Building on its debut at Expo 2020 Dubai, Cartier plans to introduce its second Women’s Pavilion next month at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, an event bringing together countries, organizations and businesses from around the world.
This year, 165 national pavilions, along with various corporate ones, are to participate in the six-month exhibition, scheduled to open April 13. But Cartier’s pavilion, developed in collaboration with the Japanese government, will be the only one dedicated to women.
“The Women’s Pavilion celebrates all women, without a political or religious angle,” Cyrille Vigneron, the chair of Cartier Culture and Philanthropy initiative, said in a phone interview from Geneva. “Women’s issues are universal.”
The exhibition is to be held on Yumeshima, an artificial island in Osaka Bay, through Oct. 13. The expo’s theme is “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” so sustainable design and craftsmanship are being highlighted.
Mr. Vigneron cited gender inequality as a key reason for doing a second edition of the pavilion, emphasizing that progress on women’s issues remains uneven globally.
“Since Dubai, we have seen some advances in women’s rights and empowerment, while many countries have regressed,” he said, referring to the exhibition in 2020. “On reproductive rights, the U.S. has taken a step back. In Iran and Afghanistan, women’s access to basic education is denied. Japan has a low ranking of 120th out of 140 countries in gender equality.”
The metallic facade of this year’s Women’s Pavilion first appeared on the Japan Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Originally designed and now reworked by the Japanese architect Yuko Nagayama, its intricate latticework was inspired by kumiko, a traditional Japanese woodworking technique that does not use nails.
“My focus was not simply reusing the materials but striving for a different expression and beauty from the previous building,” Ms. Nagayama wrote in an email. “The kumiko-inspired facade acts as an environmental device, like a great tree in a vast forest, protecting not only human beings but also the trees from the harsh environment of climate change.”
Several designers and artists have been involved in the pavilion project, including Chitose Abe, the founder of the fashion brand Sacai, who designed the khaki gender-neutral uniforms for the pavilion attendants, and Toshiya Ogino, a landscape designer, who created a garden of local vegetation.
The pavilion’s interior was conceived “as a kind of musical instrument or radio station, broadcasting its messages through time and place,” Es Devlin, the English designer who is the pavilion’s art director, wrote in an email.
As visitors enter, they will be invited to say their names, making their identity part of the pavilion’s narrative. They will see a three-minute introductory film on the lives of three women, created by Ms. Devlin and Naomi Kawase, a Japanese filmmaker. “What we are trying to offer is a way of seeing, even just for a few minutes, through the eyes of others,” Ms. Devlin wrote.
Then visitors will be asked to choose among three paths, each illustrated with more information on one of the women, eventually arriving at a mirrored space beneath an open skylight, which Ms. Devlin said symbolized connection and the collective power of storytelling.
During the run of the exhibition, a series of talks on topics such as activism, equality, sustainability and biodiversity, also are scheduled for the pavilion’s “WA space,” named for the Japanese concept of harmony, peace and balance. “We invite visitors to reflect on these issues and consider steps forward,” Mr. Vigneron said.
So will the Women’s Pavilion become be a permanent fixture at future expos?
“We don’t just set up our tent, we engage in dialogue and cooperation with the host country,” Mr. Vigneron said. “But we believe that every World Expo should include a Women’s Pavilion, whatever form it takes.”
