Spain Pavillion at Expo Shanghai 2010

Media
Spain Pavilion
Media
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 I. National Society for International Expositions

II. Expo Shanghai 2010

Better City, Better Life

III. Spain Pavilion at Expo Shanghai 2010

The Spanish Basket

The contents: From the city of our parents to the city of our children
Room 1: Origin (Bigas Luna)
Room 2: Cities (Basilio Martín Patino)
Room 3: Children (Isabel Coixet)

Plaza Viva
Tapas bar
Food festival
Autonomous communities-Spain Day-Europe Day
Flamenco, dance, theater
Pavilion nights
Journey to Xibanya
Film week
Urban portraits
Spain – China Entrepreneurial Meeting Place
Collaboration programs
The uniforms of José Miró

Punto de Encuentro Emprendedores España-China

Programas en colaboración
Los uniformes de José Miró

IV. Good practices by Spanish cities at Expo Shanghai

Madrid
Barcelona
Bilbao
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Spanish Society
for International Expositions
Spanish Society for International Expositions (SEEI)

The SEEI is the public body in charge of the conception and development of Spain’s pavilions and their
related activities at expositions approved by the International Bureau of Expositions (BIE).

The SEEI was born following the Universal Expo Hanover 2000. The German experience clearly revealed
the need to establish a permanent body in charge of this kind of event; and so the National Society for
Hanover 2000 became the SEEI in 2001, contingent on the Directorate General for State Assets. The SEEI
manages Spain’s image as a vehicle for cultural, technological and economic penetration.

Since its foundation, the SEEI has faced great challenges: the universal expositions in Hanover 2000
(Germany) and Aichi 2005 (Japan) and International Exposition Zaragoza 2008 (Spain) as well as the more
specialized events Floriade 2002 (Haarlem, Holland), IGA 2003 (Rostock, Germany) and Royal Flora
Ratchaphruek 2006 (Chiang Mai, Thailand). It is currently preparing for Spain’s participation in the
Universal Exposition Shanghai 2010.
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II

Expo Shanghai 2010

Expo Shanghai 2010 (from 1st May to 31st October)

For the first time a nation with an emerging economy - China - will host a universal exposition. Because of
its size, number of participants and visitor expectations, Expo Shanghai 2010 is being heralded the greatest
Expo in history. Thus, the Asian giant will take a step further in bolstering its international image following
the success of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The Expo grounds, approximately 2 square miles in area (more than 20 times the size of Expo Zaragoza
2008), are located right in the heart of Shanghai, the economic capital of China. The Expo extends along
the two banks of Huangpu River in the districts of Puxi (western bank) and Pudong (eastern bank),
between the Nanpu and Lupu bridges.

For the duration of six months, from 1st May to 31st October 2010, an influx of 70 million visitors (of
which 5 million will be foreigners) is expected, which means an average of 450,000 people a day will enjoy
more than 20,000 anticipated artistic and cultural events. The Expo will consist of 50 international
organizations and 190 participating countries, 42 of which, Spain included, are constructing their own
pavilion.

Better City, Better Life

As the overriding theme for its universal exposition, Shanghai has chosen one of the great global
challenges faced by humanity. If in the year 1800 just 2% of the population lived in cities, that percentage
had already reached 29% in 1950 and, according to the United Nations, in 2010 it will rise to 55%.
Convening under the theme Better city, better life, participating countries of Expo Shanghai will strive to
offer solutions to the challenges posed by increasingly larger megalopolises and the unstoppable urban
growth of the twenty first century, already dubbed the century of cities.

Under the slogan From the city of our parents to the city of our children, the response of Spain’s pavilion
consists of presenting us as a country both old and new, respectful of our heritage and modern. This is an
area in which Spain has much to contribute, acknowledged by the fact that we have 13 historic UNESCO
World Heritage Cities.
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III

Spain Pavilion
at Expo Shanghai
Spain Pavilion at Expo Shanghai 2010

To decide who would make the construction plan and execute the Spain Pavilion at the Universal
Exposition Shanghai 2010, the SEEI in 2007 organized an initial ideas public bidding at which presentations
were made by 18 of Spain’s most internationally renowned architecture studios.

The panel, which included prestigious architects, chose the plan by Miralles-Tagliabue Studio, situated in
Barcelona and established by Catalan architect Enric Miralles (1955-2000) and Benedetta Tagliabue from
Milan (who now runs it following the death of her husband). Their greatest projects include the Scottish
Parliament, the Gas Natural headquarters and Santa Caterina Market, both in Barcelona, and
refurbishment of the Hamburg portside area.

With an 18 million Euro proposal, the pavilion will have a usable area of more than 7,500 square meters
which will be built on a 6,000 square meter plot. As well as the spaces intended for expositive content,
the pavilion will have a tapas bar, facilities for holding events and official ceremonies, a 150 person
auditorium, a multiuse room with simultaneous translation equipment, a press room with an audiovisual
broadcasting studio and a support area for Spanish businesses with meeting rooms and offices.

The Spain Pavilion features among the largest of participating countries along with those of France,
England, Germany and Italy. It is situated in section C of the grounds on the bank of Huangpu River and it
neighbors Switzerland, Serbia, Poland, Belgium and France.
The Spanish Basket

“Architecture of contrasts and sinuous lines combining the warmth of organic materials and new
technology”

The Spain Pavilion will offer the visitor a spectacular vision that combines the latest technology with the
utilization – on a scale never before seen – of a traditional material, wicker, which completely covers its
facade. Even before its creation it has been baptized the “Spanish basket” by the Chinese media, alluding
to its organic shape, a 25,000 meter steel tubing skeleton that will support 8,524 large wicker panels. It is
without doubt one of the most eagerly anticipated pavilions at Expo Shanghai.

In her proposal Tagliabue has attempted to stray from the traditional container concept, making way for
large spaces in the way of wicker baskets that will allow easy and fluid passage. “The plaza is to the city 11
what the patio is to the home, a place of rest, relaxation and partying”, says the architect.

Natural, sustainable materials will be used in the construction of the pavilion. The façade will have wicker
as the main element of its revetment, experimenting with its full technical potential, as well as, according to
Tagliabue, “the material as natural fiber, a handicraft of ‘global’ tradition used as much in the East as it is in
the West, and so it becomes the main connection between Spain and China.

Contents: From the City of Our Parents to the City of Our Children

In every universal exposition the main attraction of the participating pavilions is the contents they present.
Aware of this, and inspired by the general theme Better city, better life, the contents of the Spain Pavilion
have been put in the hands of three of the most distinguished directors of Spanish cinema: Bigas Luna,
Basilio Martín Patino and Isabel Coixet.

Taking on a generational perspective, the pavilion’s three rooms (2,500 square meters in area) will tell of
the changes witnessed by Spanish cities since the rural-urban exodus of the sixties to current,
cosmopolitan times under the slogan From the city of our parents to the city of our children.

In search of a Spanish “model” for city living, the journey ends with a look, both emotional and
responsible, to the future that we want to leave for our children. The aim is to transmit a contemporary
and modern image of Spain and its cities capable of bolstering our country’s image in China, through
comprehensible and attractive contents for such a vast Chinese public that is barely familiar with Spanish
reality.

Following a public bidding convened by the SEEI, the execution of the contents was awarded to UTE
Empty-Noe.
Their formulation is not limited to audiovisual means; they combine spectacular installations, special effects
and live performances that will surprise visitors, painting them a portrait of modern Spain through an on
average 20 minute journey. It is hoped that this will attract a daily average of 30,000 visitors throughout
the six month Expo.
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Room 1: Origin (Bigas Luna)

Bigas Luna will be in charge of opening the Spain pavilion exposition with a journey through time that aims
to convey what it is that identifies us to other countries: strength, the DNA of the Spanish in the world.
“My room speaks of origin, of the elements, icons and symbols that have always fascinated me: the
atavistic, the essential, the primitive, the earth…”, the director affirms.

An explosion of Iberian passion

History begins in nature, in almost complete darkness and surrounded by a space of cold and rugose walls
resembling a cave. Fire, sea and earth. It is the primitive and the atavistic, the soul of a country with
powerful creative strength. A flint stone explicitly brought from the Atapuerca desert (cradle of the first
Europeans) will represent this origin. In the midst of a fireball’s roar and a storm that represents time
immemorial, a forest of bones arises. The form of a woman, a ballerina risen on a platform, plays with
these bones to produce a dance of celebration, the Atapuerqueña, a flamenco choreography that will end
up with red everywhere.

For Bigas Luna, the unique creative capacity of our country is derived from the origins of
“determinedness”. And art is the bridge between ancestry and civilization. From the mosque of Cordoba
to Picasso’s Guernica, the director condenses a project both aesthetic and narrative in which he partakes
as both film maker and painter.

A contribution of several enormous canvases from his kitchen garden form part of this iconic journey that
will close with two unmistakable symbols of our culture, the sanfermines bull runs (a tradition that exists
alongside a civilized society) and sport, represented by two of our best known stars: Pau Gasol and Rafael
Nadal. In just six minutes the visitor will be saturated with our roots and our present as well as Bigas
Luna’s vision of our creativity and the originality of being Spanish in a globalized World.

Biographical information

Bigas Luna was born in Barcelona on 19th March, 1946. A prestigious director and scriptwriter, he has
directed hits such as The Ages of Lulu (1990), Jamón, Jamón (1992) with Penélope Cruz and Javier
Bardem, and his most recent success I Am Juani (2006). He is currently working on his latest film: Di.Di
Hollywood.

He has filmed in Catalan as much as Spanish. In all his films, often related to food (which, he confesses, he
feels a great passion for), he adds a personal touch loaded with high levels of eroticism.
Room 2: Cities (Basilio Marín Patino)

Presenting the changes experienced by Spanish cities in the last half century in just six minutes is not easy,
but who better to do it than Basilio Martín Patino. In the pavilion’s second room, music by Manuel de Falla,
Master Peter’s Puppet Show, serves as the soundtrack to a spectacular altarpiece of how our cities, and
more importantly our people, used to be and how they are now. From the beginnings of the rural exodus
to modern times, reflecting transformations in the ways of life, transport, education, gastronomy, fashion…

A frieze of impressions

Combining archived and cinematic material, Martín Patino outlines a portrait both ironic and tender of
today’s Spain, intentionally fragmentary and which, again conscious of the Chinese public’s lack of
reference points, aims to arouse emotion more than explain. In the words of the film maker: “A carnival of 15
jumbled up images that go about putting themselves in order. That’s what memory is”.

A spiral room equipped with a multi-screen system (five bands spread throughout the space like vast
canvases that cross over each other) will condense the film devoted to urban life into seven minutes. After
trawling through thousands of archived images and filming in some of our cities’ most emblematic places,
the film maker has created, in his own words, “a frieze of impressions”. For Martín Patino, the uncertainty
caused by the relentless passing of time takes on a poetic dimension. And in that lies his biggest challenge
but also his greatest achievement. Architectural and urban spaces, plazas, markets… and people, the
human factor, the true protagonist of our public life, the exceptional heritage of our cities. A kaleidoscopic
vision of Spain’s recent history that, without beginning or end, will fill the visitor with feelings of vitality and
the richness of the streets.

Biographical information

Basilio Martín Patino was born on 29th October, 1930 in Lumbrales (Salamanca). He began his
professional career in the world of publicity, being one of its pioneers in Spain. His big break came in 1966
with Nine Letters to Bertha. From that moment on Patino dedicated himself to making documentaries
such as Songs for After a War (1971), Dearest Executioners (1973) and Caudillo (1974).

Because of his political ideals, Martín Patino had to carry out most of his work in secrecy and they only
became known alter the death of Franco.

In 2007 he received an honorary degree from the University of Salamanca.

Room 3: Children (Isabel Coixet)

The Spain pavilion at Shanghai 2010 ends with a dream. The future, as seen by film maker Isabel Coixet, is
a place for hope and promises of a better world. The room contains a universal protagonist: Miguelín, a
baby who dreams about his environment, the cities in which our children will live, the cities they are living
in now.

Children and Dreams

Anticipating the will to have the future presented from an infant perspective, a screen will project images
of small children who will greet the visitors, “Hola”, “Nihao”, in Spanish and Chinese. Our urbanites of
tomorrow introduce us to an atmosphere of magical daydreaming sought by the director. Miguelín
presides over the room from his tremendous and overwhelming hyper-reality and he shows us how we
Spanish dream of 21st century cities, how we would like our homes, public spaces, energy and transport
to be, as well as food, education, community, leisure, health and social services…

Desires and realities that Miguelín himself will go on telling between fragile and evocative soap bubbles,
through funny animated stories that summarize, like only a child could do, the main ways in which Spain is
now designing the future of our cities.

Isabel Coixet has tried, in her own words, “to think of and to visualize this expositive space from the
viewpoint of the onlooker who is going to such an event for the first time and who seeks not only
information but fascination, fun, surprise…”.

Datos biográficos

Isabel Coixet was born in Sant Adriá del Besós (Barcelona) on 9th de April, 1960. She graduated in
Publicity from the University of Barcelona. Owing to her fascination for images, she began to get into the
world of cinema. She traveled to the United States and directed her first film Things I Never Told You
(1996). In 2000 she founded Miss Wasabi Films where she has directed important documentaries and
video clips. Her films include My Life Without Me (2003), The Secret Life of Words (2005), Elegy (2008)
and her latest film, Map of the Sounds of Tokyo (2009).
Bigas Luna
Basilio Martín Patino
Isabel Coixet

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Plaza Viva: day to day at the pavilion

If any one thing can define Spanish cities then it’s street life. The Spain pavilion will express the very notion
of the ‘plaza’ as a meeting and communication point with a strong program presenting the best of our art
and our culture along with our capacity for innovation and technology.

The ‘Plaza viva’ will be made up of performances on the Expo main stage, cinema, dance, theatre, a nightly
show in the pavilion auditorium, themed weeks each dedicated to one of the autonomous communities,
programs in collaboration with the most prestigious and internationally oriented Spanish institutions and a
promotion stand for our businesses. And of course it wouldn’t be complete without a tapas bar, run by
restaurateur Pedro Larumbe.

Tapas Bar

The Spain Pavilion will have a tapas bar representative of traditional Spanish food adapted to the modern
kitchen. The chef Pedro Larumbe, - from Navarre, settled in Madrid and winner of the National
Gastronomy Prize – has designed a menu that combines both Spanish and oriental elements with
perfection, modernity and an innovative twist. With a team of 150, he will head the restaurant throughout
the six months of the Expo.

Fiesta gastronómica

The SEEI has organized a gastronomic program that will be held in the recently opened Gran Meliá
Shanghai Hotel. Well known chefs representing different autonomous communities will participate. From
Andalucía (Dani García) to Asturias (Pedro Morán), passing through Cataluña (Xabier Franco), Galicia
(Pepe Solla), Madrid (Paco Roncero) and Castilla - La Mancha (Adolfo Muñoz), among others.

Autonomous communities, Spain Day, Europe Day

On 30th August Spain will be the star at Expo Shanghai by celebrating its national holiday. Coinciding with
Spain’s presidency of the European Union, Europe Day will be celebrated on 9th May with a reception in
the Spain Pavilion. Also, throughout the Expo, the pavilion will host autonomous communities one week
at a time so that they can present an assortment of cultural, entrepreneurial and promotion programs, a
mirror of the plurality and richness of our country.
Flamenco, dance, theater

As is traditional at universal expositions, Spain will present a Flamenco festival show throughout the month
of September at Expo Shanghai. The National Ballet of Spain will complete the line up with the very best
of Spanish dance. Co-produced with the Cervantes Institute, an original adaptation of Quixote will
premier at the Shanghai Grand Theater. Directed by famed theatre director Meng Jinghui, it will be the
first representation in China of Cervantes’ masterpiece since 1920.

Pavilion Nights

Each night, in two sessions, the pavilion will offer an exquisite dinner comprising of a Spanish tapas tasting
accompanied with live performances in the way of cabaret and nightspot. Throughout the six months
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more than 60 artists will climb up on the pavilion stage, from musicians to illusionists, comedians, actors
and entertainers of every kind.

Viaje a Xibanya

Getting to know Spain in China through all means possible is the main aim of the pavilion. In virtue of the
Expo, the pavilion will publish a book of journeys, in which five well known Chinese writers narrate their
journey, organized by the SEEI in October 2009, through our country. The book about Spain is the first to
be published by a large Chinese publishing house and it will likewise be translated into Spanish.

Film week

In collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, the General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE) and the
Shanghai International Film Festival, the pavilion will present a selection of the best Spanish cinema from
recent years, combining our most international directors and actors with the values of the youth. This is a
bridge to the Chinese audiovisual market that takes advantage of the lure of the pavilion’s contents, made
by three of our most creative film makers.

Urban portraits

Photo to photo. A portrait of Spain will be open in the exposition rooms of the Cervantes Institutes in
Beijing and Shanghai during the six months of the Expo. A collection of urban portraits taken by the best
Spanish photographers, it shows the evolution of our cities and people in recent decades, following the
pavilion slogan: From the city of our parents to the city of our children.
Spain –China Entrepreneurial meeting place

The pavilion has a space specifically at the service of any Spanish businesses that want to advertise their
products or projects in China. The Leading Brands of Spain Association (AMRE) will be present in this
entrepreneurial area.

Collaboration programs

The six months of the Expo will host a good number of activities and events inside and outside the Spain
Pavilion with important institutions in the international arena: the Cervantes Institute, Elcano Royal
Institute, Casa Asia, Ortega y Gasset Foundation, Spain-China Council Foundation, Atapuerca Foundation,
etc. the EFE agency and Spanish National Radio will likewise be present, along with our correspondents
and media who will have a press room at their disposal.

The uniforms of José Miró

Just like in past expositions, the SEEI held a competition to design the uniforms worn by the Spain Pavilion
personnel during Expo Shanghai 2010, in collaboration with the Association of Fashion Designers of Spain.
The panel studied at length the creations of José Miró, Elio Berhanyer, Devota & Lomba, Agatha Ruiz de la
Prada, Francis Montesinos, Duyos, Juanjo Oliva, Ailanto and Antonio Alvarado.

Eventually the competition was awarded to José Miró for his design that combines sustainability and avant-
garde with organic materials and natural dies. Born in Mallorca and trained in Barcelona, Miró began his
professional career in Paris and in Spain he worked at Ágatha Ruiz de la Prada’s boutique. His rise to
international acclaim began following the creation of his own firm in 2001. He has presented his
collections in a variety of contests in Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and London.
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IV

Good practices by Spanish cities

at Expo Shanghai
Good practices by Spanish cities at Expo Shanghai

One of the peculiarities of Expo Shanghai is that cities will be able to directly participate for the first time.
A special area has been created for this - the Urban Best Practices Area (UBPA) – in which those world
cities desiring to be the most habitable will exhibit their proposals. Spain has a major presence in this
initiative: of a total of 55 participating cities, three are Spanish: Barcelona, Bilbao and Madrid.

The UBPA occupies an area of 37 acres north of the Huangpu River divided into four sections: Habitable
cities, Sustainable urbanization, Use and protection of heritage and Technological innovation. It offers our
cities a unique chance to showcase and acts as a stage for the interchange of experience and ideas
pertaining to sustainable urban development. Several of the selected cities will have their own pavilion, as
is the case with Madrid.

Madrid
As a capital city and the principal Spanish metropolis, Madrid will play an important role in the UBPA with
its own 2,500 square meter pavilion. A double presence at the Expo – country and capital – which only a
few countries have: France-Paris, Great Britain-London.

In Shanghai a replica of the Bamboo House is being built, a unique official protection apartment block built
in 2007 in Carabanchel, Madrid. It is cylindrical in shape and covered in bamboo bark. It contains 88
protected apartments, a work of Foreign Office Architects (FOA) architecture studio. Madrid is also
bringing its bio-climatic trees, located in the Urban Action Plan Vallecas area, to the UBPA. It is an
innovative urban design experience underpinned with environmental and sustainability criteria such as the
use of recyclable materials, alternative energy usage and passive climate control systems.
Barcelona
Ciutat Vella In Shanghai, Barcelona presents the restoration of the Ciutat Vella at the Start of the 80s, and
definitively in 1999, when a series of aims were set out that have now become a reality: new public
spaces, local facilities, new apartments, partial and complete restoration of buildings, its promotion as a
commercial centre and place of splendor, cultural and tourist interest and where economic and
commercial activity is fostered.

PobleNou 22@ Barcelona The second Barcelona project is that of PobleNou 22@ Barcelona, focusing on
the regeneration of the old industrial neighborhood on the city’s outskirts. The initiative reflects the
transformation of industrial areas in a district built upon new economic activities based on technology,
innovation and creativity, in line with a compact city model that makes its residential function compatible
with the new productive activity of the knowledge society.
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Bilbao
Guggenheim++ The formidable transformation of the Bilbao river mouth is the Biscayan capital’s letter of
introduction to China, with its Guggenheim++ project that has this emblematic museum as its banner. In
its first decade of existence, the gallery generated more than 1,500 million Euros of the Basque GDP,
created more than 4,300 jobs and received more than a million visitors a year.

On top of the numbers and statistics, today Frank O. Gehry’s building is the driving force behind an
absolute Bilbao miracle that leaves a grey industrial past behind it to become an alluring city. This is the
result of urban projects: the Euskalduna Palace, Loiu airport, Zubizuri bridge, Isozaki towers, to name some
that have already been carried out, and Zorrozaurre Island and the new San Mamés stadium among
planned projects.
‘From the city of our parents, to the city of our children’

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