. Seville 92's official theme “Age of Discovery,” celebrated the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage that ended at the Caribbean Island dubbed Hispaniola. This theme was unabashedly nationalistic, celebrating the achievements of Spanish explorers and sparking controversy locally and abroad. Even local observers were unsure that the destruction that accompanied the Spanish exploration was something to be universally celebrated.9

World’s Fairs and Expositions during the turn of 20th to 21st Centuries

Location Dates Theme Attendance

Seville, Spain 1992: April 20- Age of Discovery 40 million visits October 12

Chicago, Illinois, 1992: Approved The Second Columbian Exhibit, Canceled - site USA to run 500th Anniversary of the Voyage development concurrently with of Columbus phase Seville

Taejon, South 1993: August 7- The Challenge of a New Road to 14 million visits Korea November 7 Development

Budapest, Hungary 1995-1996 Bridges to Communication Canceled - site joint with Vienna, development Austria phase

Lisbon, Portugal 1998: May 22- Oceans: A Heritage for the Future 11 million visits September 30

Hannover, 2000: June 1- Humankind, Nature, Technology 18 million visits Germany October 30

Aichi, Japan 2005: March 25- Nature's Wisdom 22 million September 25

Zaragoza, Spain 2008:June 14- Water and the Sustainable In planning September 13 Development of Cities process

Shanghai, China 2010:May 1- Better City, Better Life In planning October 31 process

8. Huntoon, Laura (2006): “Women’s World’s Fairs”, in: Goldfield, David R. (ed.): Encyclopedia of American Urban History, Thousand Oaks (Ca.): Sage Publications. 9. Laguna, J. M. (1992): La Leyenda Negra del Descubrimiento, Seville: El Colegio de Arquitectos.

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A proposed international exhibition at Chicago, Illinois, canceled in the site development phase, had a theme related to that of Seville. The two expos were envisioned as running simultaneously and having complementary displays. Chicago’s program referenced Columbus’s 1492 voyage as well as one of its previous efforts, the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, still a significant echo in the local landscape. This designation presented a conceptualization of Chicago’s historical identity.

After Seville, Taejeon 93 presented a specialized exhibition focused on technological and economic development with the official theme “The Challenge of a New Road to Development.” There were environmental elements to the program but these were emphasized in neither the official programs nor in the entertainment features. This program was decidedly nationalistic, celebrating South Korean achievement and emphasizing the development of the South Korean economy. It lacked the controversies occasioned by Seville’s theme. The canceled exhibition planned by Budapest and Vienna for 1995 had a proposed focus that combined the bridges connecting the local cities Buda and Pest with an international topic, ‘Bridges to Communication.’ In a similar way, Lisbon’s theme represents both a national identity and an international subject. On site in Lisbon, there was much emphasis of the historic voyage of Vasco da Gama and Prince Henry’s school for navigation, reminding visitors of the Portuguese role in European discovery. At the same time, there was a concerted focus on the ocean and its preservation in much of the programming for the most important and most popular pavilions. So the Expo linked a moment in Portuguese history with the world’s oceans, giving both national and international significance to ocean- related exhibitions.

Similar to the double meanings of the official subject matter, the first mascot, Gil, represented both the ocean and the Portuguese navigators. Gil himself was styled as a drop of ocean water while his name was a reference to the Portuguese navigator Gil Eanes. His female counterpart, Dorcas, was developed later.

Lisbon’s phrase makes no explicit reference to the Portuguese nation but instead relies on inference to make the relationship between Portuguese greatness and the oceans clear. As discussed below, the Portuguese pavilions were specialized in their relationship to the topic. The Oceans Pavilion, a salt water aquarium, had a universal program that represented all the seas not just the ones adjacent to Portugal and sailed by Portuguese explorers.

Hannover continued with an environmental theme, “Humankind, Nature, Technology,” but focused more broadly on universal and less on nationalistic issues, although German innovations in environmental technology were highlighted. Given Hannover’s focus on sustainability and the environment, many exhibits focused directly on educating the public about these concerns. The pavilions designated official theme pavilions included Knowledge, Mobility, Work, Energy, Nutrition, Environment, Basic Needs, and Healthy Future. The use of

189 Innovations in the Sustainability of the Built Environment at Lisbon 1998: New Motifs in Educational and Entertainment Programming Laura Huntoon

universal concerns was innovative, although, the exhibits themselves did not use an innovative style or approach that was significantly different from past exhibition techniques.

Aichi’s official theme, Nature’s Wisdom, continued with the environmental ethos begun with Lisbon, and amplified Hannover’s focus on nature. Technology and innovations in sustainability were also featured at Aichi similar to Hannover. A joint forum was held just before the close of Expo 2005 at Aichi emphasizing the concern with sustainable development at both Aichi 2005 and in the planning for Shanghai 2010.10 Post-Expo, Aichi sponsored an on-going effort to implement sustainable practices in planning, building, and transportation. For example, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) is rebuilding its NEDO Energy Plant in Tokoname City, Aichi, as a research demonstration. The plant is designed to provide consistent energy to a power grid from fluctuating sources such as wind or photovoltaic cells. First used to provide energy to the Japan Pavilion, it is slated to provide energy to local public facilities. NEDO, a public Japanese public R&D management organization promotes, among other things, environmental and energy conservation technologies.11

Forthcoming exhibitions are continuing this focus on environmental management, recognizing the complexities in creating sustainable cities. Zaragoza 2008 has chosen ‘Water and the Sustainable Development of Cities’ as its major focus. This topic lacks direct reference to the history of Zaragoza or the greatness of local culture and people although there are plans to showcase local achievements.

Shanghai 2010 is continuing with the less nationalistic convention for its official theme, dubbing its exhibition ‘Better City, Better Life,’ although a focus on culture will showcase great achievements in Shanghai and all of China. Shanghai’s plans to showcase sustainable urban development, closely relates to Zaragoza’s program on water and sustainable cities. During the first planning forum in October 2003, sustainable urban development was listed as the last of four ideas for the expo. In June 2004, sustainable urban development was showcased for discussion at an international forum. The third proposed subject centered on cultural diversity and cultural integration was further developed for this forum. Chinese reporting on ‘Better City, Better Life’ suggests that exhibition organizers view this as an international concern,12 in the same way that the oceans was an international motif for

10. Expo Forum Aichi 2005 – Shanghai 2010 held at the Aichi 2005 site on September 23, 2005 on the topic World Expos and Sustainable Development. See Bureau International de Expositions, 2005 Events: Forum / Symposium. http://www.bie-paris.org/main/index.php?p=315&m2=281. Accessed, October 16, 2006. 11. NEDO (2006): “The ‘NEDO New Energy Plant’ at Expo 2005 Aichi Relocated to Central Japan Airport City for Full-scale Operation”, in: New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization. http://www.nedo.go.jp/english/archives/180919/180919.html. Accessed, October 15, 2006. 12. Chang,Tianle (2004): World Expo to Help Dialogue, China Daily, June 26. http://www.bie- paris.org/main/popup.php?p=182. Accessed October 15, 2006.

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Lisbon. Perhaps culture will be a more important focus for the Shanghai planners than sustainability although it is premature to judge.13

Lisbon’s use of the oceans represents an evolution in the conventions and rituals of host display and expo meaning. Expositions have a long tradition of marking anniversaries or celebrating political transitions. Philadelphia 1876 marked the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence while Paris 1889 marked the centennial of the French Revolution. Exhibitions of the 20th century continued this tradition of identifying a unifying theme, organizing exhibits and events in concert with the political message identified for the exhibition.

Through the 19th and 20th centuries, a central idea or celebration is programmed that reflects national heritage and glorifies part of the past. Lisbon’s ‘Oceans of the World’ does make indirect reference to a national past, but this theme presents a vision of an international future, in concert with the ideals expressed by the BIE and its council. Although the mixed interpretation of the Oceans during the exhibition as both a reference to an important Portuguese past and a gesture to an international future suggests this innovation is a step in a continuum, this is a radical break with the past. This evolution in the achievements to be celebrated might reflect a trend in the role of international expos as a cultural battlefield. Nations still wish to host an expo that is both a national and international event, but as media attention has ebbed and paid attendance declined, expos might be seeking an international agenda that will appeal directly to individuals of many nations, thus turning their spectacle into a rich occasion for tourism and concomitant local economic development.

Awareness of Environmental Concerns in Planning and Construction of the Expo 98 Site

Formal planning for pre-expo construction and post-expo use of the site in Lisbon is notable for its close attention to long-term use of the site. The layout of the expo site for Lisbon related in many ways to the vision for the larger metropolitan area. Overarching goals focused on an integrated development that was multi-use and accessible to the wider urban area. The Expo was viewed as a tool for urban regeneration at the metropolitan scale.14 For the local area, however, Lisbon’s expo site falls short and did not incorporate the adjacent neighborhoods or local municipalities in the process which was highly centralized.15

13. Bureau International des Expositions (2004): Forum 2004. Expo 2010 Shanghai China: Cultural Diversity and Cultural Integration in Cities in the 21st Century, Paris 25th June 2004. http://www.bie- paris.org/main/index.php?p=241&m2=244#Theme. Accessed, October 15, 2006. 14. Ministério das Obras Públicas, Transportes, e Comunicações. Portaria n. 640/94 de 15 de Julho. Regulamento do Plano de Urbanizaçao da Zona de Intervençao da Expo 98. Diário da República I Série- B, N.º 162- 15-7-1994. 15. Huntoon, Laura (2005): "World’s Fairs: A Strategy for Large-scale Urban Development.” Paper to Western Regional Science Association, San Diego, CA, February 24, 2005. Carrière, Jean-Paul /

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The formal maps for the site demonstrated a concern with providing public space, protecting viewsheds within the site, creating a street grid that would be efficient for pedestrians, establishing a green infrastructure integrated into the urban fabric, giving attention to aesthetic and ecological values in both the architecture and infrastructure of the site, and reserving room for future redesign and changes.17

Elements of sustainable practice in both the planning and construction of the site include brownfield recycling; transit-oriented development incorporating residential and commercial uses adjacent to multi-modal transit; an integrated infrastructure grid; and a method for reuse designed at the beginning of the process. Any one of these represents an important innovation in urban design and the disposition of space. The presence of all of them makes the planning for Lisbon 98 remarkable.

The first round of documents showing the exhibit site included both expo operations and post-expo use of the site, making clear that a vision of urban regeneration was part of the earliest conceptualizations of this exhibition. The site chosen for the expo had an abandoned tank farm, petroleum storage area, at its center so before construction of the expo site could proceed, environmental remediation was undertaken. The clean up of the soil and the removal of the oil tank farm represented an important environmental improvement. The transformed brownfields became the heart of the expo site.

Adjacent territory was earmarked for parks and multi-use residential areas that permit use of fewer resources. The smaller area plans focused on integrated land use that permits daily life to proceed with relatively lower use of carbon-based resources.

There is some evidence of awareness of sustainability practices during the run of the exhibition. The green standards for pavilion operations were provided to all pavilion operators and followed to some extent. These included operational standards for solar radiation on buildings, use of water and recycled gray water, and solid waste recycling. 18 At the beginning of the site development process, observers noted a lack of efficient infrastructure in Lisbon and saw that Expo 98 had the opportunity to remedy many of these urban deficits, similar to Expo 92 in Seville.19

Demazière, Christophe (2002): “Urban Planning and Flagship Development Projects: Lessons from Expo 98, Lisbon”, Planning Practice and Research 17(1), 69-79. 17. Ministério das Obras Públicas, Transportes, e Comunicações. Portaria n.º 640/94 de 15 de Julho. Regulamento do Plano de Urbanizaçao da Zona de Intervençao da Expo 98. Diário da República I Série- B, N.º 162- 15-7-1994. 18. Cabral, João / Rato, Berta / Reis, Julia (ed.) (2004): “Lisbon, Portugal: The Expo 98 Urban Project.” Urban Redevelopment and Social Polarisation in the City, July 7, 2004. Available at http://www.ifresi.univ-lille1.fr/site/URSPIC/Raphtml/Lisbonne/Lisbonne.htm. 19. Fernández-Galiano, Luis (1998): “De Oporto a Lisboa”, Arquitectura Viva 59 (III-IV).

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Environmental Elements in Pavilions and Entertainment at Expo 98

Although Lisbon’s theme represented an evolution from the past, the nature of many of its exhibits was traditional. In overall structure, the design and sequence of pavilions at the exhibition were quite similar to previous ones. This repetition of formula with host pavilions given pride of place and national pavilions clustered in all-purpose temporary structure reflects an ethos characterized by Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo as exhibition ‘Sloth: the laziness of imagination.’20 A series of featured Portuguese pavilions were designed to stand out and much attention was given to the architecture and the sustainability elements of these buildings and their functioning. The national pavilions were in temporary structures and a permanent multi-purpose building, recycled as a permanent trade show venue. The architecture and entertainment values of these displays were the most widely reported aspects of the expo. More ephemeral events, daily parades and performances, received systematic attention and publicity in the local press and to a lesser extent in the international press reports. Thus, this expo fit squarely in the realm of historic exposition that concentrated on producing a local reality that celebrates technological achievements. Lisbon 98 is still too recent to see its larger cultural messages clearly. Nothing reminiscent of the Midway Plaisance on the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exhibition or the native villages of the 1904 St Louis Universal Exhibition were on display.

Lisbon’s exhibition does distinguish itself by careful attention to detail at the site. Exhibits that illustrated the concept of sustainability and emphasized the need to preserve the oceans for future generation were part of many pavilions. Water was reflected throughout the site and from a design standpoint was well-integrated into the public space of the expo. Less clear and somewhat debatable is the depth of pedagogic displays and visitors’ perceptions and memories of these somewhat superficial displays. The Portuguese national pavilions incorporated references to the world’s oceans as well as to Portuguese history and culture. While some of the most popular pavilions did have the ocean as a central element, such as the Oceans Pavilion, now today’s Oceanarium, for example, other avidly attended pavilions, such as the Pavilion of Virtual Reality had a somewhat tenuous connection with the overarching idea of preserving the oceans as a heritage for the future.

During the expo, some of the most popular attractions were the Virtual Reality, Oceans Pavilion, Knowledge of the Seas, and Utopia, all sponsored by Portugal. The Portuguese Pavilion was also one of the most visited, while Virtual Reality added an additional ticket that was likely to discourage crowds. As in earlier exhibitions, commercially-sponsored pavilions were also popular. Portuguese Telecoms, Sony, and Microsoft had some of the best-reviewed pavilions.

20. Tenorio-Trillo (2002).

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Post-expo, the Oceans Pavilion continues to be the major tourist attraction of the site. The pavilion sits in the center of a boat basin, appearing to float above the surface of the water. Inside, the multi-story salt water tank at the center of the complex draws visitors in. More serious didactic displays are carefully organized in each of the wings of the building.

Unlike Seville 92, relatively fewer of the pavilions were designed by internationally-known architects. The exceptions are those buildings sponsored by the host including the Portuguese Pavilion, designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira; Oceans designed by Peter Chermayeff; the Knowledge of the Seas Pavilion, designed by João Luís Carrilho da Graça; and the Utopia Pavilion by SOM with Regino Cruz Architects. Another important design feature of the site was the Oriente Train Station, designed by Santiago Calatrava. These buildings were all programmed for significant post-fair uses and perhaps this approach gave more weight to the building itself rather than the displays within. The Oceans Pavilion, conceptualized as continuing with the same use, had some of the most complex programming of the expo. The Oriente Station, the heart of a transportation node was an organizing point for the entire site, both pre- and post expo.

Expo 98 Multimodal Transit Center, architect Santiago Calatrava. Photo courtesy of Sanda Kaufman, Cleveland State University, 2002.

The contents of the national exhibits demonstrate a variety of innovations in exhibit programming. The architecture of the national pavilions reflected notable innovations in presenting a display. The design of each facade and position of buildings garnered attention. Most notable in this respect are the appearance and orientation of the Knowledge of the Seas, Future, Oceans, and Utopia pavilions. In addition, all of the Portuguese pavilions addressed the typical problems of waiting areas and crowd control by using passive displays of images and video to help structure the visit and establish a pace through the display areas. The participatory experiences at the core of each pavilion, though, were the innovations of interest that attracted lines and more crowds to manage.

194 Innovations in the Sustainability of the Built Environment at Lisbon 1998: New Motifs in Educational and Entertainment Programming Laura Huntoon

The Portuguese exhibits were coordinated around the expo’s theme of the world’s oceans and five of the six Portuguese pavilions provided a view of oceans in the past, our current understanding of oceans, and suggestions of what might occur to the world’s oceans in the future. This repetition through a series of experiences and displays did create a powerful effect. Beyond the thematic content, each of the pavilions incorporated an innovative effect or experience into its program.

The Knowledge of the Seas Pavilion incorporated kinetic experiences for the visitor to communicate a continuum of human understanding of oceans. In particular, as a visitor advanced through the first phase of displays, some of the constant instability of the ocean’s surface was illustrated at a large scale, using three large, dynamic models constructed of wood, iron, and fibers.

The Future Pavilion used more passive techniques to communicate its message of the interconnectedness of the world’s oceans. Multi-media displays were used at the beginning to pace entry into the building. The main core of the display proceeded along a walkway that traced a progression from the surface to the depths of the ocean, suggesting this progression with lighting and twists and turns in the path followed.

The Oceans Pavilion represents the culmination of a progression through the Knowledge of the Seas and the Future Pavilions. Its displays repeated the themes of these two pavilions and provided both descriptive detail and a visceral experience of the interconnectedness of the world’s oceans, the advance in human understanding of these, and at the same time, a vision of the variety of life forms in the sea. As in other Portuguese national pavilions, multi- media displays and interactive videos were presented to occupy visitors waiting to access the core of the display, the large saltwater tanks that depicted aquatic habitats from the Indian, Pacific, Atlantic, and Antarctic seas at both the surface and through the depths.

The Virtual Reality Pavilion’s undersea adventure was one of the most popular attractions of the Expo. The aim was to incorporate the most current commercial virtual reality including three-dimensional space. The sensory experience included stereo headphones, seats that moved in concert with the display, and audience input into the program. Based on its popularity and its cognitive content, Virtual Reality was an example of entertainment and education that was effective.

The Utopia Pavilion was conceptualized as the signature architecture of the Expo, the structure that might become the iconic representation of the Expo. Described in official literature as resembling a mushroom21 and representing an extension of traditional ship-

21.Comisariado de la Exposición Mundial de Lisboa de 1998.

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building techniques into a superstructure, the building did constitute an important presence at the center of the main axes of pedestrian circulation.

The European Union and the US pavilions serve as two good examples of ocean programming beyond the host pavilions. The European Union pavilion used a small portion of its space for an exhibit dedicated to the theme of sustainability. According to official documents, there was a contrast between a dirty beach and a clean beach on display.22 The depth of information in the display was limited. More memorable in the EU pavilion was the architecture and the adjacent landmark tower along the Tagus. Most memorable in the display was a simulated mine field. Each visitor traversed an open area where lights appeared in the floor at random intervals to create the sensation of walking across a field with hidden land mines.

The Vasco da Gama Tower, adjacent to the European Union Pavilion by night. Photo Courtesy of Sanda Kaufman, Cleveland State University, 2002.

In the US pavilion, the US Navy had a self-serving display promoting its own stewardship of the oceans, detailing how the Navy disposes of waste at sea and recycles materials. More intriguing to visitors were an open tank with eplesia (giant slugs), sea creatures that visitors could touch, a giant iceberg, and a film, produced by the Navy, highlighting their good environmental works. However, there was little analysis of the impact these activities had on the fleet as a whole. As a marketing campaign these brief mentions of environmental impacts certainly would impress many visitors, but the question remains how these brief encounters with sustainable practices and related issues of caring for the sea might change behaviors.

In spite of attention to oceans by many pavilion operators, the theme of Expo 98 was not likely to be the motivation for most visitors’ attendance. A large majority (70%) of respondents to an evaluative survey of the visitor’s expo experience reported that a visit to Expo influenced their decision to visit Portugal, and most respondents enjoyed the Expo,

22. Europa. 1998. European Union at Lisboa, Expo 98. Introduction to the European Union Pavilion. Accessed 19 August 2006. http://europa.eu.int/expo98/en/intro_en.html.

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although no questions were asked regarding their views of pavilions, activities, and displays.23 In response to a related question, a small proportion (30%) of visitors reported that a visit to Expo 98 changed their view of Portugal. This response indicates that a visit to the expo was unlikely to create behavioral change or a lasting impression among a majority of visitors.

Another indicator of possible lessons learned by visitors is in the official guidebook and film. The rhetoric describing the activities of Vasco de Gama and related discoveries in the guidebook and film shown to visitors receives more attention than sustainability.24

The landscape and the design elements of the site served as both entertainment exhibits and as public education. Notable features were the water volcanoes in the Water Gardens/Vitalis Park. Children and passers-by played in the water spewed by volcanoes while the mist surrounding these was refreshing. At night, the volcanoes reflected light in a dramatic way. Another interactive outdoor feature was the Nautical Exhibition featuring historic sailing ships docked along the Tagus River. Visitors could experience being on shipboard and also enjoy the cooler temperatures over the water.

Several significant landmarks provided orientation as well as entertainment. The reflecting pool alongside the Utopia Pavilion provided another place to relax as it provided a landmark between the Sun Gate entrance closest to the Intermodal Station and the river. Similarly, the Vasco de Gama Tower provided telecommunications infrastructure and also served as a landmark for the Cable Car.

The Cable Car provided a link between the Nautical Exhibition and the Vasco de Gama Tower. Its trajectory followed the Tagus River between these two points. It started just north of the exit from the Nautical Exhibition, crossed the entrance to the boat basin where the Oceans Pavilion was located, and ended by the tower. The experience of the ride was similar to cars provided at other venues.

Sustainability and International Expos

Although not part of the official guide,25 many post-expo innovations in land use and the built environment suggest that urban regeneration was Expo 98’s principle objective. Significant evidence of sustainable practice is available from the legislative record. The national government presented a revised plan for the disposition of the expo site that was published

23. Sarmento, Manuela (1999): L’Expo de Lisbonne: Evaluation basée sur les facteurs stratégiques, Paris. 24. Expo 98 (1998): The Oceans: A Heritage for the Future, [VHS]. 25. Comisariado de la Exposición Mundial de Lisboa de 1998.

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31 December 1999, eighteen months after the official close of the expo. 26 In his discussion of completing the urban plans for the intervention zone then Secretary of Environment José Sócrates Carvalho Pito de Sousa emphasizes the goal of creating a zone that functions as a new central place as well as an articulated node in the urban fabric. This plan was a revision of the 1994 plan proposed prior to the expo.

This innovative urbanism did not receive direct attention at the exposition. Sustainable urbanism was not part of the cognitive content in the programming of the exhibits. Although many elements of the exposition site were provided to create an efficient post-expo urban space, these elements received only secondary publicity. The improvements to the landscape, the preservation and framing of viewsheds, provision of water drainage areas, placement of public utilities, the inclusion of water and gardens were highlighted to a much lesser extent than the pavilions and the daily entertainment. The publicity and guides assumed that visitors sought pavilions and related displays as the objective of their visits while the unremarked operations provided detailed mosaic sidewalks, clear vistas of water, allées with shade, and play spots with mist.

Lisbon’s Expo ‘98 introduced new content and new conventions into the programs and entertainment for universal exhibitions. Lisbon’s innovations are reflected in both its official theme and its site. The theme focused on an international subject matter, Oceans - A Heritage for the Future. The exhibit site embodied a new sensibility toward creating a sustainable built environment. As visitors to Expo 98 made their way to sights, they traversed a pedestrian-scale landscape with intuitive connections and perhaps visitors appreciated this achievement although few direct references were made to these creative elements of the built environment. The essence of a sustainable urban plan is to create a sense of place, accessibility with alternatives to automobiles, and connectivity between commercial, residential, and productive areas. This goal has yet to be achieved, but the grounds of Expo 98 represented a step forward to a more sustainable urban environment. During Lisbon 98 many facets of preservation and conservation were featured in the displays and the site itself drew attention to the relationship between human society and the ocean. Lisbon ‘98 had many highlights and moments of entertainment, but its most innovative feature was not environmental education but environmental practice.

26. Ministério do Ambiente e do Ordenamento do Território. Portaria n. 1130-B/99 de 31 de Dezembro. Regulamento do Plano de Urbanizaçao da Zona de Intervençao da Expo 98. Diário da República I Série- B, N.º 303- 31-12-1999.

198 Innovations in the Sustainability of the Built Environment at Lisbon 1998: New Motifs in Educational and Entertainment Programming Laura Huntoon

Résumé

Pavillon du Japon Port de Lisbonne Allée de l’Expo

Expo’98 Lisbonne était composée d’une série de merveilles technologiques qui étaient une expérience nouvelle pour les visiteurs. D'ailleurs, le site de Lisbonne a été conceptualisé en tant qu'élément faisant partie intégrante de l’Expo et la réutilisation du site a guidé les plans de l’Expo à une échelle importante comparativement aux expositions précédentes. L’agencement incitait le visiteur à aller de pavillon en pavillon tout comme les présentations les plus formelles qui provoquaient une sensibilité croissante quant à la préservation des océans, le thème de l'Expo, et la durabilité dans la conception urbaine qui interpellait la communauté internationale. Lisboa’98 s'est distinguée par l’attention qu’elle portait à l'environnement, sa conception soigneuse du site et son intérêt pour la durabilité de l'environnement, tout ceci associé à une exposition internationale. Les améliorations novatrices d'infrastructures faisaient partie du marketing de l'Expo pour les Portugais. Bien que les efforts pour la durabilité du site fassent partie des comportements humains qui aideront à préserver les océans, peu d’innovations ont été faites dans les programmes de divertissement de l'exposition. Néanmoins, l’orientation de Lisbonne constitue une rupture avec la tendance du XXème siècle à mettre en scène la fierté nationale du pays hôte dans les expositions. Beaucoup d'innovations Post-Expo concernant l'utilisation de la terre et l'environnement suggèrent que la régénération urbaine ait été un objectif de principe pour Expo’98. L'évidence significative des pratiques de la durabilité est fournie par l’enregistrement législatif. Expo’98 a eu beaucoup de points forts et de moments de divertissement, mais son dispositif le plus innovateur n'était pas l’éducation environnementale mais les pratiques environnementales.

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EPILOGUE

AICHI 2005

ZARAGOZA 2008

SHANGHAI 2010

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Innovation & Education of EXPO2005 Aichi, Japan Toshio Nakamura Secretary-General, Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition

A New Vision for International Exhibitions

EXPO2005 Aichi, Japan was a turning point of the history of world expositions and its mission was to show the continuing significance of and a new model for international exhibitions at the start of the twenty-first century.

International exhibitions faced a crossroads in the final decades of twentieth century. In an age of rapid technological advances, ready movement of people across national borders, and instantaneous spread of information worldwide, there was a growing opinion that attempts to bring large numbers of people to one place for half a year were obsolete.

In response to such charges, the General Assembly of the International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE) in 1994, adopted a resolution asserting that “each exhibition must have a modern theme corresponding to expectations of contemporary society”. The Expo in Aichi became the focus of global attention as the first international exhibition to bring this resolution to reality.

EXPO2005 adopted the theme of “Nature’s Wisdom” to contribute to the resolution of global problems. The intentions contained in this theme were to recognize that humans are part of nature, to study with humbleness the wondrous mechanisms of nature and the exquisite workings of life, to reconsider the relation between humans and nature, and to work toward building a new civilization that is in harmony with nature. “Building a new civilization” is simply another way of saying sustainable development, and urging people to adopt specific behaviors for that end was also a part of the Expo’s message.

EXPO2005 Aichi, Japan was able to give a voice to this theme in highly diverse and creative ways because it was pursued wholeheartedly in designing the site, arranging the exhibits, planning events, and in all aspects of operations. EXPO 2005 demanded a high level of innovation and brought a renewed awareness that world expositions represent a unique approach to creating a sustainable society in the twenty-first century.

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I believed that there has never been a world exposition in which the participants had a greater awareness of the theme and interpreted and expressed it as well as at EXPO 2005.

Innovative Challenges and Educational Experiences of EXPO2005

The yardstick used to evaluate EXPO2005’s success was the extent of its impact on building a sustainable society as an international exhibition. In order to emphasize and to deepen the EXPO2005’s theme of global problem-solving and to stir citizens to action, a variety of experimental projects were conducted from four viewpoints; (1) application of cutting-edge technologies (breakthroughs achieved through technology); (2) adoption of new social systems and patterns of social conduct; (3) participation by NGOs and private citizens; and (4) sharing diverse cultures and values. EXPO2005 demonstrated innovative challenges and conducted educational experiences through these projects.

1) Cutting-Edge Technology The first task that EXPO2005 embarked on was the display of models for solving the problems of fossil-energy exhaustion and global warming. By conducting trials of leading- edge technologies for solving these problems, EXPO2005 presented the Expo itself as a model for the recycling-based society of the twenty-first century.

EXPO2005 conducted trial uses of the world’s largest recycling-based new energy system. A large-scale, leading-edge micro-grid system that maintained balance between supply and demand was created by combining several systems, all based on fuel cell electric-power generation utilizing high-temperature gasification, a solar electric power system, and an energy storage system using sodium-sulfur batteries. As a result of this experiment in supplying electricity to a certain area with multiple alternative energy sources, it was proven that such sources could efficiently meet power demand through enhancements in economy and reliability. Wood chips from trees felled during construction of the Expo site, a large number of kitchen waste discarded by restaurants, and used plastic drinking bottles were processed and was converted into energy using fuel cells. After the Expo, the New Energy System was moved to Chubu Rinku Town next to Central Japan International Airport. Full- scale experiments are continuing to increase power output and now supplying electricity to the city office and a local sanitation center.

In the course of promoting the 3Rs, if there are types of waste whose emissions cannot be reduced to zero, then the most important task in the development of recycling-based models is to minimize the impact of these waste materials on the environment. With the cooperation of 11 of the 38 eating and drinking establishments on the EXPO 2005 grounds, over 20 million pieces of tableware dispensed during the Expo were made of biodegradable plastic.

204 Innovation & Education of EXPO2005 Aichi, Japan Toshio Nakamura

Measured as a stand-alone enterprise, this was the world’s largest-scale use of biodegradable plastic tableware. Biodegradable plastic is made from corn and other biomass that decompose naturally into carbon dioxide and other organic materials through the action of microorganisms. The organizers also made an effort to employ biodegradable plastics in a variety of uses other than eating and drinking vessels and utensils. They included the exterior wall of Japan Pavilion, signs on the Expo grounds, official goods, and packing. Given that the Expo was a limited-time undertaking, the effort to use biodegradable plastics to meet demand during the event was of particularly great significance.

2) New social systems and patterns of social conduct Secondly, EXPO2005 conducted trials of new social systems and patterns of social conduct that prompted visitors to change their own lifestyles.

Trash separation was implemented in a thoroughgoing manner at EXPO 2005, with visitors separating refuse into nine categories and exhibitors separating it into 17 categories. The reuse of discarded items, the recycling of trash into new energy sources, and the composting of organic waste and biomass plastic were among the operations carried out on a large scale. This experience left a deep impression on many visitors, and it will surely lead to heightened awareness of the importance of trash separation in their respective lives in the community.

And for the first time at an Expo, an Eco-Money at EXPO 2005 encouraged citizens to take the initiative in eco-friendly activities by providing economic points for such activities as participation in environmental education programs and turning down shopping bags at stores; it was the largest such program in the country. In addition to Expo shops and exhibition facilities, 20 companies agreed to lend their support and 2,400 shops took part in the program. Over the course of the Expo, 600,000 people used the Expo Eco-Money center, four times more than expected. This “money” was later donated to various environmental causes, such as afforestation. After the Expo, the Expo Eco-Money Center moved to the base of its operations to the city of Nagoya, where it continues to operate today, and has taken root in the local community as a new social system.

3) Participation by NGOs and private citizens Thirdly, EXPO 2005 was the first international exhibition to feature citizen participation in a variety of ways and formats. Building a sustainable society is possible only when three elements—technological breakthroughs, social systems, and the talents of individual citizens who take responsibility for specific activities—come together as one. The programs were designed to get everyone to move beyond the categories of visitor and participant and to jointly build a sustainable society based on a shared awareness. The seeds of citizens’ participation that were sown at the Expo germinated during its term and continue to grow after its close and today new seeds are being sown.

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NGOs and NPOs in Japan teamed up with overseas counterparts, and established the NGO Global Village under the theme of “Learning for Sustainability.” Through events and workshops that introduced their activities and engaged visitors, these exhibits made a powerful appeal with regard to the extent to which ordinary citizens can contribute to the creation of a sustainable society.

Located in the Seto Area—the original venue of EXPO 2005—was the Civic Pavilion and Kaisho Plaza. Private Citizens were given the freedom to present various projects based on the theme of “Nature’s Wisdom,” without being bound by organization or framework. Applications were solicited from both within Japan and around the world, and each of the 235 dialogue-centered projects selected was planned and undertaken by private citizens.

The EXPO 2005 Volunteer Center was established in order to give Expo visitors meticulous attention, and it made full use of the abilities of citizens in Expo operations. Approximately 30,000 people registered with the center, and through the course of the Expo, an aggregate of some 100,000 people warmly welcomed visitors to the event. To ensure that visitors would have a pleasant and enjoyable time, volunteers provided guidance and instructions at pavilions and restaurants, offered support for the elderly and disabled, served as interpreters, and advised visitors on how to sort their garbage. Following the conclusion of the Expo, the Volunteer Center became an NPO and is continuing its operations. Using the know-how, experience, and human resources it developed over the course of the Expo, the center aims to contribute to various undertaking around the country.

4) Sharing diverse cultures and values And finally, through the interchange of diverse cultures and values from around the world, they must suggest solutions to global issues and construct a global culture and civilization for the twenty-first century. Some 121 countries took part in EXPO 2005, a new record for an international exhibition held in Japan. These official participants held a rich variety of events and exhibits in the Global Commons, which were divided by continent or region. Additionally, four international organizations took part as official participants on the same level as the countries in a bid to strengthen ties, holding their own exhibits in the Global Commons. During the Expo, each country had its own National Day, an occasion for them to hold unique events and activities. Through various collaborative projects, mutual understanding was deepened among the official participants and visitors, creating a sense of oneness as global citizens.

In order to deepen the theme of EXPO2005, the first-ever relay symposium, titled EXPO2005 International Forum, was held under the theme of “Creation of a Sustainable Society”. Experts from around the world were invited to discuss specific issues not just with one another but also with private citizens and students. At the final session, a joint declaration

206 Innovation & Education of EXPO2005 Aichi, Japan Toshio Nakamura

created by students from around the world titled “Learning How to Love diversity” was drafted, and this message was sent out to the world.

The Achievement of EXPO2005

On the morning of September 25, 2005 (the final day of EXPO2005), Japanese dailies around the country declared the Expo a success, pointing out the absence of even a single accident or major mishap, such as those that occurred during previous world expositions, the large number of visitors it attracted, and the high international praise it won. It was an extraordinarily favorable evaluation that defined initial expectations.

There are three ways of judging the success of an exposition. The most basic is its success as a project. No matter how lofty its theme, an exposition that cannot capture the interest of a large number of people and that operates in the red is a failure. About 22 million people visited the Expo, exceeding the initial goal of 15 million. In comparison with previous expositions, a relatively high proportion of visitors came from locations outside the host region. The number of foreign nationals visiting the region was three times higher than same period of the previous year. Through conducting what was called “daily improvements”, EXPO2005 gained high level of visitors’ satisfaction and led to comfort and safe operations. It is particularly worthy of mention again that there was not a single serious accident at EXPO2005.

The second is whether, given the Expo’s focus on a specific theme, it explored the theme in depth and conveyed ideas fully to visitors. In this regard, it must be asked whether the significance and principles encompassed by the theme of “Nature’s Wisdom” were understood by visitors, penetrated their way of thinking, and changed the way they act. According to 10 surveys undertaken during the course of the Expo, nearly 85% said that they wished to contribute actively to innovative challenges and educational experiences of EXPO2005. Among teenagers, the respective shares were 90% and 95%, indicating that they were even more motivated than other visitors to take action.

The final point is whether the Expo demonstrated the usefulness of world expositions and can serve as a model for future endeavors. This point is particularly important today, when concern is growing that Expos have outlived their role and are becoming a relic of the past. EXPO2005 welcomed so many national leaders to the site, including heads of state or government from 48 countries. We also hosted ministerial-level guests on 195 occasions, and were visited by 1,800 media representatives from 75 countries. These numbers make clear the wide recognition that the Expo made and the broad impact that the Expo brought.

207 Innovation & Education of EXPO2005 Aichi, Japan Toshio Nakamura

On June 24, 2005, halfway through the Expo, the BIE General Assembly took unprecedented step of releasing a statement in which it congratulated the Japanese government and Expo organizers and praised the event. The statement hinted at the immense relief and pleasure BIE felt at the good start of EXPO2005, particularly at a time when the international exhibition movement itself was at a major crossroads. This was followed by a statement by the International Council for EXPO2005 on September 22, just before closing of the Expo, praising the event for opening up a new era for world expositions and serving as a model for future undertakings.

Future Development of EXPO2005’s Philosophy

EXPO2005 earned an international reputation as a leading project in the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. On this point it fulfilled the necessary conditions for a theme-oriented international exhibition, as called for by the BIE.

The values cultivated during the Expo must be preserved, and this legacy, along with recollections of the Expo, must be handed down to further generations. Young people learned much from the Expo, and they can be expected to take action to help resolving pressing global problems in their own ways. The seeds sown at EXPO2005 will be nurtured by these young men and women and can be expected to flower and bear fruit in the future.

To further promote the international exhibition movement, it is necessary to go further. Only by continuing to make known the concepts pursued and results achieved at the Expo after it ended will it become possible to realize the aim of contributing to the resolution of global problems. In this context, and as part of the international exhibition movement, EXPO 2005’s attempts to communicate its concepts and achievements at every opportunity in the international arena seem right on target. It would seem that the time has come for the BIE as well to carefully examine the kinds of ties it should maintain with other international organizations and further promote the international exhibition movement. An Expo is a unique medium, neither a museum nor theme park, and only through attempts to constantly demonstrate its usefulness to the international community will countries’ desire to participate and the prestige of world expositions increase.

In closing, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to BIE, all the participants, staff of EXPO 2005, and most of all to the more than 22 million visitors, together with whom we launched a bold new chapter in the rich and illustrious history of international exhibitions.

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Expo Zaragoza 2008: Un verger de connaissance et d’innovation Jeronimo Blasco Jauregui Directeur Général des Opérations et du Contenu, Expo 2008 Zaragoza

Dans le sillage de la tradition des meilleures expositions internationales du XIXème et du XXème siècle,1 Expo Zaragoza 2008 a pris le ferme engagement culturel et pédagogique de diffuser parmi le grand public les nouveautés scientifiques, les arts les plus avant-gardistes et la meilleure architecture.

Expo Zaragoza 2008 propose un programme ambitieux de spectacles, la silhouette remarquable de ses édifices emblématiques, la construction d’un nouveau parc urbain de 120 hectares, la récupération des rives de l’Ebre.2 Mais Expo Zaragoza 2008 sera, avant tout, un espace privilégié pour développer la connaissance, l’innovation, la culture et l’entente entre les peuples en insistant sur une attitude plus respectueuse dans nos rapports avec l’eau et, en général, avec la planète Terre.

En 1999 déjà, lorsque Expo Zaragoza 2008 n’était qu’une ébauche de candidature, le projet était entouré de nombreuses incertitudes. De la durée et des caractéristiques principales de l’événement, en passant par l’emplacement du site ou, évidemment, son financement. Nous tous, qui avons participé à faire germer l’idée, nous savions pourtant parfaitement que le thème central qui devrait servir de colonne vertébrale à l’exposition devait être l’eau. L’eau et le développement durable.

Au fur et à mesure que le projet surmontait les étapes, l’engagement d’Expo 2008 avec son thème principal non seulement a été maintenu, mais il s’est vu encore accru avec le temps. Nous étions de plus en plus conscients que l’effort extraordinaire que suppose l’organisation d’une Exposition Internationale de l’ambition de celle de Zaragoza, n’avait de sens que si, parmi les legs qu’elle laisserait, figurait une contribution décisive en matière d’éducation et d’innovation pour la durabilité.

1 Galopin, Marcel (2008) : Les Expositions internationales au XXème siècle et le Bureau International des Expositions, Saragosse. 2 De plus amples informations sont disponibles dans les pages officielles de Expo Zaragoza 2008: www.expozaragoza2008.es

209 Expo Zaragoza 2008: Un verger de connaissance et d’innovation Jeronimo Blasco Jauregui

A la veille de l’inauguration de l’Exposition Internationale de Zaragoza, prévue pour le 13 juin 2008, les organisateurs gardent intact cet intérêt pour encourager le plus grand nombre de personnes à prendre conscience de l’importance de l’eau comme source fondamentale de vie sur la terre, et pour revendiquer toute l’attention que réclame une telle ressource et sa bonne administration, principaux défis globaux auxquels l’Humanité doit faire de nos jours.

Le thème, « Eau et développement durable », sert d’élément de support conceptuel donnant ainsi une cohérence générale aux contenus mis en avant par la Société organisatrice dans les pavillons et les places thématiques, la plupart des spectacles et le programme culturel de la Tribune de l’Eau de Expo 2008.

Contenus des pavillons et places thématiques de Expo Zaragoza 2008

Expo Zaragoza 2008 disposera de différents espaces d’exposition dans lesquels seront développées, de façon variée, surprenante et attractive pour les visiteurs, différentes questions concernant le thème “Eau et développement durable”.

Les pavillons des participants (pays, organisations internationales, communautés autonomes espagnoles, ONG et entreprises) sont souverains et, dans leur espace d’exposition, peuvent développer le thème général de l’Expo comme ils l’entendent. De son côté, l’organisation de Expo 2008 a conçu des espaces « thématiques » où le thème est traité en profondeur.

Les « pavillons thématiques » de Expo Zaragoza 2008 sont les suivants :

• L’exposition « L’eau, une ressource unique », dans le Pavillon Pont • “De l’eau pour la vie” dans la Tour de l’Eau • “Les paysages de l’eau” à l’Aquarium fluvial et les « Places thématiques » :

• Eau extrême • Soif • Oikos : eau et énergie (Oikos : du grec ancien, « maison ») • Eau et villes • Eau partagée

Les expositions présentées tant dans les pavillons que dans les places thématiques de Expo Zaragoza 2008, s’appuieront sur une solide base scientifique et technique, fruit du travail conjoint réalisé dans chacun de ces espaces par trois groupes de travail : la direction scientifique, l’équipe de conception et les techniciens des différents départements de la société organisatrice. Ces trois piliers travaillent dans toutes les phases du projet : de la

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rédaction initiale du scénario scientifique à la supervision finale des contenus du dernier panneau qui apparaît dans chacune des expositions.1

Les directions scientifiques des pavillons et des places thématiques ont été confiées à des personnalités qualifiées appartenant aux domaines de la recherche et de la vulgarisation scientifique en matière d’eau et d’environnement. C’est la garantie à la fois de la fiabilité des contenus des expositions et de la fonction éducative et culturelle de chaque thème. Le scénario scientifique initial est transformé en émotion à travers la créativité de l’équipe de conception artistique.

L’exposition du Pavillon Pont « L’eau, une ressource unique » met l’accent sur le fait que le problème de l’eau n’est pas le manque d’eau mais sa mauvaise utilisation. Elle souligne l’urgence de considérer l’eau comme un Droit Humain. Cette exposition est sous la direction scientifique de Carlos Fernández Jáuregui (Vice coordinateur du Programme d’Evaluation des Ressources Hydriques des Nations Unies) et de Alberto Crespo Milliet (consultant pour les thèmes en rapport avec l’eau), et l’équipe de conception est Ralph Appelbaum Associates (RAA).

“L’eau, une ressource unique” disposera de quatre supports d’exposition (trois cubes et la Place de l’Eau), introductions préalables au parcours sur le Pavillon Pont. Tout au long de l’exposition, le visiteur prendra conscience que nous, les êtres humains, nous sommes les principaux consommateurs d’eau dans le monde et l’origine de la forte pression qui s’exerce actuellement sur cette ressource. Des processus tels que la croissance de la population et des zones urbaines, le changement climatique, la contamination hydrique ou l’adoption de modèles de consommation gaspilleurs ne font qu’aggraver le problème. C’est pourquoi une nouvelle politique de gestion, la « gouvernabilité », joue un rôle essentiel pour inverser cette tendance.

De nouvelles techniques pour gérer l’eau de façon plus soutenable seront présentées ; grâce à elles, on pourra contrôler plus efficacement la consommation de cette ressource et induire un changement culturel dans la population sur la voie d’un plus grand respect pour la nature. La Tour de l’Eau accueillera l’exposition « De l’eau pour la vie », plaidoyer en faveur de l’Être Humain en tant qu’élément de la Nature. La direction scientifique est assurée par les géographes Emma Pérez-Chacón et María del Tura Bonet. La conception est assurée par l’équipe de Program Collective.

Une seule installation d’une grande surface occupera le rez-de-chaussée de l’édifice. Elle attirera l’attention du public sur l’existence de l’eau sur la planète, les processus qui la rendent possible et son incidence sur la vie. Les contenus seront exposés selon trois échelles d’observation : en premier lieu, la thématique sur l’importance de l’eau pour la naissance et le développement de la vie sur la terre, et sur quelques-unes de ses propriétés physiques et chimiques (ses trois états, l’eau dissolvant universel et ses propriétés d’adhésion, de

1 Il existe aussi un Comité d’Experts de Expo Zaragoza 2008 chargé, entre autres, de superviser de manière générale la cohérence de l’ensemble des espaces d’exposition.

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cohésion et de tension) ; puis, la capacité de l’eau à composer le paysage à travers les principaux écosystèmes terrestres, déserts chauds, déserts froids, savanes, écosystème méditerranéen, forêts tropicales, bois des zones tempérées, îles et côtes ; et enfin, en quoi l’eau est-elle une partie fondamentale de la physiologie de l’espèce humaine.

Grâce à une série de passerelles, le visiteur pourra, à partir du rez-de-chaussée, monter dans la tour et découvrir en même temps la symbiologie de l’eau dans les différentes cultures du monde : l’eau et le sacré, les rêves, l’art, les fêtes, les bains, les sports ou l’eau et les jardins. Et, point culminant du parcours, les visiteurs passeront à travers un nuage situé dans la partie supérieure de la Tour avant d’être accueillis dans l’espace panoramique du Nuage Bar.

L’exposition « Les paysages de l’eau », à l’Aquarium fluvial, montre le système de relations passionnant existant entre les écosystèmes naturels et l’empreinte culturelle des civilisations humaines. C’est l’œuvre de l’entreprise Countant Aquariums et de l’architecte Álvaro Planchuelo.

L’aquarium fluvial de Saragosse sera un hommage aux fleuves et révèlera leur âme profonde et leur fragilité cachée. Afin de recréer les conditions naturelles de chacun des habitats représentés dans l’aquarium, les décors seront très élaborés, avec des bandes sonores, des effets lumineux ou des changements de la température ambiante et du degré d’hydrométrie. Parmi ses attractions principales, les poissons attireront l’attention des visiteurs : arapaimas, arawanas, perches géantes, silures, carpes, poissons-chats, etc. Au cours de son périple dans l’aquarium, le visiteur découvrira les principales caractéristiques des écosystèmes aquatiques de cinq fleuves choisis pour représenter cinq régions géographiques de la terre : le Nil (Afrique), le Mekong (Asie), l’Amazone (Amérique), le Murria Darling (Australie) et le fleuve hôte, l’Èbre. Le centre de l’enceinte sera occupé par le « Fleuve du Monde », un aquarium représentant le passé, à l’époque où tous les continents étaient unis en une seule île entourée par l’océan, avec un mélange d’espèces fluviales de la planète toute entière. Il y aura en tout 2000 exemplaires représentant 300 espèces différentes d’animaux.

La place thématique « Eau et villes » sera une réflexion sur les rapports des villes avec leurs espaces d’eau et, plus particulièrement, avec l’immense valeur de cette ressource dans le processus d’amélioration de la qualité de vie dans les villes. Sa direction scientifique est assurée par Rinio Bruttomesso et Joan Alemany et l’équipe de conception est le Studio Italo Rota.

« Eau et villes » s’articule autour de 4 manières d’envisager la relation entre l’eau et la ville : (1) L’eau Spectacle réfléchira à l’importance du rôle de l’eau en tant qu’élément essentiel dans la formation des paysages urbains fascinants de grande beauté, l’eau se transformant aussi en spectacle. (2) L’Eau Amie analysera la nécessité de redéfinir une relation positive avec l’eau dans les villes dans le but d’offrir, surtout mais pas uniquement, une alternative durable et soutenable à la présence de l’eau dans nos villes en récupérant une nouvelle dimension « amicale » de l’eau dans la ville. (3) L’Eau Protagoniste se concentrera sur les

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différents projets de réforme et de revitalisation réalisés par les villes, au cours de ces dernières années, pour améliorer leurs relations avec leurs sources d’eau en reprenant directement contact avec les berges du fleuve, avec la mer ou le lac. (4) L’Eau Future expliquera de quelles manières les nouvelles technologies peuvent arriver à représenter une alternative de développement dans la vie quotidienne des villes au bord de l’eau.

Ciudades del Agua

La place thématique « Oikos : Eau et Energie » conduira le visiteur à un ensemble d’expériences visant à démontrer qu’il est possible de produire et de stocker de l’énergie tout en respectant l’environnement, à moindre coût et pour le bien-être de tous. Domingo Guinea (Physicien du Conseil Supérieur de Recherches scientifiques) est chargé de la direction scientifique et Roland Olbeter de l’équipe de conception.

La première partie de cette place thématique présentera au visiteur la situation énergétique actuelle dominée par l’exploitation insoutenable des énergies fossiles. Le visiteur poursuivra son parcours au milieu de machines en fonctionnement, de panneaux et de films ; les thèmes suivants seront abordés : (1) le soleil, (2) le vent, (3) la maison et l’eau et (4) la climatisation. Le dernier module, appelé « La maison du possible », montrera comment l’application de toutes les énergies renouvelables présentées tout au long de cet espace thématique peut réduire la consommation en énergies fossiles.

Oikos: Agua y Energía

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Dans “Eau extrême”, le visiteur se verra plongé dans le problème des risques inévitables liés à l’eau et dans la question importante de leur gestion adéquate en tant que méthode efficace de survie de l’être humain. Javier Martín-Vide (Professeur de Géographie physique à l’Université de Barcelone) s’occupera de la direction scientifique et Urano Films de la conception.

La place thématique « Eau extrême » tentera d’émouvoir et de sensibiliser le visiteur. La première partie touche l’univers des idées. Cette “zone de réflexion” se penche sur l’importance de la prévention des risques hydriques, les valeurs de la perception et de la communication (l’idée que « les humains se comportent en fonction de leur perception de la réalité, et non en fonction de ce qu’elle est »), la nécessité de l’adaptation préventive (« La prévention est indispensable pour neutraliser les risques de l’eau »), la participation responsable et la bonne gestion du risque hydrique (« Lorsque le risque est présent, la vie passe en premier »). Finalement, en guise de conclusion de cette première partie, on informe et on invite le visiteur à réfléchir sur les solutions, les prévisions actuelles avertissant du danger d'une lente augmentation possible des risques de l’eau en raison du changement climatique.

Dans la seconde partie, « L’espace sensoriel », on trouvera des aspects tels que la variabilité géographique des risques de l’eau, la magnificence (voire même la beauté) des risques hydriques et l’ampleur des répercussions biologiques et économiques des catastrophes. En vue d'illustrer les explications, on prendra l'exemple d’un ouragan (« Un coup d'oeil dans le cœur de l'ouragan »), d’un tsunami (« Dans l’attente de la grande vague ») et d'un phénomène de « gota fría » - goutte froide ou épisode cévenol - (« Le déluge méditerranéen ») à travers un film court et intense.

Agua Extrema

Dans la place thématique « Soif », le visiteur apprendra, entre autres, que la soif est commune à tous les êtres vivants et à tous les paysages, quelles sont les stratégies visant à

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obtenir de l'eau potable du ciel et du sous-sol et comment le besoin en eau a permis de stimuler le développement des techniques hydrauliques, le mouvement et les connaissances. Pietro Laureano est chargé de la direction scientifique et Martín Ruiz de Azua de l’équipe de conception.

Dans la partie intérieure, cette exposition sur la Soif sera divisée en cinq espaces reliés entre eux par des parcours pré-établis sous une grande voûte céleste. Le thème de chacune des salles touchera, sous forme d’une question, quatre aspects distincts, trouvant, dans la dernière salle, une réponse en guise de réflexion finale.

Les questions seront les suivantes : (1) Qui a Soif ? Cette question sera une réflexion sur le fait que l’être humain et l’environnement ont besoin d’une eau saine pour vivre. On y soulignera aussi la différence entre désert et désertification, et les différences dans l’usage qui est fait de l’eau dans les villes. (2) Nous avons Soif. Quelle est la conscience sociale sur la problématique soulevée par la nécessité d’une eau de qualité pour des millions de personnes et comment la soif a-t-elle pu générer dans les différentes cultures tous types de rites, de musiques, de danses, pour acclamer l’arrivée de l’eau ? (3) Que provoque la Soif ? La Soif, le besoin d’eau, favorise le mouvement, les échanges, les migrations ou les connaissances. La Soif encourage les échanges qui engendrent eux-mêmes la culture. Elle encourage aussi les ententes, les alliances et la solidarité, car sans accord sur l’eau, un système social ne peut fonctionner. (4) Comment abordons-nous la Soif ? En s’appuyant sur l’exemple des animaux, des plantes et de l’homme, on montrera que la Soif est quelque chose de commun à tous les êtres vivants et à l’environnement, comment on a développé des stratégies pour obtenir de l’eau potable. Dans la dernière salle, la question est : “La Soif, qu’est-ce que c’est ? ” et la réponse : « La Soif est nécessaire et nous fait progresser ». L’exposition nous montre un écosystème capable de créer de l'eau et de la recycler sans cesse, comme c’est le cas sur notre planète Terre.

Sed

Enfin, la place thématique « Eau partagée » vise à transmettre aux visiteurs les implications et les opportunités offertes par le concept de bassin hydrologique comme unité de gestion, face au partage politique ou administratif du territoire, en proposant la gestion intégrale des bassins et la répartition des responsabilités entre les différents utilisateurs de cette ressource. La direction scientifique est entre les mains de Víctor Pochat, Carlos Fernández Jáuregui y Pilar González Meyaui. L’équipe de conception est ADD Bailo+Rull.

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Le visiteur suivra le parcours suivant :

(1) Le monde politique dans lequel nous vivons. Situé au rez-de-chaussée, cet espace est un labyrinthe composé d’un système graphique contenant de nombreuses informations. Il recrée une ambiance étouffante pour le visiteur, en insistant sur les divisions administratives (politiques) qui contrarient la bonne gestion d'une ressource naturelle commune telle que l’eau.

(2) Le défi de repenser. En empruntant un escalator, le visiteur accèdera à l’étage supérieur de l’édifice. Il arrivera à un tunnel de vapeur d’eau empêchant toute visibilité vers l’extérieur. Il y recevra un message sonore l’informant de la nécessité de prendre un chemin nouveau en vue de trouver une solution aux problèmes liés à l’eau et dont nous souffrons.

(3) Le milieu physique. Le visiteur accèdera ensuite à un mirador pour observer la carte d’un bassin hydrographique. Il recevra (par des messages sonores ou des questions) une description du milieu physique dans lequel il vit, parfois difficile à identifier à cause des divisions politiques et administratives.

(4) La gestion du bassin. En descendant par des passerelles circulaires reliées entre elles, le public se rapprochera de la carte physique, où l’importance du concept de bassin hydrographique comme unité de gestion des eaux lui sera expliquée, à travers de petits jeux de questions-réponses.

(5) Le bassin, notre maison commune. Cette dernière partie fait office de conclusion. Le public réexaminera de plus près tout ce qu’il a jusque là toujours considéré de loin, grâce à des informations plus détaillées sur les vertus de la gestion des eaux au niveau du bassin versant.

Agua Compartida

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Spectacles

Les événements culturels et les spectacles de Expo Zaragoza 2008 seront d’une grande variété et destinés à tous les publics. Certains auront un lien avec le thème “Eau et développement durable” avec un fond de réflexion et un but pédagogique. Il faut souligner en particulier les spectacles « Iceberg, Symphonie poétique visuelle » et « Inspirations Aquatiques ».

Le spectacle “Iceberg, Symphonie poétique visuelle” sera le grand événement de la Cérémonie d’Inauguration d’Expo Zaragoza 2008 qui se tiendra le 13 juin 2008, veille de l’ouverture des portes. D’une durée d’environ 21 minutes, il se transformera ensuite en spectacle nocturne qui sera joué pendant les 93 jours de l’Expo. Calixto Beineto en est le directeur artistique.

Ce magnifique spectacle aura, pour scène aquatique, l’Ebre et sera un événement spectaculaire avec, pour thème central, le défi du changement climatique : une lamentable tragédie qui invite le spectateur à réfléchir et à changer d’attitude afin d’en finir avec les raisons du problème.

L’intérêt d’introduire dans un spectacle aussi important d’Expo Zaragoza 2008 un élément aussi fort que le changement climatique est un pari risqué. Du point de vue des organisateurs, nous pensons qu’une exposition internationale thématique sur « L’eau et le développement durable » non seulement se doit d’aborder le thème de manière transversale dans les expositions des pavillons et des places thématiques (car le message a tendance à se diluer avant d’arriver enfin au visiteur) mais que ce thème mérite un traitement plus important. C’est aussi par le choix du thème central de la cérémonie d’inauguration et de son spectacle nocturne, le changement climatique, qu’Expo 2008 souhaite transmettre son engagement formel dans le thème choisi. Par ce spectacle, on prétend faire passer au spectateur, de manière intelligente, agréable et belle, le message suivant : on ne peut plus ignorer l’existence d’un consensus scientifique sur le fait qu’un changement climatique à niveau global est en train de se produire, provoqué principalement par des activités humaines (la déforestation, la consommation massive d’énergies fossiles, etc) et étroitement lié au mode de vie de près de 20% de la population mondiale, en particulier les habitants des pays riches à niveau de consommation très élevé.

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Iceberg

Quant au spectacle « Inspirations aquatiques », qui se déroulera près de l’Ebre, il soulignera le côté plus ludique et imaginatif de l’eau sous forme d’une représentation de théâtre contemporain impliquant la participation intellectuelle et physique des spectateurs. Il a été conçu par Pichon Baldinú, le responsable de Ojala Productions.

Son argument principal est la relation de l’être humain avec l’eau, à la fois pour sa rareté et pour son abondance, relation utilisée comme élément dramatique qui donne au spectacle tout son intérêt.

Tribune de l’Eau de Expo 2008

La Tribune de l’Eau de Expo Zaragoza 2008 est conçue en tant qu'espace ouvert de réflexion et de dialogue autour du débat concernant l’eau et le développement durable. C’est une source de connaissance et une plateforme de débat et de rencontre entre les organismes internationaux, les états, les communautés autonomes espagnoles, les consommateurs, les ONG, les opérateurs et gestionnaires de l’eau, sur la gestion soutenable des ressources hydriques.

Les activités de la Tribune de l’Eau ont été favorisées par le choix de la ville de Saragosse comme siège du Secrétariat de la Décennie de l’Eau des Nations Unies, « L’eau, source de vie » (2005-2015). La capitale de l’Ebre s’est vu donc transformée en un lieu privilégié pour la réflexion et le débat mondial sur le problème de l’eau.

Les trois objectifs majeurs de la Tribune de l’Eau sont :

• Générer la connaissance grâce à des forums et des rencontres • Structurer la connaissance de manière cohérente : l’innovation pour la durabilité • Diffuser la connaissance en relation avec des projets de démonstration de bonne gestion de l’eau par l’intermédiaire de sa propre Plateforme d’Information et Communication

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Le but est d’attirer à Saragosse le débat mondial et donc les principaux experts en matière d’eau et de développement durable. Mais pas uniquement. Parmi les conférenciers invités à la Tribune de l’Eau de Expo 2008, il y aura aussi d’importantes personnalités mondialement reconnues et qui ont des choses à dire sur ce sujet, d’autres personnalités remarquables dans le domaine du sport, des sciences ou des arts.

Expo 2008 est un événement qui essaie de toucher le plus de gens possible. C’est pourquoi, outre les séminaires à accès limité s’adressant surtout à des spécialistes, il est prévu de nombreuses sessions ouvertes au public, l’objectif fondamental étant de rendre accessible et de transmettre de manière claire le message des experts au grand public et vice et versa. En résumé, il s’agit de rapprocher le discours des experts des expériences et des faits vécus par les citoyens.

Le programme culturel de la Tribune de l’Eau de Expo 2008 est vaste, et peut se résumer en citant quelques-unes de ses principales actions :

• Le Forum permanent de l’eau et de la durabilité. Ce sont des espaces de débat ouverts au public avec la participation d’éminents experts qui abordent les défis actuels les plus importants en ce qui concerne la gestion de l’eau. Ces forums ont lieu les troisièmes mardis de chaque mois, de juin 2006 et jusqu’à mars 2008.

• Les Semaines thématiques. Les semaines thématiques sont des espaces de débat et de réflexion structurés sur des séminaires d’experts qui discuteront les différents défis globaux concernant les ressources hydriques. Les semaines thématiques se répèteront pendant six mois à raison d’une par mois jusqu’à la fin de Expo 2008.

• Les rencontres. Il s’agit d’actes organisés par des organismes du domaine politique et de la gestion, des sciences et de la recherche, de la coopération et du développement, de l’art et de la culture, de l’environnement, du sport et de la culture, de la santé, etc… et dont les activités coïncideront avec le contenu des semaines thématiques et y apporteront des points de vue nouveaux.

• L’Agora. Il s’agit d’espaces de participation pour les visiteurs de l’Expo souhaitant faire partie de ce débat avec les conférenciers en posant des questions (“les 930 questions”) ou en tant qu’auditeur aux différentes séances (“Tribune ouverte”).

• Les Evénements parallèles. Avant et tout au long de l’Expo, divers organismes et associations internationaux (UNESCO, OMS, Forum Rosenberg, …) organiseront à Saragosse des événements dans le but d’enrichir l’analyse et la réflexion sur l’eau.

• La Plateforme d’Information et de Communication donnera une structure cohérente à toute la connaissance et l’information existante sur l’innovation en matière de gestion soutenable de l’eau, tout en travaillant en réseau avec d’autres plateformes du même type dans le monde entier.

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• Les réalisations et les projets pilotes. Il s’agit de recueillir et de faire la promotion d’expériences et de projets exemplaires en cours ou pilotes en relation avec la durabilité et la gestion de l’eau. Ce réseau recevra l’appui des diverses administrations publiques de la région méditerranéenne et ses contenus s’étendront à d’autres régions du monde. Les initiatives sélectionnées seront promues par la Tribune de l’Eau et incorporées à la Plateforme de l’Information et de la Communication. Comme résultat des différentes activités de la Tribune de l’Eau qui vont généré tant de connaissances, une “Rencontre internationale sur l’Eau et le développement durable” aura lieu pendant les dernières semaines de l’Expo aboutissant à une déclaration appelée « Lettre de Zaragoza pour la durabilité et la bonne gestion de l’Eau ». Une fois l’Expo 2008 terminée, une Fondation permanente, référence internationale en ce qui concerne l’eau et le développement durable, sera le legs de la Tribune de l’Eau.

Les différentes étapes peuvent être résumées dans le schéma suivant :

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Brève conclusion

En résumé, Expo Zaragoza 2008 parie, et c’est le concept adopté depuis le début, pour le plus sage équilibre possible entre le pur divertissement et la rigueur que réclame l’apprentissage. Ouverte à tous les pays et toutes les cultures du Monde, Expo Zaragoza 2008 veut poser un regard sensible, intelligent et intentionné sur l’un des plus grands défis de l’humanité : l’eau, comme condition de la vie et comme ressource stratégique pour le développement de l’homme, du point de vue de l’engagement éthique de la durabilité et du défi de l’innovation.

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Education and Innovation of Expo 2010 Shanghai China Hanmin Zhou Chinese Delegate to the Bureau of International Exhibitions Vice President of the Rules Committee of the BIE Deputy Director General, Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination

World Expositions are galleries of human inspirations and civilization. Since 1851 when the Great Exhibition of Industries of All Nations was held in London, the World Expositions have attained great increasing prominence as grand events for economic, scientific, technological and cultural exchanges, serving as an important platform for displaying historical experience, exchanging innovative ideas, demonstrating esprit de corps and looking into future.

The history of World Expositions in the past one and a half centuries has made it clear that, education and innovation are the two key elements that lead to the success of an Expo. As stipulated in Article 1 of the Convention of Paris, to educate the public serves as the basic function and initial motive for hosting an Expo. All exhibition, forums and events held during the expos are to get the visitors to have a better understanding and better knowledge relating the theme of the Expo. In revealing its educational function, Expo has taken innovation as its soul. As one of the slogans goes, “Everything begins with the Expo”. Expo has become the platform for the displaying new inspirations and thoughts, new science and technology, together with new inventions and creations.

Of course, World Expo 2010 Shanghai China is no exception. It is a very ambitious Expo. We endeavor to attract about 200 countries and international organizations to take part in the exhibition as well as 70 million visitors from home and abroad. Therefore, Expo 2010 will try to reach the widest possible participation in the history of World Expositions. Below, I would like to highlight some points to illustrate, how Expo 2010 will join the parade of previous Expos to contribute to the realization of the educational function of expos through utilization of innovation.

223 Education and Innovation of Expo 2010 Shanghai, China Hanmin Zhou

1. The theme of Expo 2010: the most important innovation

Expo 2010 takes the theme of Better City, Better Life. It is the first World Exposition on the theme of city. As is expected, 55 percent of the world population will be living in cities by the year 2010. The prospect of the future urban life, a subject of global interest, concerns all nations and their peoples, developed and less developed. The theme of Expo 2010 has been received to be a modern theme corresponding to expectations of contemporary society. During the 184 days’ run of the Expo 2010, governments and peoples across the world will display to full extent the urban civilization, exchange their experience of urban development, disseminate advanced notions on cities and explore new approaches to human habitat, life style and working conditions in the new century and learn how to create an eco-friendly society and maintain the sustainable development of human being.

2. Expo online, a new way to reveal the educational function

It is no doubt that World Expositions is facing new challenges in the age of information technology. Expo 2010 will adopt the Expo online project, as a supplement and extension of the real Expo on site. The Expo online of Expo 2010 will exhibit the achievements and development perspective of various countries through many high technologies such as virtual-reality technology, multi-media and communication. People thousands of miles away from the Expo site may also share the happiness, harmony and entertainment of people within the pavilions of Expo 2010. Through the implementation of Expo online, the function of promotion, navigation, education and experience will be better realized at a larger territory than traditional Expos.

3. World Expo Museum: a historical perspective for the educational function

As is planned in the master plan of Expo 2010, a World Expo Museum will be located in a rebuilt construction of a preserved historical heritage, within the bounded area of Expo 2010. World Expositions history, significant innovations and gadgets dated back to the first world fair will be displayed in the Museum. Therefore, both the modern World Exposition and its traditional appearance could be sensed contemporarily within Expo 2010. Visitors may trace along the evolution process of the gigantic, complex and global event, seeing how the World Exposition has been functioning as the stocktaking of human spirit in its endeavor over the past 160 years.

224 Education and Innovation of Expo 2010 Shanghai, China Hanmin Zhou

4. Best Urban Practice Area: an insight view to the future

Also within the site of Expo 2010, the Best Urban Best Practice Area is planned, covering 12 hectares. The participating entity in this area is city, and around 20 to 30 cities will be selected, as we estimated. Candidates will be recommended by some influential international organizations like the BIE, UN-HABITAT and the World Bank as well as the relevant ministries of China and then evaluated and selected by a jury with experts from the aforementioned organizations. The Best Urban Practice Area is dedicated to simulating the lifestyle, work, recreation and transportation in the real community. The exhibits shall be applicable real ones such as buildings, construction, facilities and equipment, or a couple of models. The content shall be successful cases which can be used as pilots to conceive the urban lifestyle of future. As the most direct respond to the theme of Expo 2010, the Best Urban Practice Area is sure to explore the full potentials of urban life in the 21st century.

5. IP Protection: an institutional arrangement to ensure innovation

Given the fact that the World Exposition has been a gallery of human inventions and creations, the grand event will not be a success without a sufficient protection of the Intellectual Properties by the hosting nation. The Chinese government is fully aware that a sound IP protection system is the guarantee for the success of Expo 2010, and a precondition for the fulfillment of the Expo educational function. In order to provide sufficient IP protection for the participants, the Outlines for the Action of Intellectual Property Rights Protection of Expo 2010 Shanghai China has just been adopted at the fourth section of National Organizing Committee of Expo 2010 on January 12th, 2007. As stipulated in the Outlines, the competent Chinese government departments and the Organizer of Expo 2010 will make efforts to create a favorable legal environment for the Expo participants’ IP protection in China. Ten specific measures are provided in the Outlines, for strengthening the IP protection for the participants in accordance with the Chinese legal system in force, through simplifying the procedures, optimizing the services, strengthening law enforcement and intensifying public promotion.

The Chinese government is determined and able to provide all participants a sound platform for innovation of all kind in Expo 2010, trying to make it a real grand event of the new century to showcase the accomplishments in human civilization.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Daniela Bambasova Daniela Bambasová, née à Prague le 14/10/1982, est doctorante en histoire contemporaine de l’Europe centrale à l’Université Paris I Panthéon–Sorbonne. Après avoir consacré ses précédentes recherches à Milada Horáková, femme politique exécutée dans un procès politique en Tchécoslovaquie en 1950, et à la revue « Svědectví », éditée en exil par Pavel Tigrid, elle travaille actuellement sur sa thèse intitulée « La Tchécoslovaquie dans les Expositions universelles au XXème siècle ».

Volker Barth Dr. Volker Barth est l’auteur d’une thèse d’histoire sur l’Exposition universelle de 1867 (Mensch versus Welt : Die Pariser Weltausstellung von 1867, Darmstadt : Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2007). Entre 2001 et 2006 il fut membre du groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire « La mise en scène culturelle de l’Autre au XIXe siècle » de la Ludwig- Maximilians-Universität, Munich, financé par le Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Depuis 2004 il est rattaché au Centre de recherches interdisciplinaires sur l’Allemagne au sein de l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) et depuis 2006 conseiller scientifique auprès du Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).

Daniel Hedinger Daniel Hedinger is currently a research fellow and lecturer with the "Changing Representations of Social Order" Collaborative Research Project at the Humboldt University, Berlin. His research focus is on public ceremony and social mobilisation in Meiji Japan. He has a Masters degree in History from the University of Zurich and a Licence in Japanese Studies from the “Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales”, Paris. Since 2001 he is working as journalist for the daily newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, Zurich.

Laura Huntoon Laura Huntoon is an associate professor at the University of Arizona in the Planning Program. She holds degrees from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. She has been a visiting professor at the University of Seville. Huntoon teaches and conducts research in the areas of international city planning, land use and urban development, and migration and population change. Her research on the urban spatial impact of large-scale ephemeral events received a National Planning Award from the American Planning Association. Her articles have appeared in International Review of Comparative Public Policy, Journal of Socio-Economics, International Migration Review, Journal of Planning Literature, International Regional Science Review, GeoJournal, and Journal of Urban Affairs.

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Carlos Martínez Valle Carlos Martínez Valle holds a PhD in the history of ideas and social movements from the Complutense University, Madrid. He is currently a research fellow at the Interdisciplinary Research Network “Changing representations of social order”, Humboldt University, Berlin, where he works, together with Eugenia Roldán, on a project about cultural politics in post- revolutionary Mexico. His PhD dissertation (forthcoming 2008) deals with the political and religious conceptions of freedom in sixteenth and seventeenth-century Europe. He also works on different aspects of contemporary political culture in Spain (Enthusiasm in Franco’s Politics and current polarization processes: “Crispación, polarización y ocupación del espacio público”, in Walther L Bernecker and Günther Mainhold (eds.) España, del consenso a la polarización, forthcoming 2007). As European young researcher at the Humboldt University of Berlin he worked in several projects related to the construction of pedagogical discourse in twentieth-century Spain and its interaction with global educational discourses (World-Level Ideology or Nation-Specific System-Reflection? Reference Horizons in Educational Discourse, co-authored with Jürgen Schriewer Lisbon: Educa, 2003).

Eugenia Roldán Vera Eugenia Roldán Vera, PhD, is a Mexican historian, graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, the University of Warwick (UK), and the University of Cambridge. She is currently a research fellow at the Interdisciplinary Research Network “Changing representations of social order” at the Humboldt University, Berlin, where he works, together with Carlos Martínez Valle, on a project about cultural politics in post-revolutionary Mexico. She has published extensively in the history of education in Latin America, her main concern being the study of processes of internationalization of knowledge, especially in the fields of book history, cultural history and social network analysis. She is the author of The British Book Trade and Spanish American Independence: Education and Knowledge Transmission in Transcontinental Perspective (Aldershot, Ashgate, 2003), and the co-editor, with Marcelo Caruso, of Importing Modernity in Post-Colonial State Formation: the Appropriation of Political, Educational and Cultural Models in Nineteenth-Century Latin America (Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, 2006).

Brigitte Schroeder-Gudehus Brigitte Schroeder-Gudehus, Professeur au Département de science politique de l'Université de Montréal, était de 1989 à 1991, directeur invité du Centre de Recherche en histoire des sciences et techniques de la Cité de sciences et de l'industrie, à Paris. Ses intérêts de recherche se portent sur l'histoire politique des sciences et de leurs relations internationales. Elle a aussi publié des travaux sur la politique des expositions universelles dont, entre autres (avec Anne Rasmussen), Les fastes du progrès. Le guide des expositions universelles 1851- 1992 (1992).

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Noah W. Sobe Noah W. Sobe is an assistant professor of Cultural and Educational Policy Studies at Loyola University Chicago. He is a historian of education and comparative education researcher with a PhD (2005) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His work on international expositions centers on their significance to the international circulation of models of school organization, curricula, and theories of teaching and learning.

Anthony Swift Anthony Swift is an American historian living in London. He is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Essex, and has published a book on Russian popular theatre as well as a number of articles on Russian and Soviet history. He is presently working on a book on expos from 1851 to 2005 as well as a study of the Soviet Union's participation in international expositions.

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