Serbian Pavillion at World Expo
Project Type
Exhibition
Entity
Serbian Pavilion, World Expo
Inaugural Year
2025
Location
Osaka, Japan
Contextual Overview:
We developed the award-winning “Society of Play” exhibition as the hero experience of the Serbian Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka. The carefully choreographed visitor journey invites the audience to rediscover play as a fundamental driver of human development, engaging them in a series of playful environments that intertwine physical interaction with digital storytelling. The exhibition received international acclaim, including the Silver Medal for Theme Development at the BIE Awards (Bureau International des Expositions) in the category of self-built pavilions up to 1500 m², as well as the Gold Award for Best Small Pavilion and the Silver Award for Best Technology Integration from The Experimental Design Authority.
Galerija 12 stewarded the exhibition from concept and design to on-site execution, captivating visitors with tactile experiences that immediately became an audience favourite and drew record crowds every day. The exhibits focus on engaging visitors with a hands-on approach while seamlessly blending analogue and digital elements. After the Expo in Osaka, the Society of Play found its permanent home at the World Expo Museum in Shanghai, which is dedicated to the legacy of World Expos.
Technological Overview:
We presented play as a universal force, celebrating its role in shaping human creativity and innovation across cultures and generations. Visitors are encouraged to actively participate by interacting with multilayered responsive media installations, transforming play into a participatory storytelling tool and framing it not only as an instrument of personal development but also as a catalyst behind achievements and breakthroughs.
Audience's favourite exhibit features an original Galerija 12 design of an intricate phygital “Rube Goldberg”-style synchronised mechanism that is triggered when visitors place a marble into designated slots. Every marble first passes through a physical chain-reaction contraption, then transitions into a digital “marble run” through a projected animated display over physical wall elements, accompanied by a soundscape, and finally emerges as a physical marble again.
Scope:
• Concept and Experience Design
• World Building and Narrative
• Exhibition Design
• Digital Media Design and Production of Linear Media and Interactives
• Engineering and Developing Creative Technology Solutions
• Fabrication and Cross-Integration of Fit-out, Installations and Bespoke Artefacts
Client:
The Government of the Republic of Serbia
Schedule:
April 2024 - October 2025
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