2020 World’s Fair

In 2020 Washington DC should hold a World’s Fair.

But it should be a different kind of World’s Fair.

Instead of spiraling people and culture to a particular geographic place, this event would spiral out. Digital information from each participating country or region would be collected, organized and re-presented to the world. Although all the data would be stored in Washington DC, the fair would be accessible from anywhere. A giant l.e.d. world would be displayed on the National Mall mapping the weave of connections between access and destination points. The weave would of course be constantly changing; different locations on the globe aglow at different times of day and during significant geographic and political events.

tracing inspiration; on looking through the Columbian World’s Fair Atlas…

The Columbian Exposition (1893 Chicago World’s Fair) opened on May 1, 1893 and continued until October 30, 1893. During the 6 months it was open nearly 30 million people traveled to Chicago to see the fair. While many other Expositions have been held since, few were of the scope, organization and duration orchestrated to build the White City (exposition list from the Bureau International des Expositions).

A sanctioned exposition is scheduled to occur in 2020, and American cities such as Houston, Energy and Exploration: A Vision for the Future, New York, Showcasing the World, and San Francisco Interculture: Celebrating the World’s Cultures while Creating New Ones through Interaction and Exchange are already vying to host the expo.

Instead of creating a destination, I think Washington DC could become a conductor through which information could be charged; the copper of next World’s Fair. The wiring is already in place. The political network centered in DC could provide a conduit of submission to be supplemented with less formal strings and loops. The creation of the fair would create technologically advanced jobs in DC and across the world with each country / region working to showcase their future. And of course as part of the future we would reflect on century old visions.