I would like to once again walk through the “World of Tomorrow” exhibit that was in the Washington State Pavilion during the fair. It was a multi-media presentation that addressed concerns like overpopulation, pollution, energy and food production. This really could be under the categories of Global Health, Science/Technology, & Sustainability.
The sound track, which started off with a child asking questions and an adult responding, moved from speaker to speaker as different pictures on the walls lit up and then went dark. Each group of people was led along by the sequence of pictures and the moving narrative that described the challenges mankind would face in the future and how we might be able to meet those challenges.
In 1963, after the Seattle World’s Fair was over, I was dismayed to hear that the cluster of metallic cubes that housed the World of Tomorrow had been removed so that the pavilion could be rebuilt into a sports venue, and that the exhibit no longer existed. My mother told me, “This is ‘tomorrow’ – now we have to go make those things happen.”
It would be fun to walk through that multi-media presentation again to see how close it was to what we have experienced over the ensuing half century. No need to have the Bubbleator lift groups of 100 people up into a cluster of cubes suspended over huge pools of water – just a flat walk-through would work. I think that KIRO 710 radio might have the soundtrack (at least I know they did a few years ago). And someone once suggested that the Washington State Historical Society might have the photographs that were used. And I believe that the World of Tomorrow might have actually been the France exhibit for the fair, even though it was in the Washington State Pavilion – so maybe France has some record of it. To get into the proper frame of mind before entering the exhibit it would help to have some 1962 music playing, and some examples of 1962 arts and culture (& perhaps a few restored cars). Then, after walking through it, people would be thrust into – you got it – “Tommorow”, the actual 21st Century!
This post was submitted by blairj.
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