'The most successful international exhibition of the century' – research highlights Expo 67's impact
At a talk for the Twentieth Century Society, Dr Craig Moyes, Director of the Quebec and French Canada Research Network (QaFCaRN) in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, uncovered the legacy of Expo 67.
Expo 67 became the most successful international exhibition of the century, welcoming nearly 55 million visitors and acting as a harbinger of the contemporary global age.
The resolutely forward-facing legacy of Expo 67 nevertheless hides a number of surprising encounters between traditional representations of the nation – the principal underpinning of previous world’s fairs – and the various new and old media fortuitously developed on that temporary ‘world stage’.
Dr Craig Moyes, Director of the Quebec and French Canada Research Network (QaFCaRN)
Created out of nothing on three man-made islands on the St Lawrence River, the exhibition made use of experimental architecture, which played a key role in its popularity.
Buckminster Fuller created a geodesic dome to house the US Pavilion. (Image: Wikicommons/Laurent Bélanger)
Other popular aspects include cutting-edge audiovisual technologies. More than 3,000 films were made for the fair, spread across two thirds of its pavilions.
The event became an object of fascination for contemporary cultural theorists like Marshall McLuhan and Umberto Eco.
