The History of World Expositions

The Seattle World Exposition 1962 and the New York World Exposition 1964
 


Year: 1962
City: Seattle
Country: USA
Duration: 21th April - 21th October 1962
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The Scope:

Man stands on a new frontier. The Century 21 Exposition will look beyond this frontier into the space age. It will offer an insight into the World of Century 21 - a view of man's life tomorrow as it may develop from his industry and ingenuity today. Never before, perhaps, has world civilization been so absorbed in its own future. The rockets that man sends overhead are making paths which he will follow. He seeks to free himself from the bounds of earth. It is the aim of the Century 21 Exposition to portray this new era - to take its millions of visitors from the cultures of today's world into a multihued projection of what lies ahead - to preview the ways man will work and play and live in the year two thousand. In this respect, Century 21 will differ from past expositions, offering not a review of man's progress but an insight into his future, a portrait of life in the twenty-first century - "Man in the Space Age". Its visitors will view a far-seeing program of national and international exhibits, cultural and entertainment events and an array of delightful amusements in an unique and colorful exposition setting of the radiant realm of tomorrow.

Quelle: Ken Parkhurst (Hg.), Century 21 Exposition. Seattle 1959.


James T. Burns, jr.: The Architecture of Century 21

The Space Needle is, of course the physical high point of the fair. As a symbol, it works well, better than I had expected. Although it cannot be said to rival the Eiffel Tower in this respect, the Needle is impressive, and the experience of drinking-in the panoramic view along with your Martini in the revolving restaurant is exhilarating. However, the value of this structure as a permanent, post-fair artifact might be questioned. (...) The fair comprises a parade of contemporary architecture that should be of great interest and comfort to professionals and which, it is hoped, will awaken some lay eyes to current design. As one who went expecting an overemphasis on the jazzy and superficial, I was well pleased with the generally high design level of the fair."

Quelle: Progessive Architecture. Bd. 43, Juni 1962, S. 42-64, hier S. 49, 64.


Russel Lynes: The World of Century 21

By and large, what I saw of the twenty-first century was rather corny, though it was also, for the most part, good fun. In the Washington State Coliseum (designed by Paul Thiry), a vast hyperbolic-paraboloid exhibition hall under a shell of concrete, there was an exhibit called "The World of Century 21". It's up there in the ceiling somewhere in a construction of aluminium boxes that one gets to by stepping onto a circular platform enclosed in a glass or plastic hemisphere. "Step to the rear of the sphere", the man who operates this hopped-up elevator says. He is dressed in gray denim trousers with silver stripes down the sides, and a cloth-of-silver jacket, for all the world like something out of science-fiction comics. What one discovers on arrival at the twenty-first century is a series of displays and transparent photographs that pop on and off; the narration is a tape-recorded voice of unnecessary unctuousness. It was a little like being in a Sunday school taught by Buck Rogers."

Quelle: Harper´s Magazine, Juli 1962, S. 23.



EXPOSEEUM - The Museum of World Exhibitions, Hanover, Expo Plaza 11
Open every Sunday from 11 to 16