I have seen the future
A photographic exhibition showing the remains of the World's Fairs throughout history.
PAST TEMPORARY EXHIBITION
21/06/2023 > 03/11/2024
From June 2023 to November 2024, Quebec artist Ève Cadieux took over a sphere of the Atomium to present her vision of the World’s Fairs that have left their mark on both North America and Europe. ‘I Have Seen the Future’*: a photographic installation, the mirror of an idealized future.
Photographer Ève Cadieux’s fascination with World’s Fairs began not far from her home in Montreal. In 1967, before she was even born, her father was a regular visitor to the 1967 International and Universal Exposition in that city. At the time, he captured on slides fragments of a world with futuristic overtones. As a child, Ève Cadieux loved listening to the anecdotes her parents told and she even had the opportunity to visit the vestiges of Expo 67.
While in Seville in 2015, Ève Cadieux suddenly decided to track down the traces of the World’s Fair held there in 1992. That is when she realized that her fascination went far beyond 1967 and Montreal. She threw herself into a project that she had been nurturing for many years: to go in search of architectural gems taken over by nature, abandoned exhibition sites, and pavilions that had been moved or repurposed.
In her artistic approach, Ève Cadieux favours two approaches and becomes an "archaeologist-artist": either she focuses on the memorial object, or she looks at places in transition and their remains. ‘I Have Seen the Future’ ties in with this notion of transition. With each planned visit, Ève Cadieux gathers documentation. She knows that nothing lasts forever. She records, as if they were markers, these places which initially were destined to be dismantled once the lights had been turned off, so to speak.
The artist’s installation was designed for the Atomium. Instead of simply hanging photographs on the walls, Ève Cadieux wanted to establish a dialogue with the architecture of this setting. The scenography gave an important place to the marriage of light and the works.
Of all the vestiges of World’s Fairs, the Atomium is one of the lucky ones. Its heritage value was recognized early on and it received funding from all levels of power in Belgium. It escaped demolition and was thoroughly renovated in 2006.
The result: some 650,000 visitors per year and an opportunity to enjoy unbeatable views of Brussels. This photographic installation was also an opportunity to see Ève Cadieux’s uncompromising view of a universal phenomenon.
*’I Have Seen the Future’ is the slogan that appeared on the pins of the Futurama exhibit and ride at the 1939–40 New York World’s Fair.
Ève Cadieux thanks the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Délégation générale du Québec à Bruxelles for their support in the production of "I have seen the future"
