“There's no denying that world fairs are a bit out of fashion these days. Who would still want to compete for the palm in the field of these multi-million-euro enterprises?” So wrote Director General Alexander Gavard in the official guide to the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva in 1896.

Each of the previous five Swiss National Exhibitions was jeopardised in the course of its conception and completion and had to fight for its justification. In retrospect, however, each national exhibition received a positive response and its historical characteristics only became understandable in retrospect - such as Landi 39 in the sense of creating a national identity and spiritual national defence or Expo 64 in the sense of belief in technological progress.

In this respect, Expo.02 is therefore part of a historical continuity. And we can be optimistic that it will be remembered favourably in retrospect - even if it is not understood today or cannot yet be understood.

Nevertheless, the question of why we need another Expo is of course justified. What can a national exhibition be at the beginning of the third millennium, and how can we today, in a globalising world, address national identity in the context of a decentralised exhibition at four locations?

No ready-made answers and no recipes

One thing is clear from the outset: the idea of an exhibition of achievements, as celebrated at previous national exhibitions, is out of the question. If anything, Expo.02 is a cultural exhibition. "We want Expo.02 to be a manifestation of solidarity and faith in the future of our country over and above the linguistic borders on the threshold of the new century” (Federal Council resolution of 04.10.1999). The far-reaching technological, scientific and economic developments of recent decades call for a reflection on the situation of society - also and especially in Switzerland. A national exhibition cannot provide ready-made answers or recipes, otherwise it would degenerate into an empty compulsory exercise. But it can possibly ask the right questions, it can try to bring culture, business and politics into dialogue with each other and convince them that Expo.02 can be sustainable, meaningful and attractive.

Expo.02 is interesting when it is topical, i.e. when it succeeds in addressing the needs, wishes and sensitivities of our time. In this sense, it is a social and aesthetic experiment and a festival for the whole country - an attractive, physically real and at the same time artificial temporary location that combines spaces, images, music, spectacles, shopping and restaurants to create a unique world of experience: for 159 days.

^{2001: Martin Heller, Directeur Artistique Expo.02}