Expo 2020 is officially open. Postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the world fair received a lavish opening ceremony in Dubai with performances from the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, the American soul singer Andra Day, the British pop star Ellie Goulding, the Chinese concert pianist Lang Lang, and the Beninese and Saudi icons Angélique Kidjo and Mohammed Abdu, who performed a duet.
Dubai was named as the host of Expo 2020 back in 2013, when the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates fended off competition from São Paulo, Izmir, and Yekaterinburg to become the first world fair scheduled for the Middle East. The exposition has kept its title despite the year-long postponement for branding purposes, and hopes to attract 25 million visitors during the course of its run from 1 October to 31 March next year.
The site has been built from scratch on 4.3 square kilometres of desert near the border with Abu Dhabi. For the first time in World Expo history, each of the 192 participating nations will host their own pavilion, with additional pavilions bearing the stamp of regional organisations and businesses. The Burkina Faso pavilion will include a replica of the medieval ruins of Loropéni, the Finnish pavilion seeks to evoke the first covering of snow, the Holy See has reproduced the Michelangelo fresco The Creation of Adam, and the Peruvian pavilion will model Queshuachaca, the last remaining Inca rope bridge.
While the Spanish pavilion is set to feature a six-metre hyperloop model by Zeleros, more anticipated still is the chance to see a demonstration of the passenger-tested Virgin Hyperloop. The tagline for Expo 2020 is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’, while theme weeks will be devoted to climate and diversity, tolerance and inclusivity, and urban and rural development. The Sustainability District will feature hanging gardens and vertical farms, modelling biodiversity, renewable energy, and integrated climate systems. And the Mobility District will incorporate the world’s largest passenger lift.
Still Expo 2020 has courted its share of controversy. Last month, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on nations to boycott the event, while urging the United Arab Emirates to free imprisoned human rights activists. Human Rights Watch has suggested that the exposition will serve to distract attention from ongoing abuses in the country. And in the United States, Congress maintains a ban on world fair funding, with the United Arab Emirates instead financing the American pavilion at a cost of $60 million.
Visitors to Expo 2020 are required to wear face masks and socially distance, with entrance dependent on full vaccination or a negative coronavirus test. If everything goes according to plan, a kaleidoscopic nighttime festival will illuminate the sky over Dubai for the next six months. And when the fair winds down at the end of March, the site will be given over to District 2020, a large-scale real estate development where sculptures from the exposition will remain alongside buildings shaped for residential and commercial use.
