LA TOMORROW-When the writer Henry Adams visited the 1893 Chicago's World's Fair, he found his reaction to it "uncommonly complicated." He wrote to his friend Lucy Baxter:
A pure white temple, on the pure blue sea, with an Italian sky, all vast and beautiful as the world never saw it before, and in it the most astounding, confused, bewildering mass of art and industry, without a sign that there was any connection, relation or harmony or understanding of the relations of anything anywhere. I wonder whether the 20,000,000 visitors carried off the same sense [of chaos] that I did.
This was the Columbian Exposition, the most famous World's Fair in history. In the midst of a slumping economy and growing awareness of urban poverty, it introduced electricity to the masses and valorized productive urban life (Daniel Burnham launched his iteration of "City Beautiful" there).
What perplexed a prominent 19th century intellectual would later be understood as having ushered in the 20th century.
This might help frame the news of a fundraising kick-off for a 2022 World's Fair in Los Angeles. A group of venture capitalists, architects, engineers, and marketing gurus, under the name Los Angeles World's Fair (LAWF), are brewing plans for a two-year fair showing off the technology and culture of the future—including a Hyperloop, “3D-printed gourmet delicacies,” and self-driving cars. Theme: "The Connected City."
Right now, they're trying to pull together $100,000 on Indiegogo to support economic and architectural feasibility studies for their plans, which sound as chaotic and Quixotic as Adams' take on Chicago circa 1893. (Read the rest here)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 33
Pub: Apr 21, 2015
