Germany and Austria: facts and fiction to Design Two Pavilions for Expo 2027 Belgrade
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With more than 25 years of expo experience, facts and fiction will once again be involved in two national presentations at the 2027 expo in the Serbian capital of Belgrade. The agency is developing the concept and design for the German and Austrian pavilions and will be responsible for overall planning and implementation.
The next international expo is to be held in Belgrade between 15 May and 15 August 2027. Under the title ‘Play for Humanity – Sport and Music for All’, the first expo to take place in Southeast Europe will be centred on the power that games, sport and music have in bringing people together.
Germany! Out of the Box.
The German Pavilion at Expo 2027 is titled ‘Germany! Out of the Box’. This concept translates the overriding expo theme ‘Play for Humanity – Sport and Music for All’ into an independent German narrative: the role of games as a cultural technology and as a starting point for innovation.
New ideas come about through playing without constraints, which frees up space for curiosity, experimentation and changing perspectives – and for solutions that come from calling existing rules and regulations into question. In this way, ‘thinking out of the box’ becomes the central idea of the German presentation.
The pavilion also approaches this concept from a spatial perspective – the architecture looks like a solid body from which elements grow out in Germany’s official colours. Inside, the exhibition opens up into a ‘playground of innovation’: also following the design theme of boxes, it showcases German innovations relating to the key expo themes of sport and music and allows them to be experienced through playing.
Each architectural box is devoted to an innovation, a theme and an interaction. The content framework is provided by companies, start-ups or research institutions from Germany, while ambassadors from the realms of sport, music or science help to make the themes more accessible. In this way, the pavilion demonstrates how innovation can emerge from games, imagination and new perspectives.
Marco Hückel, Managing Partner at facts and fiction.
Join the Flow: Austria combines ideas, regions and the future
The Austrian pavilion translates the central strategic idea, ‘Österreich schafft Spielraum’ – a word play that can mean both ‘Austria creates space to play’ or ‘Austria provides room to manoeuvre’ – into a spatial, theme-based experience. The starting point is the Danube river, which combines Austria and Serbia, shaping a shared cultural and economic region while also representing the free flow of people, knowledge, ideas and cooperations.
The narrative motif ‘Join the Flow’ leads visitors through the pavilion. A media-generated river visual joins up the individual exhibition areas, allowing Austria to be experienced from different perspectives at interactive stations. Here, Austria presents itself as a future-oriented centre of business, industry, innovation and culture that combines technological expertise with creativity, education, sustainability and a high quality of life.
Rather than focusing on showcasing Austrian achievements, the pavilion can be seen as an open platform for human interaction, dialogue and collaboration. It shows how new ideas can come about by bringing together different perspectives and how Austria and its partners are developing answers to economic, social and technological questions relating to the future. Throughout the expo, the flexible InnoLab provides space for alternating projects from business, industry, research and innovation. On selected days, it can also be used as a teaching, art or sustainability laboratory. In this way, Austrian companies, research institutions, educational institutions and creative artists have the chance to present their ideas in an international environment and to initiate new collaborations.
Austria’s contribution positions it as a reliable neighbour and builder of bridges between Central Europe, the Danube area and Southeast Europe. Accordingly, Expo 2027 in Belgrade is set to become an important platform for further strengthening the economic, cultural and social ties between Serbia and the region as a whole.
Alf Netek, project manager of Austria’s expo presentation
First-class expo work
The two country participations at Expo 2027 in Belgrade take up where facts and fiction’s most recent success left off: the German Pavilion for the Expo 2025 in Osaka was awarded the Grand Prix in the Spatial Experience category at the Art Directors Club Competition 2026. The work was among the Top 10 of this year’s submissions and was second in the overall ranking. facts and fiction was awarded a total of seven prestigious ADC Nails for the German Pavilion. As well as this, the Austrian Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka received three Nails at the Art Directors Club Competition 2026.
The Expo works won a whole host of other prizes at events such as the BrandEx Award, the German Design Award, the iF Communication Design Award, the Exhibit Design Award, the World Expo Awards, the World Expolympics Awards, the BIE Awards and the ICONIC AWARDS. The German Pavilion alone has been singled out for more than 20 awards to date. The international recognition received by the Austrian presentation also provides a solid foundation for the further conceptual design of the pavilion for Belgrade.
Over 25 years of expo experience
facts and fiction has more than a quarter of a century of expo experience to its credit. The agency designed its first pavilion for the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) at the Expo 2000 in Hanover. Since then, facts and fiction has been involved in a great many country participations at international expos. These include the German Pavilion at Expo 2012 in Yeosu, pavilions for Monaco and Kazakhstan at Expo 2015 in Milan, pavilions for France and Azerbaijan at Expo 2017 in Astana and national presentations for Germany, Monaco, Belgium and Jordan at Expo 2020 in Dubai. facts and fiction was involved in no fewer than three country participations at Expo 2025 in Osaka, working on pavilions for Germany, Austria and the European Union. With the forthcoming Expo 2027 in Belgrade, facts and fiction is writing a new chapter with its German and Austrian pavilions.
Dietmar Jähn, Managing Partner at facts and fiction
Background information on the German Pavilion
Messe Düsseldorf GmbH has been commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) to organise and run the German Pavilion at Expo 2027 in Belgrade. Laumann / Scheßl / Weismüller will be overseeing the construction work for the project. Cologne-based facts and fiction GmbH has been entrusted with the concept, planning and implementation of the interior and exterior design. SDE – Studio for Designed Environments – is responsible for the architecture. The pavilion restaurant and shop will be operated by 78degrees.
Background information on the Austrian Pavilion
The Austrian contribution to Expo 2027 in Belgrade is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics, Energy and Tourism and the Austrian Economic Chamber. The Expo Office of the Austrian Economic Chamber has been charged with the project management and overall coordination of the Austrian presentation. As general contractor, facts and fiction is responsible for designing, planning and implementing the pavilion. PLANET architects in Vienna will be in charge of the architectural design and also for planning and supervising construction. ZONE Media will be responsible for designing and producing media content, including programming, support and maintenance.
About facts and fiction
Founded in Cologne in 1992, facts and fiction is an interdisciplinary creative agency with a permanent team of over 70 people at its Cologne and Berlin offices. facts and fiction designs and implements innovative analogue and digital projects for the areas of art, culture, business and science. Here, it focuses on museums and exhibitions, expo pavilions, events, exhibits and digital solutions for participatory and individualised experiences.
facts and fiction developed the German, Austrian and EU pavilions for Expo 2025, which took place in Osaka, Japan, between April and October of last year. The agency has 25 years of expo experience and, with the latest addition of Japan, has now been responsible for a total of 13 country participations. Major past projects in the field of public museums and exhibitions include the German Mining Museum in Bochum and the Berlin Exhibition in the Humboldt Forum in Berlin. The agency is currently working on the Zeppelin Tribune and Zeppelin Field, a place of learning and interaction in Nuremberg, and on permanent exhibitions for both the Museum Of Natural History in Basel and the Buddenbrookhaus museum in Lübeck. In Berlin, facts and fiction is also active in political communication, where it has been commissioned by ministries, institutions and associations with the task of developing a wide range of analogue, hybrid and digital event formats and exhibitions in the context of political discourse. In 2025, it once again secured the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWE) account there.
facts and fiction has implemented more than 700 projects in 50 countries and its work has already been singled out for numerous prizes such as the BIE Award, the iF Communication Award, the Art Directors Club Competition, the Galaxy Award and the Red Dot Award. In 2026, the German Pavilion for the Expo 2025 in Osaka was awarded the Grand Prix in the Spatial Experience category at the Art Directors Club Competition 2026 as well as a total of seven ADC Nails. The Austrian Pavilion at the Expo 2025 won a further three Nails.
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