Manna exhibition pavilion, Coop Switzerland, Expo.02, Neuchâtel

Manna was developed for the Arteplage Neuchâtel at Expo.02. The exhibition pavilion on the theme of eating and drinking between organic and design is an examination of questions about nutrition, our consumer behavior and the contradictions of today’s food production. Manna is a symbol of a supposed land of milk and honey. Visible from afar, a giant dessert rises above the Expo site. 21 air-filled 15-metre-high inflatables surround a self-contained inner courtyard: a wholesome, enchanted world full of surprises. To enter, visitors winding their way between inflatable forms, as if moving through a surreal dessert, arriving in a dreamlike land of milk and honey. The tension between nature and artificiality is both mesmerizing and deliberately disorienting.