The Gardens of the World Exposition
The Millennium is actually just another turn of the year – and yet it is much more. It is a chronological milestone of two thousand years of time as measured according to the Gregorian calendar: The awareness of change, and a questioning gaze into the new millennium that is caught up in ambivalence and an archaic anxiety about what is to come. The World Exposition is an ‘ex-play-natory’ place. At the end of the millennium, as seen through a magnifying glass, we encounter here the inseparable trinity of nature, man, and technology, from which the vast, nearly immeasurable, issues of the future arise.
It is our decision to respond with the simple but manifold metaphor of the river. The river is the symbol of transition and the source of life. It is an outstanding place of evolution, attracting civilisations and, within its continuous flux, it is a medium for development. The definition of rigid orders, conveying stability and continuity, have to move and thereby slowly transform into an awareness of constant change and revolution, thus characterizing a sovereign, but not overbearing, freedom.
Rivers supply the water for gardens and they are cultural expressions; they are a kind of calling card. With their ample and yet differentiated areas, a World Exhibition’s gardens ideally offer space for curiosity and an experience – of oneself as well as of the other. The positive utopia of such gardens is that of a blossoming, developable, and still usable piece of land. The sustainable use of resources and efficient use of material and technology is proof of a sense of responsibility as well as of the sense of elegance the design process has.
«panta rhei» ... continuous flux
... The river is a symbol for change and the source of life. The river is a particular place of evolution, attracting civilisations, and with its continuous flux a medium of development. In the image of a river one finds archaic legends of Mesopotamia, the country of two rivers (construction of the tower of babel) as well as the place for computer animation (virtual reality) or the phenomenon of an unlimited communication (internet). ... Sustainable use of resources, efficient use of material and technology reconciles to form the responsibility, as well as the elegance of the design process...