Expo 02

We've started to visit the Expo. So far we have found very little information of any kind. Neuchâtel arteplage is pleasing with astroturf and grass everywhere. Bienne is harsher, with wooden walkways and gravel. Some interesting buildings. A lot of directionless wandering around.

Palais de l'équilibre (NE)

A very cool construction. Lots of Germanic Angst. And no suggestions about how to help. Very popular with other visitors. Perhaps feeling bad about humanity for a few minutes is a valuable experience.

If we are really serious about durable development, educating women, protecting the environment, then why not spent the billion francs of taxpayers' money given to the Expo on education, clean water, AIDS prevention and contraception in the third world. It would have done a lot more good that way. 

We think about these issues ever time we make a donation to UNICEF, Amnesty, Terre des Hommes. I don't really feel a need to be beaten around the head with my ill gotten wealth and well-being again.  

Cyberhelvetica (Bienne)

A dry swimming pool with gadgets. Half filled waterbeds, great for the tired visitor. Underwater communications with total strangers. Fresnel lenses to alter your world view. A very long queue for an experience with a VR headset. We didn't wait. www.cyberhelvetia.ch

Swish (Bienne)

Record your wish on video and have it played back. Attendants dressed as fairies. Maybe we're not romantic enough.

Territoire Imaginaire (Bienne)

The best we've seen so far. Thought provoking. FUNNY (the only funny thing we've seen in the Expo so far). Swiss. www.territoireimaginaire.ch

Klangturm (Bienne)

Better architecture than the platform at Neuchâtel. A more spacy walkway. Pity we can't all join in the music.

Beaufort 12 (NE)

Very Swiss. Local disasters and a wind tunnel. No international or global perspective at all. Switzerland must be one of the safest places in the world. Neuchâtel is one of the safest in Switzerland. To get a propper idea of scale an global perspective would have been useful.

Biopolis (NE)

Informative, scary, even amusing. 

Novartis evidently ignored the instructions about not having written information. Good scale video of the skins molecular structure. Stimulating and realistic talking heads discussing replacement of body parts, designer children and so on. Mass participation computer game. 

Scary futuristic pharmaceutical sales pitches selling youth, lifestyle, happiness and more...

Worth another visit.

Manna (NE)

Nice herb garden. Very Expo (Vacuous). Vanilla and strawberry fragrances in great quantities. A couple of interesting statistics. 

Magie de l'energie (NE)

This is very popular among other visitors. Pretty fountains, funny music made by domestic appliances. No intellectual or philosophical content whatsoever.

Aua Extrema (NE)

Un grand basin d'eau avec des cailloux, un congélateur géant peint en noir, quelques aquariums et une carte très schématique de la Suisse, les Alpes.

Les eaux évoquées sont les glaciers, les grands fleuves de l'Europe.
Les questions que je me pose:
L'origine de ces eaux (géographie, géologie, météorologie)
L'histoire et l'avenir de ces eaux (transports, énergie, économie, pollution)
L'influence de ces eaux sur la Suisse et sa population, hier, aujourd'hui et demain

Je rentre à la maison, avec des idées en tête, mais sans informations pour m'aider a aller plus loin, sans références (site Internet, livres, vidéos. programmes à la télé…)

Si je dois retenir autre chose que mes expériences avec le bassin, les cailloux, le froid, j'ai besoin de poursuivre l'expérience, de développer mes idées, de répondre à mes questions, et d'en poser des autres.

Ada, Robotics (NE)

Artificial intelligence? Perhaps.

We have no way of telling. No information about the programming, the problems, the solutions. Not everyone will be interested, but if we are them we want more information. There is none, just magic, flummery, sensations and touchy feely stuff.