Posted by Rano on August 16, 2002 at 04:10:29:In Reply to: ArchWeek - Swiss Architectural Summer posted by Kevin Matthews on August 15, 2002 at 09:17:39:
I think the reviewer is rather unfair in saying that the contents of the pavilions at Expo are not challenging. There is a real and urgent need for Switzerland to face up to its place in the world - whether it should join the EU and NATO, how its urban system should integrate with those of Germany, France and Italy, and how a radically devolved nation can take its place in a world community. The most successful pavilions all speak of a disorientation, mostly sensory but sometimes cultural, that becomes a metaphor for the country's position.
That the exhibition emerged with any clarity at all is astonishing. Comparing it to London's Millennium Dome, or any recent world Expo shows that the Swiss Expo is committed ideologically, and does not shy away from uncomfortable political and moral questions. Not just in a general way, either. There are moments when the visitor is asked explicitly for his/her opinion on sexuality, race and disability. There are few taboos here.
Of course it is introvert. It is a Swiss Expo. But the fact that all four icon buildings are designed by foreigners shows an openness that, if it happened in the US or UK, would give the patriotic cultural elites in those countries a seizure.
For a country as traditionally conservative as Switzerland it is astonishing. And to be applauded.
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