Expo 2000 – 20 Years Later

Expo 2000 in Hanover was a symbol of a promising, sustainable future. It began as a major urban development project with international appeal. But how has this promise evolved over the last two decades? On November 7th, 2023, the exhibition “Expo 2000 – 20 Years Later” with photographic works by Piet Niemann will open at the BDA Galerie Hamburg. He shows selected large-format motifs from his illustrated book recently published by Kerber Verlag, which represents a photographic inventory of the Expo site in Hanover 20 years after the 2000 World Exhibition. His photographs from 2020 are not only a visual documentation, but also a call to reflect on the dimensions of such world exhibitions and the responsibility towards the environment and urban society.

At a time when the construction sector is responsible for around 40 percent of global CO2 emissions and issues such as circular economy, material shortages and reuse are in global focus, Piet Niemann's work provides a current context for discussions about sustainability and responsibility in construction. Expo 2000 was a symbol of a promising, sustainable future. But how has this promise evolved over the last two decades? Piet Niemann's photographs from 2020 are not only visual documents, but they also invite us to think about the implementation and fulfillment of this promise.

Piet Niemann, who has already worked for well-known architectural firms such as Zaha Hadid Architects (London) and Delugan Meissl Associated Architects (Vienna), is not only known as an architectural photographer, but also for his freelance long-term projects with a macro-sociological reference. His characteristic approach is characterized by distant and sober observations that reflect the social and architectural changes in our environment.

In his latest work, Niemann looks at the changes on the Expo site with this distanced gaze and presents them in a 128-page illustrated book. His photographs show not only the abandoned pavilions, but also the traces of nature that has reclaimed the site. These images are a reminder of the transience and at the same time the resilience of the built environment. “Expo 2000 – 20 Years Later” is not only a look back, but also an urgent call to reflect on our responsibility towards the environment and the limited resources we use.

Opening: 07.11.2023, 7pm
Speaker: Sven Thorissen (Studio Director Germany at MVRDV)