Exhibiting development : artistic expressions and development dilemmas in world expositions since 2005

Abstract

Global development is the broad concept of creating a good life for everyone. However, the complex realities of contemporary development and its diverse interpretations and approaches have made it difficult to reach the varying objectives of what makes a life good. The debates within the development field reveal a need to broadly examine and experiment with the concepts and ideas of development, particularly in other spaces and realms. On the premise that aesthetics and creative expression are forces of knowledge production and social change, this study reveals the role immersive art has in catalyzing development dilemmas and the ways art can create alternative spatial, political, cultural, social spaces in which to examine and experiment with the complex realities of development.

As historical broadcasters of wider development discourse and discussion, this thesis attempts to understand the influences behind the temporal and specially built environments at World Expositions. Four distinct pavilion case studies suggest the ways in which these artistic spaces are in dialogue with contemporary development ideas regarding well-being and sustainability over the last twenty years. By using a methodological approach called multimodal visual discourse analysis, I explore the political, historical, cultural, artistic, and design contexts driving the formation of World Expo pavilions as well as their interactive and immersive features. This thesis offers a detailed study of the alternative domains that are communicating and interacting with contemporary global development concepts and suggests a potentially powerful, multifaceted role for arts-based research in the field of global development.