Danish Pavilion - a loop, a velodrome and an interactive fairytale

The Danish pavilion will be more than just an exhibition. Through interaction, the visitors are able to try some of Denmark’s best attractions – the city bike, the harbor bath, the nature playground and the picnic. The bike is a venacular means of transportation and a national symbol – common to Denmark and China. In recent years, it suffered a very different fate in the two countries. While Copenhagen is striving to become the world’s leading bike city, heavy motor traffic is rising in Shanghai, where the car has become a symbol of wealth. With the pavilion, we relaunch the bike in Shanghai as a symbol of modern lifestyle and sustainable urban development. Visitors can use the pavilion’s more than hundred city bikes free of charge during EXPO 2010.

Both Shanghai and Copenhagen are harbor cities. However, in Denmark, harbor parks and cultural institutions have replaced the polluting activities in the harbor, and as a result, the water has become clean enough to swim in. In the heart of the pavilion is the Harbour Pool. The Chinese can dip their toes in the Harbour Pool and not only hear about clean water but actually feel and taste it. The Little Mermaid will be sitting in the middle of the Harbour Pool exactly as she does in the harbour of Copenhagen. It is the original Little Mermaid visiting China as a concrete example of the idea that the Danish pavilion contains the real experience of the Danish city life. The idea to move The Little Mermaid from Copenhagen to Shanghai is a gesture of cultural generosity and also an invitation to a cultural dialogue between Denmark and China. While the mermaid is in Shanghai an exchange installation by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will take her place in Copenhagen.

The pavilion is constructed as a monolithic self-supporting construction in white-painted steel. The synthetic light-blue coating used in Denmark for bicycle paths will cover the roof. Inside, the floor will appear in epoxy, the light-blue bicycle path respectively. The sequence of events at the exhibition takes place between two parallel facades – the internal and external. The internal is closed and contains different functions of the pavilion. The width varies and is defined by the programme of the inner space. The external facade, pavilion’s facade outwards, is made of perforated steel that represents/reflects a Danish city silhouette. In the evening time, the indoor activity of the pavilion will be illuminated for passers-by.