Written by Cheng lin

Photographed by Xu Jiechen

From designing the French National Pavillion for the Universal Exhibition Sevilla 92 in Spain, to designing Utopian Pavillion for the Lisboa Expo 98 in Portugal, to being the Designing Consultant General of the Universal Exhibition Hanover 2000 in Germany, Francois Confino has had his name closely connected to the World Expo for many years. However, when you browse his personal website, the most prominent is not a list of his work and his many achievements, but photos bringing bright laughter, showing the world an optimistic, positive and child-like designer, as well as an ever-innovating, ever-exploring artist.

Taking advantage of Mr. Francois Confino's visit in Shanghai, I had the honor to have a face-to-face interview with him. As a veteran of the World Expo, Mr. Francois Confino not only discussed his long-term relationship with The World Expo but also provided many valuable suggestions for the World Expo Shanghai in 2010. In addition, he also expressed his sincere blessing that the Expo in Shanghai would be a tremendous success.

Utopian Pavilion of the Lisboa Expo 98

"A Dreamlike Experience"

Talking about his first relationship with the World Expo, Mr. Confino smiles enormously: "When I was a child, I liked drawing, and dreamt of becoming an architect. When I was 13 years old, my parents took me to the World Expo Brussels in Belgium in 1958; that experience was like a dream." At that Expo, the then unworldly child saw color TV for the first time at the American national exhibition section. Before that he had never even seen a black and white TV set. Six years later, his father bought a small black and white TV, opening a window to the world and paving the road to the future for him. At that time, man had just conquered space; America and Russia began sending manned and unmanned satellites into space. Mr. Confino still remembers the emotions he felt about these news reports. Today such things are anything but new, and cannot generate such emotion, he said. Likewise, humans need to try new things to experience different emotions. So stimulated, the young Francois decided to live his dream and become an exhibition designer.

Talking about his feelings about realizing his dream, Francois Confino said: "Some people asked me what impact, on my work, of my experience of riding a snow-sleigh across America when I was young. I replied that, that is to observe things from different perspectives. To an exhibition designer, it will be a great failure to merely repeat what people have seen before." Having become well-traveled, Mr. Confino has always dedicated himself to seeking new ideas and encouraging himself to be creative. In his words, "being creative does not necessarily mean new design or data but a new perspective towards things."

In Mr. Confino's vision, the World Expo is like a succession of phases of human history and a picture of the future: continuously keeping what is good and discarding what is bad, and guiding people to explore the unknown world. Summarizing the importance of World Expo, Mr. Francois Confino said: "From the British Crystal Palace in the early 20th century, to the World Expo Paris afterward, the essence of the World Expo is to demonstrate what is nowhere to see and what is unheard of. Take technology for example, what do steam engines, automobiles and bicycles look like? People used to have to travel to know new things. Now everything is different. Through internet, you can always get information one step ahead. Therefore, the new meaning of the World Expo is to let people understand their responsibilities regarding environmental pollution, difficulties of urban life, etc. Only after people understand these problems can they come up with solutions." He is convinced that people all over the world, not only Chinese people, are craving for a better-quality urban life -- this is the meaning of the World Expo today. Indeed, the World Expo should be the unification of all humanity, together reaching for higher levels while standing on the shoulders of technology. Its objective is not to demonstrate the most advanced computer technology but to let people know that living on this little blue planet, we will come across many problems and we will solve these problems with one heart and combined efforts.

Sunken Square in the French National Pavilion in the Expo Seville

All Countries Would Like to Join the World Expo Shanghai

Since the World Expo Chicago in 1933, each World Expo has had a theme. This theme condenses the essence of the exhibition and its interpretation has also become the criteria to evaluate whether it is successful or not.

To give some examples, Mr. Francois Confino said: "the Universal Exhibition Sevilla '92 had a very concrete theme -- Age of Discovery, which was easy for us to reflect on the history; in 1998, the Expo Lisboa had a relatively concrete theme too, mainly about Oceans. However, Universal Exhibition Hanover 2000 had a more ambiguous theme: Humankind, Nature, Technology, covering almost all big issues of present world." As to the theme of the Shanghai World Expo, he presented his own interpretation: "I think one of the biggest advantages of the Shanghai World Expo theme -- Better City, Better Life -- is its relevance. Everything has its positive and negative aspects and one of the purposes of the World Expo is to provide an angle to view things positively."  He further stated that if Shanghai cannot analyze and summarize how cities can make a better life, then it is impossible to receive positive reviews. Of course, the ever-changing development of Shanghai has laid a good base for that, and this has deeply impressed him. He said that he first came to Shanghai with his wife and children 15 years ago, and they were enchanted by the fast-growing metropolitan today. The housing standards of Shanghai residents is improving; the transportation systems have been perfected day by day, and the process of making decisions and implementing new measures by the Shanghai government has become very fast. All these will lay a solid foundation for Shanghai to host this World Expo. 

"The World Expo is just like a miraculous magic." Mr. Francois Confino stated from the viewpoint as an exhibition designer. "We will not only come up with specific technical measures to solve city problems but also express them with methods full of emotions. These methods can even be poetic with all the artistic means like music, architecture, statues and even foods." He laughed brightly with love and blessing towards this city: "The Shanghai World Expo will be the biggest one ever and I believe it will be one with the most participating countries. Not all countries participated in the World Expos in Lisbon, Sevilla or Hanover. But I believe that in Shanghai, all countries would like to join."

Panorama of the French National Pavilion in the Expo Seville

"This Would Be My Biggest Dream for the Year of 2010"

During our conversation, Mr. Francois Confino repeatedly used the word "dream". Perhaps, in his mind, the World Expo is an event where people can dream freely and a venue that can stimulate countless fantasies. "This will be an unprecedented World Expo, exhibiting many novel things, which not only shows the image of this country but also focuses on exploring burgeoning things. Apart from that, I hope there will be emotional demonstrations, about which people will claim that "alas, I have never seen that before; maybe the world tomorrow will be just like this!"-- I believe that you have the capacities to launch a successful World Expo, showing us the vigor, dynamic and development direction of this big Oriental country. This would be my biggest dream for the year 2010."