It’s not every week that your work gets selected to join an international event such as the World Expos.

World exhibitions, which first emerged in 1851 as ‘World Fairs’ (the term ‘Expo’ was introduced in the 1960s) played an important role in bringing the world together at regular intervals to gaze into the future of industry, technology, and material progress. World Fairs hosted the first demonstration of a telephone and the first live television broadcast. They have produced iconic buildings such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and The Crystal Palace in London.

The governing body for World Expos, The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), expresses its purpose as follows:

‘Expos bring the world together in a grand and common project to find solutions to a fundamental challenge facing humanity. This challenge is addressed via the Expo’s theme, which acts as a springboard for what participants will showcase and what intellectual and cultural events will be organised.

To mark Expo2020 taking place in Dubai from October 2021 until March 2022, the ‘Ireland Pavilion’ hosted a section that is part-inspired by and drew on the Irish Global Solidarity in 100 Objects exhibition with a number of objects on loan to the project which include the Live Aid concert annual, a ball of string and the ‘climate strike’ vest worn by a trade unionist steward on the streets of Dublin.

The project features 20 objects, including the text of the Good Friday Agreement, a replica of the Dunbrody famine ship and the Kindred Spirits sculpture which commemorates the 1847 donation by the Native American Choctaw People to Irish famine relief.

‘Objects That Connect Us’ is an exhibition which points to Ireland’s rich culture of solidarity and support for vulnerable people around the world. Each object on display tells a powerful story of Ireland’s desire to build a world free from poverty, hunger and injustice.”