Expo 2020 Gbadolite

expo 2020
Super Terra Forming - joint African pavilion

"Finding Your Place in the World

The impact of global climate change is upsetting the balance of the world in a multitude of ways. Seasonal weather patterns have become erratic and animal migratory patterns confused. Vast areas land and entire islands have disappeared into the rising oceans. Displaced people are compounding economic and political pressures on the world’s governments as they try to accomodate these so-called climate refugees. Some states have fallen all together in the process and we are also beginning to see organized masses of displaced people operating as nomadic states. It is in this context that many of our conventional markers of certainty have vanished, and we are forced to reevaluate the meaning of where we are now and where we are going. Next to this dark picture however are the governments and corporations of the world who are trying to outrun this tragic scenario by boldy stepping out towards a future that sets humanity on the right path again. The Expo 2020’s Finding Your Place in the World theme is all about this journey. Through the pavilions being presented here, visitors will discover the unprecedented way in which they operate as an interconnected web of service and infrastructure to convert one of the most remote and empoverished areas of the globe into a model for the future of sustainable human habitation. The essential message here is that finding your place is also about making your place.

Pavilions

Expo 2020 Gbadolite will exist within a network of pavilions with Gbadolite in its heart. Pavilions is almost  a symbolic title for projects that range from power plants and icebergs to temples and traditional medicine. Out of an immense variety of proposals countries and corporations had to select one project that would both express their most forward-thinking concepts and ideas, and serve the development goals of Expo 2020."

www.expo2020.co.cc


Liquid Network - Desertec pavilion


Indian Climate Shapers Association pavilion

"The decision to host the Expo 2020 in the DRC was crucial to this process and set the conditions for realizing promises and plans on the ground. A flood of large-scale development projects followed, transforming the region at an unbelievable pace. The empowerment brought by this trust and engagement among the general population led to many militant groups laying down their arms and joining the extraordinarily large work force to build the future of their own country and re-establish its valued traditions. From agriculture to transportation, cellular communications and water supply systems, positive change brought improvement to everything that was in need of repair and filled the gaps where something was entirely missing. A myriad of the latest construction technologies and materials never seen before even in industrial centers of the developed world, were deployed in this effort. The DRC became a base for bold new experiments and paradigm shifts in nearly all major sectors of the economy and environmentally sustainable policies. The place was radically transformed, yet the important aspects of its unique nature were kept for the most part intact, becoming more cherished and protected than ever before."


Fertile Foundations - Landkom-Ukraine pavilion


Harvesting Spheres - Agricon Colombia pavilion


Philips pavilion

"Nano Waste

Expo 2020 Gbadolite came as a hurricane to the DRC. So ambitious were the formations, they imitated God. Communities, forests, wars, beliefs and life itself were crushed under their impact. Traces of construction sites reappeared in remote places. Nature bended and mutilated the remains in its own ways. It has itself, also changed. Land was infiltrated by an overflow of technological waste and artificial life. Tribes of energy scavengers settled around the sites. Thousands of newcomers stayed, native settlements displaced. Known as nano waste, the expo matter became the main source of wealth and a cause of dispute. Soon several armed groups divided the waste sites between each other. Once there was nothing left to grab around them, people started to look for leftovers in the surrounding jungle. Collected artifacts and fragments usually make their way to nearby villages and camps. Waste is then sorted into various kinds: energy harvesting, optical metamaterials, bionic enhancers... It is shared by the lords, sold on the market or left at the wait-and-see grounds. The virtues and qualities of it are often difficult to foresee. Life is strange as no one knows what will come next."

Expo 2020 Identities


Cha City flag


Ba City flag


Tu City flag

 

expo 2020
Ubangi woman with a solar tablet

"Trapped rainbow effect with a use of metamaterials – an exotic technique developed at a university in England in 2000s – has led to a dramatic increase in operating capacity of electronics and the speed of optical networks, like Internet. This discovery alone played a crucial role in humanity’s recent accelerated rite of passage. With Expo 2020 it reached the people of the DRC."


Tchotcho women going to the market to sell their hi-tech goods

katja novitskova nanoscrap
CVD diamond use in the Congolese slums


Pygmy girl wearing AU reality contact lenses


Mining with liquid displays


A woman selling Tree of Affection branches at the Goodolite market in Gbadolite

expo 2020
Local waste lords and their trans-human subordinates


Informal Expo 2020 merchandise

expo 2020
A rare gorilla with a partical energy torch


Cha City's president Nukiba Bemba welcomes the ambassador of U City,
and admires the glow-in-the-dark effect of her face

expo 2020
Climate Refugees pavilion resident wearing his metamaterial invisibility cloak

.:.

Expo 2020 pavilion at Brakk Grond, Amsterdam, 2010

expo 2020 guide
Official Expo 2020 guide - all you need to know everything about Expo 2020


Expo 2020 pavilion and travel agency

expo 2020
Expo 2020 pavilion

expo 2020 map
A detailed map of the expo terrain

expo 2020
Images of life around Expo 2020

expo 2020
Expo 2020 suveniers made by Gbadolite locals

 

Expo 2020 Online Store!!!

Official Expo 2020 guides are on sale on demand.
300 pages, laser print, full color
23 euro + shipping from Amsterdam, NL.

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expo 2020expo 2020expo 2020

 

Contact us for inquiries!

 

About

All works and images on this page are by Katja Novitskova...

Expo 2020 is a project by Femke Herregraven, Katja Novitskova, Matthias Schreiber, Chris Lee, Henrik van Leeuwen and Mikko Oustamanolakis.