‘World’s Fairs: Visions of Tomorrow’ showcases the architecture & design of major international expositions | News

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Children’s book, New York World’s Fair: Make-A-Model Book: Construct a Beautiful World’s Fair Display in Miniature, 1963, Barry Martin Associates, Inc., Rumson, New York, designer
Spertus Publishing Company, New York City, publisher
General Offset Printin

A new exhibition at The Wolfsonian–Florida International University (FIU) is currently on view in Miami, showcasing the wonders of 19th and 20th-century world’s fairs.

Called World’s Fairs: Visions of Tomorrow, the exhibition draws from The Wolfsonian’s collection of world’s fair materials and features nearly 80 works, including posters, design drawings, photographs, ephemera, sculpture, souvenirs, and furniture. The eight major international expositions included in the exhibition are Paris 1889, Barcelona 1929, Chicago 1933-34, New York 1939-40, Brussels 1958, New York 1964-65, Montréal 1967, and Spokane 1974.

Poster, Exposición Internacional Barcelona Mayo-Diciembre, 1929 [Barcelona International Exhibition, May–December 1929], 1929 Rieusset S.A., Barcelona, printer, Offset lithograph, The Wolfsonian–FIU, The Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, 85.4.94

The world’s fair materials will be showcased alongside a video installation called After Utopia by contemporary artist Marco Brambilla, a virtual expo of iconic structures from fairs held across time and around the world. After Utopia will open in the fall for Miami Art Week.

Postcard, Expo67, Montréal, Canada, 1967, Benjamin News Co. Ltd., Montréal, publisher, The Wolfsonian–FIU, Gift of Silvia Barisione, XC2025.05.2

“As Osaka, Japan hosts the latest world’s fair, Expo 2025, with its theme ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’ and a focus on developments in artificial intelligence, it seems only fitting that we open an exhibition centered around the utopian visions of earlier expositions,” Wolfsonian Chief Librarian Francis Xavier Luca noted.

Leaflet, I Came. .I Saw. . I Was Amazed, 1933, Servel Sales, Inc., Evansville, Indiana, publisher, The Wolfsonian–FIU, Gift of James and Martha Sweeny, XC2017.01.2.272

“This show displays examples of some of the iconic futuristic structures of fairs — including the Eiffel Tower (Paris, 1889), the Trylon and Perisphere (New York, 1939–40) and the Atomium (Brussels, 1958) — in conversation with Marco Brambilla’s forthcoming video installation,” added Wolfsonian Chief Curator Silvia Barisione.

World’s Fairs: Visions of Tomorrow is currently on view until February 22, 2026.

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