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VOL.2 June 2010

Africa at the Expo

The Joint Africa Pavilion showcases both the continent's ancient and modern vitality

By LIU WEI

(PHOTOS BY CHEN RAN)

MADIBA MAGIC: The smiling face of Nelson Mandela welcomes visitors to the South African Pavilion (FRANCISCO LITTLE)

Chen Jintian, Director of the Joint-Africa Pavilion Management Department of the Expo Bureau

The ceremonial scepter handed to Stephen S. Skoberou, an Expo representative from Tanzania, signified the formal opening of the Joint Africa Pavilion at the Shanghai Expo. Over the next six months, it will be handed to a succession of rotating curators until the event's end in late October.

Located in Zone C of the Expo park, the pavilion consists of exhibitions from 42 African countries, and one supplied by the African Union. It is the largest joint pavilion at the Expo.

"Compared with Expo 2005, in which 30 African countries packed into one joint pavilion, Expo 2010 has 50 African participants, including one self-built pavilion, seven rented pavilions and one joint pavilion," said Beninese Orou Yerima Baudouin Euloge, a consultant for the Joint Africa Pavilion. In 2005, Euloge was a Goodwill Ambassador at the World Expo held in Japan.

"African countries' enthusiasm and capacity for participation in international exhibitions have increased a great deal in recent years. We hope to present a real and vivid Africa on this platform while promoting economic and cultural exchanges," he said.

For the visitors

The pavilion's steel superstructure is like a giant gift box. Wrapped around its exterior is a massive painting of an exuberant acacia tree against a multicolored sky, its branches spreading more than 100 meters and twisted, thick roots buried deep in soil. Along the horizon, elephants, giraffes and rhinoceros walk leisurely; further down the landscape is a cluster of flat- and spire-roofed houses.

Welcoming visitors at the pavilion's entrance is a wall of 29 faces. From tribe chiefs to modern young men, their visages represent Africans from different historical periods. The most distinctive of these belongs to the 3.2-million-year-old female hominid fossil "Lucy."

"Lucy's smile best explains that the tour at the pavilion is [a] 'journey to trace roots'," said Ma Xiaoxing, chief designer of the Joint Africa Pavilion's public area.

Compared with the continent's previous Expo pavilions, this year's 26,000-square-meter structure is larger than any of its predecessors, with 289 square meters designated for each participating group.

Inside, the floor is painted green, yellow and blue, highlighting the continent's geography. Visitors walking through the pavilion's recreated rain forests, plains and deserts encounter giraffes, camels, elephants and chimpanzees located throughout.

Apart from the 43 separate exhibition sections, there is performance area at the building's center. The space lends itself well to a variety of interactive activities and live shows.

The Joint Africa Pavilion is definitely one of the Expo's most lively and colorful venues. African dance and music, mask performances and fashion shows will be featured on a stage overlooking the pavilion's interior. It's from this vantage point that visitors can experience firsthand some of Africa's best performers.

"We hope the audience will experience and appreciate the real Africa through watching and participating in various African cultural activities," said Cheng Hui, the pavilion's chief planner for promotional activities.

Africa house

The Joint Africa Pavilion is being called "Africa house" by various representatives involved in the Expo. It embodies a welcome consensus not only on design, but event programming as well.

In the early stages of planning back in June 2009, Chen Jintian, the pavilion's management director, traveled to Africa to solicit design advice from Expo representatives around the continent. He thought most would be receptive to a standard grid layout, but one representative wanted to know why he thought the space should be divided into neat rectangles. It was a good question, Chen felt, one that brought him back the year's previous World Expo held in Zaragoza, Spain.

It was there, Chen recalled, that African participants became vocal about wanting to showcase something different in Shanghai: Africa through their own eyes.

"We had invited professionals and those we thought understood Africa to design the pavilion," said Chen. "But at that time, that desire wasn't fully realized. The design wasn't ideal." After the mishap, designers were asked to immerse themselves in local life in Africa. Now, each country's exhibition area is completely irregular, influenced by the African preference for curved surfaces.

The design of the central stage is another example. Originally it was a stylish IMAX cinema, but then the designers began to ask themselves, "What does a hi-tech cinema have to do with Africa anyway?" The stage was eventually designed to highlight African customs and cultures.

"What we want to demonstrate is an original, cultural, fresh and tangible Africa," Chen said with full confidence.

African participants are also running the pavilion in full for the duration of the Expo. The general representatives from each country will take turns curating exhibits.

"As the organizer, we only coordinate, serve and support them, since African participants are the hosts of the pavilion," explained Chen.

Taking on the Expo theme

With its theme "Better City, Better Life," the 2010 Shanghai Expo is an opportunity to ponder the future of the environment and urban life. Chen believes the Joint Africa Pavilion has a unique perspective to offer.

"The theme of Expo 2010, by nature, is about life. And anyone who has been to Africa will discover that Africans have long realized the oneness of man and nature. In fact, the whole society abides by the harmonious coexistence between man and nature," he said, adding that "the outside world may regard Africa as an underdeveloped continent, yet Africans would probably deem us pitiful for leading such stress-filled lives. Which kind of life is preferable, really?"

Abui Mama Eloundou Eric, a Cameroonian student at the University of Science and Technology Beijing, voiced this point in another way, "The African people are innately optimistic and are happy every day. [It's these] characteristics on stage [at] Expo 2010."

Expo by Numbers:

70 million

Expected Expo visitors

Currencies available at the seven foreign currency exchange points found around the Expo

72,000

Volunteers working inside the Expo; another 100,000 staff in more than 1,000 service centers around the city

Medical stations on-site at the Expo, one for each zone

246

Countries and international organizations taking part in the Expo

557,000

Beds available in Shanghai's 334,000 hotel rooms, including 98,000 beds in star-rated hotels

National Pavilion Day for Participating African Countries and the Glory Day for International Organizations