Were you aware that the Worlds Fair was still a thing? If you didn't, you aren't alone. Awareness of what are today generally referred to as World Expositions would seem, at least anectdotally, to be quite low.
Well, maybe that's not quite accurate. Awareness of the 2010 Word Expo, held in Shanghai, seems to have been no issue at all. Approximately 70 million people attended the event between May and October of that year. Other World Expos have also had large turnouts, in terms of both visitors as well as participants.
So I suppose that what I really meant to say was that awareness of these events is at an all time low in the United States.
New York City hosted World's Fairs in 1939 and 1964/65. The remnants of these still stand in Flushing Meadows Park, in Queens. The structures are impressive, even if they have largely been left to decay, and parts of the Park which were designed for the event are still evident. Recent visits to Flushing have made me think about the meaning of World's Fairs, and why these events seem to have disappeared from the American consciousness.
The Unisphere, erected for the 1964/65 NY World's Fair, was an engineering marvel
World's Fairs have long been intended to showcase a nation's achievements in science, technology, agriculture, engineering, exploration, and ultimately, their power in general. The Fairs became popular during the late 19th century, when technological advances allowed many industries to grow and change rapidly, and in the case of the US, seem to have culminated with displays of mid-century space-race prowess. Governments, companies, and various organizations take the opportunity to showcase their greatness in various fields, and large structures are normally built for both practical reasons (pavilions intended to house the displays,) as well as for symbolic reasons - the Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair.
Over time, participation in the Fairs became expensive. In some cases, governments have been reluctant to pay membership to the International Exhibitions Bureau, the body which sanctions Expos. Many Fairs have become travesties, their operating companies going bankrupt as a result of the huge costs associated with putting them on. Some Fairs have even gone bankrupt while the event was taking place.
The US has not hosted an Exposition since the 1980s. However, Expos continue to take place across the globe, and though there is almost always an American presence at them, no one here ever seems to know that these proceedings are even happening. I am not convinced too many people even care.
Does this country even still have achievements it wishes to showcase? We scarcely make anything at all here, so industrial technology is more of a novelty nowadays. As the Europeans were landing a probe on a comet, the authorities here were sifting through the ashes of a commercial spaceflight test that went awry - our national space race has been handed off to private enterprises willing to take the risk so that people may one day fly slightly outside of the Earth's atmosphere at great cost. It's not exactly the kind of thing that would make people as excited as, let's say, the Apollo missions.
The US does still produce a lot in terms of technology. I would be willing to guess that there has been far greater attention paid by the press in recent years to "Mobility Week." Evidently, this is a convention that showcases everything related to mobile technology, and is expected to draw tens of thousands to it's upcoming convention in Las Vegas. As impressive as the science and engineering behind mobile technology may be, I can't say that I would find it as inspirational as seeing a manned spacecraft. I am not even sure I would find it more interesting than a trip to the T Mobile store down the road from me. I think this would be the case for any number of internet technology conventions or auto shows that routinely take place all over the United States
Views of the Pavilion and Observation Towers
There is no question that this country leads the world in technology. Perhaps it is my own sense of how mundane and ordinary such technologies are that makes feel this way. It just seems that being the best at apps or social media is not the same as the endeavors to which we were committed in the past. It may also be the case that some of our greatest scientific and academic achievements are not widely being celebrated in our news media. Perhaps we are also overlooking impressive accomplishments in architecture, where American architects still compete with designers from other countries for bragging rights. But why? Why would we look past all the things we still do so well? Are we just too used to being at the top?
That might explain why Astana and Shanghai are cities in which you might find a World Expo. Developing economies and societies appear to be much more focused on telling the world that they are achieving great things. India has made impressive advances in it's space program, China has become an economic powerhouse, and countries like Kazakhstan look as if they have bright futures. Might this be a case of an aging power readying itself for retirement? Is the US looking to accomplish anything else? Are we looking to engage with or lead the world in any other fashion than with our military? More to the point, will we always be a nation that puts little value on events that happen far away from us? That might explain why some viewed our showing in Shanghai as being less than stellar:
In the end, the US Pavilion offers no vision of the future. Like so many of the busted malls at home that it so closely resembles, the US Pavilion is fragmentary and momentary, not the beacon of hope the Expo hosts expected or that the American people deserve. For a long time, pre-opening polls listed the (in concept) US Pavilion as the most highly anticipated attraction for Chinese Expo-goers, after the giant red China Pavilion. No longer. A week before the Expo, China Daily, the nation's official paper, has removed the US Pavilion from its list of important things to visit and see at the Expo.
I may be reading too deeply into this. I may also be attaching greater significance to World's Fairs/Expos than I need to. It just seems like if everyone else is taking great pains to show the entire globe that their society is engaged in something big, we might want to do so as well. I sometimes wonder if Americans don't care to attach importance to this kind of global exchange, as if being unaware or uninterested in what everyone else is doing is part of our national character. It's a bit like calling it a World Series because one city in Canada may have a shot at celebrating. In this case, however, everyone else is playing, and we don't even realize the game is taking place.
I am willing to concede I may be wrong, but I am not convinced that too much of what we do or produce as a nation is all that inspirational, or that when it is, it is not celebrated in any meaningful way. I hope that changes. Surely we need more to be proud of than just events from our past. What will we say in the future if we don't share our current accomplishments with the whole world?
Sculptures, Mosaics, and Inscriptions at Flushing Meadows Park
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