World's Fair Exhibit this October

This October, the National Building Museum is mounting an exhibit called Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s. I can't wait to check it out, if only because I always have a good time at that Washington D.C. venue.

Back in 1999, I traveled to D.C. solely to check out my first NBM exhibit, See the USA: Automobile Travel and the American Landscape, and I had a swell time. Since my funding was modest, I decided to save a few bucks by sleeping in Reagan National Airport. That decision reaped surprising rewards.

Those two nights spent wandering around a bustling airport played a major role in inspiring me to write City Ubiquitous: Place, Communication, and the Rise of Omnitopia. After all, I was able to see first-hand how structure and perception meld in some places to create an environment stripped of locality, an all-place. And, of course, I would later find origins of omnitopia in world's fairs - especially the 1939-40 New York World's Fair.

So I feel a real connection to anything associated with the National Building Museum and hope to return this year. Who knows? This exhibit might spark my next book!

Learn more: Designing Tomorrow: America’s World’s Fairs of the 1930s