Photo: © Stefan Schilling
In Japan, Austria is regarded as a country of music, characterized by the first and second Viennese classical periods. In combination with the motto of the Expo - “Creating Society for Future Lives” - this perception of the country has given rise to the central leitmotif of the Austrian pavilion: “Austria - Composing the Future”
– In Austria, the future is not “designed”, here it is composed.
The Austrian pavilion takes its guests from the past to the future, from the known to the unknown, from the classical music of the 18th and 19th centuries to a contemporary, modern Austria.
Austria – Composing the Future
The Austrian pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka
Client: Austrian Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy and Tourism and Austrian Federal Economic Chamber
Year: 2025
Pavilions and world exhibitions
In front of the pavilion, guests are greeted by an oversized musical band. The iconic spiral sculpture swings dramatically upwards and introduces the theme of the pavilion – music. The inner surface of the 16-metre-high wooden sculpture is designed as a staff of notes on which the first bars of Beethoven's Ode to Joy can be seen. As an unmissable supersign, the sculpture makes the pavilion and its theme highly visible throughout the Expo site.
Inside, the ribbon guides guests through the three exhibition rooms. The first room focuses on relations between Austria and Japan – and their musical beginnings. In 1869, Emperor Franz Josef presented the tenno with a grand piano – complete with pianist. Accordingly, a historical grand piano can be heard to great effect in the center of the first interior room. There is music – in the truest sense of the word – in the relationship between the two countries!
In the second room, oversized sheet music presents unexpected innovations and surprising technologies from Austria as interactive exhibits – as an important location for business and innovation, the country has much more to offer than just music.
Finally, in the third room, visitors are invited to contribute to the composition of the future themselves. Which topics are particularly important, what kind of future do they want? Through their choices, the visitors influence both the visual presentation of the room and the music in the room. Together, those present create their own personal composition of the future, an emotional musical arrangement, a visually stunning show, which of course also shows the innovative power and beauty of Austria.
bwm Architekten from Vienna is responsible for the architecture of the pavilion. They have commissioned facts and fiction to develop and design the exhibition in the pavilion. Nüssli is responsible for implementation. The client is the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber.