Swiss Pavilion

2011 EXPO Milano

Status:

Competition

Categories:
  • exhibition / design
  • culture / education
  • public / urban

…I enter through a hole; it gets dark and cool, and many people next to me are moving in the same stream in the same direction. It is like a tunnel into an unknown world. Projections surround me and make me curious about what awaits me. As I walk on, the air gets more and more humid, and I feel small drops of water on my face. Curious, I look ahead; in the dark I can slowly make out a glittering. After a few metres the tunnel suddenly turns, and as I step around the corner the space opens up before me and I can hardly believe I was just in a dark tunnel. I also see what caused the mysterious glittering: in front of me lies a crystal-clear lake. Light falls through an opening into the large interior and is reflected by the water in all directions. In some places the lake is barely recognisable, so strongly does its surface mirror its surroundings. Suddenly I notice that what I see is not just reflections of the interior and the people in the pavilion, but various images and film sequences emerging from the lake itself. I stop and immerse myself in the stories of the lake. Everything merges – the landscape, the lake, the stories – and I am right in the middle of it. When I can finally tear myself away, I don't know whether minutes or hours have passed…