The Vision
Norman Bel Geddes, a noted industrial designer of the time put it best when he said
“Masses of people can never find a solution to a problem until they are shown the way. Each unit of the mass may have a knowledge of the problem, and each may have his own solution, but until mass opinion is crystallized, brought into focus and made articulate, it amounts to nothing but vague grumbling. One of the best ways to make a solution understandable to everybody is to make it visual, to dramatize it.”
The belief in creating an idealized vision of the future at the World’s Fair was meant to inspire the masses to want more, to strive for the techology and monumental architecture presented a the show. Many of the exhibitions were designed to inspire those who saw them and to make them dream of all of the progress technology could offer them in the years to come. Some of these were.
- Westinghouse: Elektro the Robot, 5000 year time capsule.
- General Motors: “Futurama”, an idealized vision of how we would live in 1960.
- AT&T: Advancements in telecommunications.
- RCA: First commercially viable television set. Viewers could broadcast themselves.
With all of these exhibitions, the message was clear. “Technology is Good” and will be the savior to all of our problems in the future.
