Expo 2020 Dubai

Expo 2020 Dubai is the world exhibition in the UAE that was originally planned to run from October 2020 through to March 2021. There is no need to explain in great detail what happened in 2020, with the emerging of the pandemic, the preparations and construction of the exhibition site came to an abrupt halt. 
The event is now planned to take place from October 2021 to March 2022. This collides with the cooler winter months so that visitors can actually enjoy the exhibition without melting in the summer heat. 

One can question the meaning of world exhibiton's - or "Expos" as they are called nowadays - in a time when information is easily obtained online. I found a good article from 2019 published by Forbes that might explain the UAE's incentive for the event quite well. But maybe during the pandemic we all realized how much we sometimes long for the ability to physically visit places and live through them without an intermediate device separating us from the actual experience. The success of these exhibitions varies greatly and on a personal level I only vaguely remember a one day visit to the Expo in Hannover 2000. Funnily enough what has mostly etched itself into my memory was the rather traditional pavilion of Yemen that so vividly brought the country's culture alive. 

But back to the Expo 2020. By the end of January the first pavilion of three thematic pavilions opened up after completion for a "preview" until the beginning of April and we gladly took the chance to go and visit "Terra - The Sustainability Pavilion". The other two are the "Opportunity Pavilion" that is meant to focus on future of humanity and the "Mobility Pavilion" which focuses on mobility in the future and the past.

 Our first obstacle was to get there which was a bit of an adventure since by then I still had little orientation of directions, distances and what would be the best means of transport. So we tried to get as far as possible with the Metro. A new line was build out to the Expo site and cost-free shuttle busses are to be in service from the new station as soon as the event is open but for now, the new Expo Site station is not frequented. So I roughly had to guess which would be the closest station, jump of there and hail a taxi. After a bit of an odyssey with the taxi we finally made it to the site of the pavilion. 

We had to pre-book our tickets online for a certain time slot which is a clear attempt to keep the spread of Covid-19 down. As soon as a time-slot has the maximum amount of tickets booked, it will not be available anymore. I choose a Wednesday, early afternoon, assuming that most people would be at work/school and with that the numbers low. We first had to pass this gigantic steal construction which looks much less impressive on this photo due to my mediocre skills and mobile camera:

 Afterwards we went through the security check, got our temperature taken and until we made it to the pavilion itself our tickets were checked at least five times. Everything with a smile and in an attentive manner as everything here in Dubai is about attentiveness. The first view on the pavilion is impressive:

The roofs and sun shading are all solar panels generating the electricity that is need to run the extensive pavilion. Before entering the actual building one is guided through "the past" highlighting basic but vital facts about life in the desert as it had been in the UAE traditionally. This is also something I like about Dubai/the UAE. Despite being an extremely young country there is always the attempt to reconnect to it's beginning and roots. Archaeology, history, tradition and the traditional way of life are always referred to and give a frame to the constant and rapid development of especially Dubai. 

One then emters into a gigantic interactive play-area that gives a loos introduction to the topic and already here I was happy. Happy because the questions asked in these games are spot on and don't shy away from tackeling even the wholy grale of economics. As it was explained to us the whole pavilion will be utilized as an educational centre after the Expo, for schools and other interested groups to come visit and educate themselves about sustainability. 

Some of the games can only be played with two people cooperating, a simple but oh-so-clear message that nothing will be achieved in the future if we do not collaborate.  Then it was finally time to get into the main building that is divided into two main areas: "Under the Forest" and "Under the Ocean". We choose "Under the Forest" first and I soon realized that the 45 minutes walk-through calculated by the organisers would never be sufficient. Only this part took us about 1,5 hours and we could have easily stayed longer. Overwhelmed by the exibition, taking fotos became also a bit difficult. There was just too much too see, discover, read and do and think and talk about. 

One first gets an impressive introduction about the interconnectivity that characterizes forests below the ground. The aim clearly being to make us aware of the great web that all life on earth is. Only this delivered incentives and stimulations, questions and facts that one teacher easily could fill a whole year of lessons with. I was in awe.
After that we entered the "Hall of Consumption" where exactly that was demonstrated and reflected very clearly. Having read one or the other book about climate change and sustainability and humans relation (or the lack thereof) to nature during the last years I was happy to see this. Because this is a clear educational effort to install awareness into every single visitor. And also here the questions were right, balanced between showing individual but also responsibilty as societies. I like especially the fact that this Expo might reach cultures and people that for so long do not have these questions primarely on their mind. People from all corners of the world that might live through a fast development of industrialisation and could benefit from having a common knowledge to maybe make better choices than Western countries did in the past. [Yes, I am an idealist. Albeit a realistic one ;) ]. 

Still now, weeks after our actual visit, I get excited thinking back to the exhibition and how well constructed it is as a whole. 

We then came into the "Laboratory of Future Values" where the vistiors learn about possible solutions.  Throughout the whole exhibiton the visitors are also invited to reflect about their own values, the importance of these values and last but not least their sustainability. 

From then on we went into the part "Under the Ocean" but with the younger children's patience starting to fade and everybody getting increasingly hungry, we rushed through it in mearly half an hour, 45 minutes maybe. Definitely a reason to go back and explore this in greater depth before it closes on the 10th of April. But this part of the exhibition is equally as impressive and important. Overall the concept is the same as for "Under the Forest" but I like that this pavilion tries to educate and sensitize its visitors for two of the worlds most important ecosystems and the interconnectivity of nature. Not to mention that I was extremely thankful having a whole afternoon for one pavilion only. When the whole Expo opens, we will want to visit several times, in the hope it holds an as high standard. 

Oh and yes, we did not have any problem keeping distance to other visitors, it was luxuriously spacious to move around, all the attractions available to use without any waiting time and hand sanitisiers at every single interactive station and many more inbetween. We used them everytime before and after having touched anything. Of course everybody wore face masks too. It thus felt completely secure and since nobody got sick afterwards it seems to have worked - at least for this time. 

 If you are interested in seeing more pictures, please visit the following websites: 

GulfNews.com

and

WhatsOn.ae