You begin with a blank sheet of paper, and when finished, you should have an exhibition which communicates an attractive digest of Sweden. Imagine that you should consider how to present Sweden to an audience that doesn’t know very much about us, and that will apply partly different frames of reference. This is an exciting and demanding task, and that is how we approached it nearly two years ago.

Now a large share of the nations of the World has presented their views on the main theme devised by the Chinese organisers, ”Better City, Better Life.” So we are talking about Shanghai, where the sum of all these nations’ brand building efforts can be viewed at the 2010 World Expo. This is a truly inspirational excursion for all of the seventy million visitors who are expected to attend the Expo.

It is exciting to walk around the Expo area reflecting on how creatives, architects, communicators, et el, have reasoned, and how they interpret the potential of their respective countries. In the case of Sweden, this deals with the Swedish drive to innovate – Spirit of Innovation.

Sweden tells the story of the small country with large companies and well-known brands. This is a story about values and world-class innovations which is presented in a down-to-earth fashion. Many other nations have elected to put technology on center stage, with giant LCD monitors and audiovisual presentations of different aspects of their countries.

There are also countries that put all their efforts into a single, great experience. Estonia lets visitors sing Karaoke. Great Britain has its giant Seed Cathedral, which reminds us about The Millennium seed bank project, with the goal to collect seeds from each growing species on Earth. Denmark has received a lot of attention by shipping their Little Mermaid statue all the way to Shanghai – together with millions of liters of clean harbour water from the capital.

Bengt Frithiofsson tasting Chinese red wine. By Tobias Andersson Akerblom.

I would like to add some advice if you plan an inspirational trip to Shanghai to see how the world imagines the future. You should set aside at least five days for the visit. Prepare yourself and consider what you would like to see. Then spend three days to attend the Expo. At the Expo site, there are long queues to the pavilions, so you will be helped by knowing which ones to go for. There are also plenty of experiences at hand even on the outside of pavilions. It is, as someone expressed, an amusement park with intellectual content.

The two days remaining you should save for experiencing Shanghai, with its mix of an old trading port with a colonial past, and a dynamic metropolis of the 21st century.

Indulge in this atmosphere by performing morning exercises in the park and discover exciting foods from all over China. My personal favourite is the Yunnan cuisine, which is reminiscent of Thai and Vietnamese food.
You can download Springtime’s own Shanghai City guide at http://springtime.nu/ladda-ner/taxiguider-i-kina/. There you find some useful advice and small treasures that will facilitate your stay.

Carin Lembre

Carin Lembre sitting on the traditional carved horse outside the expo.

Carin Lembre recently returned home from Shanghai, where she has spent the past few months to complete the exhibition at the Swedish pavilion in time for the opening of the World Expo. Carin has acted as project manager for this assignment, which was awarded to Springtime by the Committee for Sweden’s Participation in World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The assignment has been carried out in close cooperation with Futurniture, Tengbom and Eastwei Relations.