The chemical industry wanted to present itself in a positive light at the EXPO. facts and fiction took the lead in designing a concept for this event and invented ChemiDrom: a fascinating eight-minute journey through historical achievements, innovations and future scenarios in computer-controlled gondolas.
Our lives today are hardly imaginable without chemistry. And yet the chemistry between the industry and public perception is not good and the field suffers from a bad reputation. The VCI (German Chemical Industry Association) wanted to change this. The ‘Human Being’ theme park at the EXPO aimed at presenting the industry in a positive light.
In its element, facts and fiction took a sheet of paper and invented a world of experience related to chemistry. Following the title ‘You are chemistry – Life is chemistry‘ the programme consciously avoided glorification or exhibitionism. On the contrary, the goal was to make the abstract world of chemistry sensorial and emotional.
Over a four-year period with countless ideas and 30 tons of steel, we developed the ChemiDrom - an elliptical tube that was nothing less than a 250-metre drive-through film.
10,000 enthusiastic visitors per day – a total of 1.2 million during the whole EXPO – dived into the chemical processes in the human brain in rotating computer-controlled gondolas in order to experience the achievements of chemistry and also the difficulties it has faced. In the course of the eight-minute trip, they marvelled at historical achievements, innovations and future scenarios presented in over 50 films and multi-media scenery and accompanied by scents, motion and surround sound.
The reaction: VCI were delighted as the Emnid survey showing the total satisfaction of the ChemiDrom visitors proved.