I don't want to build on sand... an interview with Pavel Stehlík

The General Commissioner of the Czech Republic's participation at EXPO, Ing. Pavel Stehlík, is unafraid to go against established patterns and has a clear vision of how the Czech Republic should present itself at EXPO 2010. Not through historical nostalgia, but through dynamic contemporaneity...

Could you summarize what has happened since you were appointed General Commissioner? The Czech Republic initially lagged in the preparations for EXPO...
On February 2, 2008, I became the commissioner leading an organization that existed only on paper, with no offices, employees, or telephone... Since then, we have created an ideological concept, discussed it with an advisory board, and developed an overall concept for the Czech Republic's participation at EXPO, along with a budget that has been approved by the government. In the meantime, we negotiated with the Chinese side for a pavilion in a great location and signed a contract for the Czech Republic's participation at EXPO, we pushed through the Prague project in Best Urban Practice.

You can't win a football championship with a team hastily assembled six months in advance. What criteria did you use to select your team of collaborators and advisory board who will decide on the shape of the Czech pavilion and exhibition?
In the advisory board, I tried to cover all areas that would be crucial for the Czech presentation in China. So, I sought out outstanding personalities who are engaged in the economic, cultural, and foreign-political presentation of the Czech Republic, since all of this is part of the exhibition. Then I looked for experts from education, because we wanted to involve the youth in the preparations. I reached out to personalities with broad insight into architecture, exhibitionism, with huge experience with EXPO itself, people from the business sphere, and last but not least, theater, because the accompanying programs will also be a big happening. In the team of collaborators, I searched for and found those who represent high expertise, efficiency, and human quality.

How did you set the criteria by which you will select the winning project for the pavilion and exhibition?
The criteria are two and quite predictable: cost-effectiveness and attractiveness of the solution. The latter will be more significant. We will look at whether the proposal is innovative, charming, whether it brings new solutions and utilizes elements that can be applied in the type of exhibition we are organizing. We also consider what technical solution it offers. If we need the pavilion to accommodate 30,000 people per day, the solution must technically meet this requirement. And then there's the attractiveness of the pavilion's façade. Since we will be renting a hall, it is crucial that the exterior captures attention from a distance and attracts visitors. Near the pavilion, there will be a kind of skywalk or raised walkway at a height, the main communication artery for visitors, thus it is essential that the Czech pavilion is unmistakable from a height of five or six meters as well as from ground level. This is just a mention of some sub-criteria; interested parties can find a complete overview in the tender documentation.

EXPO is also a platform for architectural experimentation; some pavilions have made a permanent mark in global architectural history. But the Czechs won’t be building this time? Why?
We started preparations a year later than would have been optimal. At that time, only disadvantageous locations were available for a private pavilion in the wharf area by the Huangpu River. As informed by those who undertook the construction of the pavilion, this meant either driving concrete piles down to a depth of 38 meters or placing the pavilion on a floating slab. The complexity of these technical solutions, however, realistically meant that we would not make it in time for EXPO. Therefore, we chose the second option, to rent a hall in a location that seemed attractive to us.

Won’t this disadvantage us?
Building it would certainly have given us more space for architectural expression; on the other hand, EXPO is not an architectural competition. The days when the main criterion was the architectural level of the pavilions are past; today, the world exhibition is an economic and cultural Olympics.

Aren’t such presentations already an anachronism in a globalized and communicatively interconnected world? What do you see as their benefit?
About 172 participating countries that have so far confirmed their attendance have answered that. Personally, I see EXPO as a competition among nations in what they contribute to humanity. And every time, this competition is defined by a specific theme. EXPO is a significant opportunity for the marketing of individual states, as they sell themselves in competition with other exhibitors, and thus it cannot be replaced by a virtual presentation.

Can EXPO be a gateway for Czech companies to the Chinese market?
I am absolutely sure of that, and my reasoning is the result of many consultations with the business sector. The territory of China is an economically extraordinarily interesting space, and I must say that most participating countries perceive it that way. The Commissioner for British participation is the Minister of Finance. That is a sign that speaks for itself.

How specifically can you assist Czech companies?
We will make the most of the opportunities that the world exhibition offers us. That is why we chose a generous exhibition area of two thousand square meters for the pavilion, about 30 percent of which should be used for presentations of commercial activities and facilities. We will have a super quality restaurant there, a spacious shop, and a huge meeting room, which we will provide both to state representatives of the Czech Republic and business entities so they can conduct their meetings there. The opportunity to be visible for 184 days to 70 million visitors from 172 countries, I think is a very interesting offer.

China overwhelms the world with its products, but penetrating the local markets is extremely difficult. Do you have references about what is in demand in China?
In Shanghai, for example, a large Škoda Auto factory stands and operates, and the PPF group has been successfully active there for years with its development projects. Some have found that modus operandi, others haven’t. But it is true that the conditions for entering the local markets are still complicated; however, I personally found them to be more accessible than, for example, the Japanese market.

What is the Chinese perception of the Czech Republic?
We recently discussed this with Ms. Huo Yuzhen, the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China in the Czech Republic. There are cities and regions in China that have partnerships with those in the Czech Republic and take it very seriously. For example, there is a huge agricultural complex where they have been raising the Czech flag every day for years. After the split of Czechoslovakia, they added the Slovak flag. When the Chinese make a commitment to a counterpart, they perceive it very strongly. They may not understand some of our criticisms, but I have received signals multiple times such as: if we are doing something wrong, let us know, we want to improve. While here I usually hear that the Chinese reject criticism, my experience is the opposite.

And in what ways, in your opinion, are our perceptions of China schematic?
I will start with the expectations that I have confirmed through direct contact with their mentality. Chinese people are indeed hardworking and incredibly hospitable, as they say. The original idea of how business negotiations would go, however, was different, and we had to correct it quickly. Initially, we assumed that in contentious issues it would be sufficient to refer to the rules of the BIE (International Bureau of Expositions) and to contracts. However, we found out that this does not work. We can negotiate well with the Chinese when we explain precisely what we want, what motivates us, how far we are, and why this particular thing is important. So, the way of negotiating that I personally prefer, very rational and fact-based, is not successful there; it is necessary to be very open. However, if you do that, you can always rely on their willingness to accommodate. If you learn the rules, you find that they work one hundred percent. For example, I was never told bad news by a boss; it was always his deputy, and I was never given good news by a deputy, it was always the boss.

The theme of EXPO 2010 "Better city - Better life" draws the attention of the international community to the global urban sprawl. This is a very relevant issue in the 18-million-strong Shanghai...
I must say that Shanghai was chosen wonderfully humorously for this theme. It is experiencing all the pains of megacities and uncontrolled population growth. Just to illustrate, among the 18 million residents there are four million people whose stay is not formalized at all or only temporarily, but they are physically present. These people have children who have nowhere to go to school because they are entitled to education in their own hometowns, where their parents are permanently registered. In our case, we would try to solve this operationally and scatter the children across available schools. But here we are talking about four million people! That’s almost the entire Slovakia. Only when you perceive the enormous scale of the problem does it become something completely different than we are used to in the European context.

EXPO will also bring a specific urbanistic benefit for Shanghai...
Shanghai demolished a 5.5 km² industrial zone, even from slums, where about 30,000 people lived. And since the city has once overgrown this formerly peripheral industrial area, this space now lies almost in the center of Shanghai. Thus, EXPO will exceptionally not grow on greenfield sites, but on brownfields that it will thus enhance.

Will you dare to show the Czech Republic differently in this context than we have been used to?
We plan to present the Czech Republic as a modern, innovative country, and that is why we do not want to associate it this time with Baroque or crystal glass. That is, things that we repeatedly bring to EXPO and, although they are interesting, it is still somewhat repetitive. We intend to show the Czech Republic as a state of the 21st century.

What project would you personally support?
I do not want to be that prescriptive so as not to bind the creators in advance, but I will give you an example. In the spring, we found out that we still had a slim chance to participate in the urban competition. EXPO includes a space where cities will present examples of the best modern urban solutions. The proposals were evaluated by an international committee, selecting those relevant for the whole world from more than a hundred submissions. I received several tips from the Chamber of Architects on what we might present there: Český Krumlov, Litomyšl, Prague Castle... In the end, we went with the flood protection system for Prague, which is a unique system globally, protecting the city and its economic and cultural values without disrupting it. And that is precisely the style in which I would like to present the Czech Republic.

Bibiana Beňová