Katarina Stuebe, the photographer charged with documenting the development of the Australian pavilion at Shanghai’s world expo, talks about her favourite pavilions. She spoke to Sophie Loras.  

German photographer Katarina Stuebe has a very intimate relationship with Australia. In 2009, her photographs of Australia’s most iconic architectural monument were launched in a memoir Jorn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House, A Tribute. Katarina’s love affair with Australia has continued, with the young photographer’s commissioning by the Australian government to document the construction of the Australian pavilion at Shanghai’s World Expo.
When Katarina first visited Shanghai, in August 2009, the Chinese pavilion was the only completed and recognisable structure on the expo site and the Australian pavilion, like many of the other international pavilions, was just a simple structure of concrete slabs.
“It was interesting, because at that time you could visit every level of the pavilion but there was no glass and no petitions and it was all just a big open space,” says Katarina.
By January 2010, on her second visit to the site, pavilions such as Australia, the UK and Canada were beginning to take their shape, while others were still struggling to get off the ground. It was a time of extraordinary movement and busyness with hundreds of trucks rolling along and home to around 10,000 workers – the largest building site Katarina had ever visited. At that stage, Australia’s steel façade was in place and starting to rust away as intended, and the pavilion was almost ready to face the world in a process Katarina best likens to watching someone get up to go to work. “They wake up, they get showered and dressed and put on their make-up and look really beautiful, and that’s how I saw the Australian pavilion – it was now ready to be presented. The developers try to explain to you how it’s all going to look but it wasn’t until that return trip in January that the building had really matured – it suddenly became a building – inside it started to look like a real theatre, a real stage and you wondered how much it was going to change again in just six weeks.”
Returning for a final shoot in March was the pavilion’s defining moment – its “blossoming” stage. “It’s really beautiful – the change in the façade with the rust now catching the sunlight gives the pavilion a velvety feel, and then it looks different again when it is all lit up at night.” (Pictured right: Journey – Bedrock, inside the Australian Pavilion, courtesy Katarina Stuebe)
“Working on the site and following the evolution of several of the pavilions has been inspiring” says Katarina. “Everyone is quite proud of their country and their culture and what they’re doing in Shanghai and it has been quite moving to watch – it seems to be a very harmonious site with everyone interested in what everyone else is doing and I don’t feel that there’s been competition but mutual interest and respect for each other’s pavilions. Everyone is going through the same procedures and the same difficulties and helping each other and talking about problems – and I have found that very refreshing.”
Playing such an integral role in Australia’s involvement at Expo now has the young photographer planning to stay on in Shanghai for the duration of Expo in the hope of expanding her corporate profile within the city’s architectural and construction sector.
“There’s a lot happening – Shanghai is a very vibrant place and it is very stimulating – there are so many expectations of what Expo will bring. You feel you can add to the cultural message creating a visual image that people will carry around with them forever,” says Katarina of the experience.
Other favourites of Katarina’s include the UK pavilion “which is really unique”. (pictured left, courtesy Katarina Stuebe)
“The British pavilion is presented as a box (a gift to the Chinese people) pierced with thousands of transparent rods that act like fibre-optic filaments drawing on daylight to illuminate the interior. At the end of each slender rod penetrating the skin of the box sits a seed taken from a seedbank.”
“It is making today’s seeds available for a future generation and really fits with the theme of “Better City, Better Life,” says Katarina. The Swiss pavilion is using an original ski lift symbolising the connection between their cities and the lush countryside in Switzerland.
The Danish have brought in bicycles so that it is possible for the visitors to ride a bike up and down the pavilion, as well as transporting the Little Mermaid from her home in Copenhagen as a cultural message and gift to the Chinese.
“Every country is trying to bring something traditional to China and the Chinese and there are so many interesting stories – it’s a wonderland. For me the Expo site is like a playground – there are so many exciting things you want to explore and I am fascinated by the way each country projects its cultural message presented in a temporary structure designed by the world’s leading architects. Shanghai with its World Expo gives the saying “the world is a small place” a completely new meaning.
Here you have the world in one place.” ■  

To see a full calendar listing of Australian community events during Shanghai World Expo, click here.

To learn more about Australia’s involvement in Expo, click here.

To get the heads up on Shanghai’s nightlife during expo, click here.