From April 13 to October 13, Belgium is showing off its best at the Osaka World Expo. And this includes the companies involved in designing the scenography of the Belgian pavilion. A consortium of five companies.

Video mapping studio Dirty Monitor has teamed up with Barco, Profirst, Tempora and Show Tex to offer visitors a unique immersive experience on the theme of health.

Each company is an expert in its own field, complementing the others in the design of spaces and experiences.

• Dirty Monitor is an artists' collective founded in Charleroi in 2004. Pioneers in digital art and video mapping, their high-profile collaborations with major Belgian art directors such as Luc Petit and Franco Dragone have enabled them to spread their know-how around the world, including on the world's tallest tower: the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Since 2016, Dirty Monitor has also been active in the creation of immersive exhibitions.
• Profirst is a Belgian events and communications agency. Combining art direction, strategy and high-end production, each event is designed as an effective communication lever to reinforce brand image. Specializing in luxury, fashion and beauty, Profirst enjoys a worldwide reputation thanks to its many international clients.
• Tempora is a Belgian agency specializing in the design, production, promotion and management of exhibitions and cultural facilities. Based in Brussels, it develops major projects both in Belgium and internationally. Every year, the company welcomes more than 800,000 visitors to the sites and exhibitions it manages.
• ShowTex is active in the entertainment and events industry, and is a world leader in the invention, manufacture, sale and installation of innovative fireproof curtains. Its sewing workshops enable the rapid production of top-of-the-range, made-to-measure scenic elements. Also a supplier of technical elements and stage lighting, ShowTex is an excellent example of Belgian know-how, in constant search of innovation.
• Barco, based in Kortrijk, began by assembling radios from parts imported from the USA, hence the name “Barco” (Belgium American Radio Corporation). Today, this Belgian company specializing in digital projection and imaging technology focuses on entertainment, business and healthcare.

Under the banner of Human Regeneration, the Belgian pavilion explores the art of restoring, enhancing and extending human life. It's an immersive plunge into the heart of tomorrow's technologies: those that prevent disease, repair the body and push back the frontiers of what's possible. Through cutting-edge innovations in biotechnology, medical and pharmaceutical research, Belgium is establishing itself as a key player in global health.

To create the scenography, Dirty Monitor and the other companies were inspired by Japanese art. “We decided to play on metaphor and draw inspiration from Kintsugi. It's a traditional art that repairs broken objects with gold. We make the connection with someone who has been ill or is missing a limb. Today, it is repaired and becomes stronger again. The links are stronger and it shows that it's becoming a unique object. It's a way of valuing the person who has been healed. The Kintsugi aesthetic is really our common thread,” explains Orphée Cataldo, founder and CEO of Dirty Monitor.

 (c) BelExpo

“In more detail, visitors first arrive in an atrium featuring a large fountain, vegetation and plant walls. Water is the symbol of life. Life is born and endures thanks to water. Next, we talk about Belgium and vaccines. Belgium is one of the world's biggest exporters of vaccines, and one of its biggest customers is Japan. So we're trying to show in the set design what unites the Belgians and the Japanese. In each scene, we use a mannequin as a support. It symbolizes the person,” explains Orphée Cataldo.

While Dirty Monitor has already taken part in World's Fairs for one-off events, this is the first time the studio has been involved in the design of a pavilion. “We thought it was a bit disappointing in Dubai. So we thought we'd roll up our sleeves and come up with something for our country to be proud of. For six months, the scenography of the Belgian pavilion is a bit like our showroom, which we can show off. We enjoyed the experience, and we'd like to do more for the next Expo, and not just for Belgium,” concludes Orphée Cataldo.

Isabelle Anneet (AWEX)