Hannover, Germany, 1996-98
11 themes about nature, man and technology...
The Universal Exhibition of the year 2000 was designed to be the largest
of its kind and the most visionary as mankind entered the third millennium.
François Confino was appointed Artistic Director of all 11 theme
pavilions in December 1996.
This mammoth-sized task united Confino & Co and Rozon in a new company,
AlphaBeth, whose offices are still on the same premises as Confino &
Co. Laying the first bricks of this gigantic venture, the 20-strong staff
of AlphaBeth produced a first series of projects in spring 1997.
In agreement with Expo 2000, François Confino decided to involve
some of the most daring designers, like François Schuiten, Jean
Nouvel, Antoni Miralda, Rajeev Sehti, T. Ito and others. Their job is
to develop original scenography and staging for each theme.
The aim was to make the Theme Park a place for thought, creation and fantasy
so that it would go down as a unique milestone in the history of the Universal
Exhibition.
| type of achievement | Universal exhibition |
| client | Expo 2000 Hannover |
| production | Expo GMBH |
| location | Exhibition Park, Hannover, Germany |
| floor space | 100 000m2 artistic director scenographic sets for 2 sectors 12 000m2 (detailed design) |
| budget for scenography |
€130 million |
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PROJECT DETAILS
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The 21st Century: The Boundaries of Ethics
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Urban Archaeology . Paris, France, 1977 |
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Cités-Cinés . France, Belgium, Canada, 1987-90 |
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The Movie Train . France, 1990 |
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The French Pavilion . Expo'92, Seville, Spain, 1991 |
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Discovery Pavilion . Expo'92, Seville, Spain, 1992 |
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Funny Stories . Montreal, Canada, 1993 |
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The Neolithic Museum . Bougon, France, 1993 |
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Stadium Stardust . Paris, France, 1993 |
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Paris is free . Paris, France, 1994 |
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Cités-Cinés 2 . Paris, France, 1995 |
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High Flight . Montreal, Canada, 1995 |
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Cinema Avenue . Tokyo, Japan, 1996 |
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A trip to Wonderland . Tokyo, Japan, 1997 |
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The Utopia Pavilion . Expo'98, Lisbon, Portugal, 1998 |
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Satie's houses . Honfleur, France, 1998 |
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Expo'00 . Theme Park . Hannover, Germany, 1998 |
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Tokyo Toyota Museum . Japan, 1999 |
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Oceanliner Museum . Saint-Nazaire, France, 2000 |
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Micropolis . Saint-Leons, France, 2000 |
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Turin National Cinema Museum . Italy, 2000 |
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The Audi Pavilion-Autostadt . Wolfsburg, Germany, 2000 |
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Time for time . Paris, France, 2000 |
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Exhibit Master Plan . Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 2002-03 |
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Restaurant . Turin National Cinema Museum, Italy, 2003 |
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Barolo Wine Museum . Italy, 2003-07 |
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L.A. Light-Motion-Dreams . Los Angeles, USA, 2004-05 |
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Turin Automobile Museum . Italy, 2004-08 |
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Collapse? . Los Angeles, USA, 2005-06 |
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Suzhou Science Museum . China, 2005-08 |
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Television Museum . Aubervilliers, France, 2005-09 |
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1913 Building Galleries . Los Angeles, USA, 2006-08 |
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BIE Expo x Expos . Milan, Italy, 2008 |
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Future to come . 2011 |
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Future Pavilion . Shangaï, China, 2010 |
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Memorial of Slavery . Pointe à Pitre, Guadeloupe, 2009 |
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450th birthday of the University of Geneva . Geneva, Switzerland, 2009 |