The countdown has started forExpo 2020 Dubai: from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 the most awaited international event will open its doors, for the first time in the Middle East region. The Universal Exposition will attract thousands of visitors from all over the world, with a calendar full of events and appointments to celebrate the return to life after Covid. With the slogan "Connecting minds, creating the future”, the event intends to recall the spirit of collaboration to “create the future”: sustainability, for progress that does not compromise the life of future generations; mobility, to create new and more efficient connections between countries; opportunities for the next generations.
Italy too will actively participate in this mission, with its own pavilion designed by Carlo Ratti, Italo Rota, Matteo Gatto and F&M Ingegneria, in the running for the final victory of the Construction innovation awards, as Best Innovative Project of the Year and Best Commercial Project of the Year. At the same time, the general contractor RAQ, in charge of its construction, is in the running for Best Contractor of the Year. The award ceremony will be held on Wednesday 29 September at the Sofitel Dubai the Obelisk.
An architecture designed to stage all the Italian ingenuity, under the official claim "Beauty that unites people”. The intention is to demonstrate that the beauty of our country is not made up only of words but is also able to combine knowledge and skills, creativity and ingenuity, tradition and innovation. Therefore, beauty acts as a connector, to connect us with other cultures, intelligences and knowledge of the world, to find solutions to the most pressing challenges inflicting humanity: from climate to space, from urban development to the promotion of intercultural dialogue, up to the challenges of innovation and digitization in health, agriculture and the blue economy (Goals of the UN Agenda 2030).
With 70 institutional partners, over 50 sponsoring companies, 15 Regions and 30 participating universities, our country will present itself with 10 formats for hundreds of events, a vast program of multilateral forums and high-level dialogues, to give maximum support to the ambitions and prospects of the European Green Deal, the Next Generation Eu and the PNRR.
In this regard, Italy will be the undisputed protagonist of the "Program for People & Planet”, the program of high-level institutional initiatives promoted by the organizers of the Universal Exposition, co-organizing multilateral initiatives with Expo Dubai and the other participating countries dedicated to climate change and the resilience of mountain ecosystems, to observing the Earth from space, the new challenges for education and training, interreligious and intercultural dialogue, gender equality, the future of food and the most innovative processes applied to the agri-food supply chains.
Events and formats
At the center of the opening week there will be Venezia, as a local laboratory and international model for countering the effects of climate change, and its candidacy for world capital of sustainability. Among the artists called to tell the scenic and artistic beauties of the participating Regions will be the Oscar-winning director Gabriele Salvatores through a series of films, born from an idea by Davide Rampello, artistic director of the Italian Pavilion.
There is also a rich calendar of shows with the participation of great Italian artists. For the first time in Arab territory the representation of Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Nabucco" entrusted to the direction of Riccardo Muti with the Luigi Cherubini Orchestra, and then Roberto Bolle, Paolo Fresu, the Piazza Vittorio Orchestra, "100 Cellos" with Giovanni Sollima & Enrico Melozzi, Nicola Piovani and Tosca with her concert "Morabeza", Francesco De Gregori, the review on Figure Theater and Animation and the film Notti d'autore curated by Anica, and the exhibition on 24 November, the National Day of Italy, by the orchestra of the Accademia alla Scala. To find out more, it will be possible to consult the updated calendar of events and the new section dedicated to the exhibition itinerary with the new APP launched by the Commission for Italy's participation in Expo Dubai.
Structure
The tricolor pavilion is located in a strategic position in terms of visibility. At the entrance to the park and near the pavilions of the Emirates, India, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Japan and the United States, between the "Opportunity" and "Sustainability" platforms, covering an area of 3.500 m25 and a height of about XNUMX metres. The entire structure was conceived starting from circularity and using avant-garde but also more traditional materials from a sustainable perspective, such as waste and eco-sustainable elements. For example, orange peels have been used in the coverings of the suspended paths and walkways within the exhibition space.
Structural element of the Italian exhibition space will be three ships, one green, one white and one red, positioned upside down on the roof of the building, aimed at recalling the moment in which the boats are taken out of the water and then turned upside down on the shore until their next use. As well as the long journey of Made in Italy from Europe to the Emirates and which will continue to sail on the oceans even after the Dubai Expo.
Organized on two levels, the tricolor pavilion develops horizontally in different aisles and functional spaces. On the ground floor is the large amphitheater, equipped with an independent entrance preceded by a cafeteria, a dressing room and connected to the other areas. With an area of 255 square meters and a capacity of 143 seats, but which drop to 72 due to the anti-covid containment regulations. Then follows the gallery space, dedicated to institutional initiatives, networking and b2b events.
To the right of the amphitheater is theacademy, a space dedicated to edutainment activities, workshops and all training initiatives. The transparent external walls offer great visibility on the activities that will be carried out inside, so that visitors walking around Expo 2020 will be able to "peek" from the outside what is happening inside the academy. Upstairs is the studio, an area dedicated to cultural, training, communication activities, the narration of testimonies, best practices and presentations.
