The Long March of Happy Street – A Tale of Shanghai Expo Dutch Pavilion

bookable event

3S ReUnion 13th edition
The Long March of Happy Street
- A Tale of Shanghai Expo Dutch Pavilion

Time: 13:00, May 15, 2010
Storyteller: John Kormeling, the architectural designer of Dutch Pavilion at Shanghai World Expo

Moderated by: Hans Moleman, the China correspondent for the Volkskrant
Fee: This event is free of charge, pre-registration is obliged. (only 60 people limited)
Organized by: Liu Yan of 3S ReUnion

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Introduction:

The Dutch pavilion at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai is an exceptional one. Different from all the classic pavilion with long lines of visitors waiting outside and a presentation inside, the Netherlands is making its appearance at China’s world exposition along an entire street – the only open national pavilion in the entire Shanghai Expo. Everyone can enter the pavilion at any time and there are many exits along the street for people to leave the pavilion whenever they want. The pavilion, entitled “Happy Street”, is the response by designer John Kormeling to the Shanghai Expo theme “Better City, Better Life” and the sub-themes. It looks like a colorful rollercoaster as well as a flying dragon around a huge pillar. Every houses along the Happy Street are like a life-size diorama, allowing visitors to discover new dimensions of the Netherlands by looking insides, just like the way you admire the interior life of Dutch houses through their huge windows when you wander in any Dutch cities. The design of Happy Street is not just about being eye-catching and full of sense of humor, it represents the national spirit of the Netherlands: free, pro-active, open, democratic, equality and tolerant for diversity.

However, there is no single creative project in the world that can be achieved without huge challenges. All the greatest creators have to cope with the difficulties and barriers created by bureaucracy, conservative power, narrow-mindness and cultural differences. From the concept design to construction and all the way through the grand opening, Dutch architect John Kormeling and his team has gone through a great deal of struggling. Just for applying the official approval alone, the architect and his team had to negotiate with more than 20 different organizations, endure many indiscreet remarks on the project and go through a repeating approval process. At the 13th 3S ReUnion, we have invited John Kormeling, the architectural designer of Dutch Pavilion to be our special guest at Xindanwei to talk about his real life experience on this Happy Street. This event will be moderated by the special moderator Hans Moleman, the China correspondent for the Volkskrant, one of the leading newspapers of the Netherlands.

Introduction of the speakers and moderator:

John Kormeling is an extraordinary architect and artist. His project, artwork and even his public appearance represent his ironic observations of our often uniform tastes and habits and demonstrate a unique sense of humor. Most of people who have come cross his project and himself will be deeply inspired by his different perspective of looking at world, and leave with a smile in the face.
Körmeling’s recent projects include ‘Hot Spring’ a 25 meter high map in the Japanese town Matsunoyama that visitors could climb at the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennal in Japan (2003). In Toronto he got people talking with the ‘Drive-in-wheel’, a Big Wheel for cars and in the Dutch city of Tilburg he designed a rotating house ‘Draaiend Huis’ on a roundabout at one of the main entrances to the city. In 2005 Körmeling designed the entry to the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam and to the Middelheim Sculpture Museum in Antwerp. In 2006 he designed an entrance for the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven.

More about John Kormeling:

http://www.holland-expo2010.com/dutch-pavilion/architect-john-koermeling

More about Happy Street：

http://www.holland-expo2010.com

Hans Gerard Moleman is the China correspondent for the Volkskrant, one of the leading newspapers of the Netherlands. He is based in Shanghai since 2004. Before that he was Volkskrant correspondent for southern Africa, based in Johannesburg, and staff writer at the economics desk in Amsterdam. His blog (in Dutch) can be found at: http://www.vkblog.nl/blog/67038/China_Calling

About 3S ReUnion:
An informal cross-disciplinary meeting held monthly in Shanghai by 3S Media Centre, an independent not-for-profit organization for experimentation, research and development in art, social and cultural, economical and political embedding of new media in the urban context. 3S ReUnion is established by culture/creative exchange advocate Liu Yan and new media artist Aaajiao (www.we-need-money-not-art.com), it has now rooted in the broader sense of knowledge sharing, collaborative knowledge creating and creative community building.

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