A virtual immersion in Notre-Dame de Paris, Diderot's encyclopedia, a ship-museum or an airship of the future, a virtual exhibition under the ice floe ... Transport, architecture, arts, ecology will coexist in the fall at the French Pavilion of the Dubai World Expo.
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Under the name, “Lumière, lumière”, heritage, art and technological innovation will articulate their facets in an “eco-responsible” pavilion 55 meters wide, 20 meters high and 63 meters deep. They were presented by videoconference on Monday by Erik Linquier, its commissioner general, in the presence of Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
The exhibition, postponed last year due to the Covid, is scheduled from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, with the participation of 190 countries.
Its theme is the smart and sustainable city with the slogan
“Connect minds, build the future”.
Symbolizing the conjunction of the “lights” of the present and the past, the 2,500 m² of photovoltaic tiles in the French pavilion will house an original edition of the 35 volumes of Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopedia, on loan from the National Archives.
Temporary exhibitions will be dedicated to five artistic areas of expertise: digital art (on Notre-Dame), tableware, kinetic art, architecture and fashion (the fifty years of creation by Jean Paul Gaultier).
Future technological projects
“Notre-Dame de Paris, the Experience” is a virtual historical immersion, presented by L'Oréal and produced by the start-up Histovery in collaboration with the Public Establishment.
Visitors will be able to discover the site in the Middle Ages, attend the coronation of Napoleon, the construction of the spire of Viollet-le-Duc or even dive into the heart of current security operations.
To read also: Notre-Dame de Paris: "In a few years we will see again the familiar silhouette of the architecture of Viollet-le-Duc"
“Antarctica, a laboratory of the future” will be another immersive experience at the heart of cutting-edge research carried out in Antarctica on global warming. “The Little Prince of Saint-Exupéry” will offer an imaginary journey, showing the multiple connections that link arts, sciences, techniques and cultures. As always, this meeting is an opportunity for large companies, from Renault to EDF, and for start-ups, to present their technological projects for the future. Thus, the model of a museum ship will be on display, as well as an airship for air cargo transport, an “environmentally friendly” solution of the future imagined by the start-up Flying Whales.
Jean-Yves Le Drian underlined the relevance of the theme chosen for “Dubai 2020”:
“In 2050, there will be 2.5 billion more urban dwellers. And it is in 2050 that we are in the process of deciding to be at the level of carbon neutrality. How to settle this contradiction if not by the sober and intelligent city. "