EXPO SHANGHAI 2010: INTENSIVE GAZES.

VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL

I had always seen so many pristine and untainted image of the perfect renderings and photos about the World Expo Shanghai 2010, but when I was there I was captivated by the diverse repertoire of textures, colors and shapes that many pavilions offered when taking a closer look, pausing before the swarming frenzy of the crowds that invaded the fairgrounds.

Danish Pavilion

"Intensive gazes", in terms of Architect Helio Piñon (that I happen to learn through my friend Aldo Facho), is a vision that "seeks to guide the eye to be able to understand the relationship of the components that generate the architectural form." .

Finnish Pavilion

EXPO SHANGHAI 2010: MIRADAS INTENSIVAS / INTENSIVE GAZES / 強烈な視線 is also my first photographic exhibition to be presented (almost) simultaneously in Peru and Japan.

• 10 Nov.: Altos del Portal of the Municipality. Plaza de Armas of Arequipa, Peru.
• 22 Nov.-11 Dec.: Galería-Café Anonima. Kyoto, Japan.

Esta selección intenta ver la Expo Shanghai 2010 en una forma diferente, a través de una mirada más cercana e íntima. Aquí, las imágenes conocidas de los pabellones se vuelven menos evidentes que sus detalles, texturas y colores. Un juego de luz y sombras, invitándole a mirar la Expo más intensivamente.

This selection is an attempt to see the Expo Shanghai 2010 in a different way, through a closer and more intimate look. Here, the usual broad view of the pavilions become less evident than their details, textures and colors. A game of light and shadows, inviting you to gaze the Expo more intensively.

この選択は、より親密に近い外観を介して別の方法で上海万博2010を参照してくださいする試みです。ここでは、パビリオンの通常の広範なビューには、その詳細、テクスチャや色をより明らかになる。にご招待光と影のゲームは、より集中的に万博の視線。

Many thanks to my sisters, Katiuska and Monica Zeballos, and to the architect Carlos Rodriguez for their monumental support to make this exhibition possible in Arequipa. I also thank to Jimena Mora, Oki Nakamura and Angélica Naka for their kind assistance in carrying out the exhibition in Kyoto. I will also be very grateful to all visitors who attend this event.

Spanish pavilion

THE ORIENTAL PEARL, SHANGHAI

VERSIÓN EN ESPAÑOL

Shanghai is a fascinating city, considered the engine of modern China and the world's largest port since 2005. Although it began as a modest fishing village, in 1553 it became an important city and a wall was built around it.

Map of Shanghai during the Ming Dynasty.
Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center.

uring the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the city had a rapid development, becoming one of the most important points for China's trade with the West, especially after the First Opium War .

At this time the so-called Bund district was developed (a name deriving from Urdu language, that means a platform silting parallel to a river), located on the banks of the Huangpu River. This was a concession area immune to the Chinese legal system and therefore a favorite location for the settlement of foreigners. The Bund has dozens of historical buildings, mainly commercial banks and colonial architecture of the late nineteenth century.

Opposite the Bund, on the other side of the Huangpu River, the Pudong district is located, which until just 15 years ago was a rural plot with slum places and abandoned industrial areas, and now houses the most important commercial center of Shanghai.

Pudong's urban landscape today resembles that of any modern metropolis, increasingly removing Shanghai from its title of "traditional city" (as the Chinese government declared it in 1982).

An underwater tunnel connects the Bund to Pudong, and is quite a bizarre experience going through it, given its psychedelic lighting effects.

In the impressive, exotic, yet quirky skyline of Pudong, stands the Oriental Pearl Tower, built between 1991-95. With its 468 meters is one of the tallest towers in Asia and eighth in the world.

See location on Google Maps

Designed by Jia Huan Cheng of the Shanghai Modern Architectural Design Co. Ltd., who used a contemporary architectural design but based on the ancient Chinese tradition.

Thus, the Pearl of the Orient together with the Yangpu Bridge in the northeast andNanpu Bridge in the southwest, symbolize "two dragons playing with pearls falling from the sky on a jade plate.

Indeed, the design is composed of eight spheres or "pearls" of different sizes, crimped by three strong columns 9 meters in diameter.

The highest sphere is an observatory of 14 m in diameter, called the Space Module located 350 meters high, from where I was able to see fantastic views of the city, especially the Bund.

The second sphere, 45 m in diameter, contains a revolving restaurant at 263 m high and completes one rotation every hour. Also, there is a second viewpoint called the Sightseeing Floor, at 259 m.

These are followed by a series of smaller areas, which are the rooms of the Space Hotel.

The largest sphere (50 m in diameter) is a third observatory located 90 m and is called the Space City and accommodates a futuristic city.

Finally, other three areas are mounted on the auxiliary supports, which are supporting the tower at its base like a tripod and resting on a base of grass.

Some observers, especially Westerners, have criticized the unique aesthetics of the tower, calling it "tacky stick," a "50s futuristic Buck Rogers-style".

However, many others admire the "almost magical beauty of its beautiful spheres, which glisten like rubies ascending to heaven" in addition to their "colorful lighting, which is reflected in the waters of the river."

The truth is that, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris which was originally qualified "monstrosity", the Oriental Pearl has become the most representative landmark of Shanghai, attracting more than 3 million visitors a year. It has been a great business, as well as an excellent TV transmitter: its construction costed $ 100 million, and today is valued at more than $ 6,000 million.

Beyond its formal characteristics, no one can deny the social success of the tower in transforming an abandoned area in the downtown riverfront into an attractive place where permanent cultural activity has favored the economic development of both Pudong and the Bund itself.

SEE ALSO:

- TOWERS, SKYSCRAPERS, MONUMENTS

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