Gulf futures and the World’s Fair: A view from Expo 2025 Osaka

It won’t be long until the World’s Fair returns to the GCC. In 2023, the BIE announced [4] that a two-thirds majority of its members voted for Saudi Arabia’s bid to host World Expo 2030 in Riyadh under the theme of “Foresight for Tomorrow.”

The event runs on a 5-year cycle, so between Dubai 2020 and Riyadh 2030, Japan is now hosting Expo 2025 is Osaka under the theme of “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.” As the 2020, 2025, and 2030 themes all suggest, contemporary Expos have a special focus on the “future.” This reflects the BIE’s stated goal of organizing global events around “a theme that attempts to improve humankind’s knowledge, takes into account human and social aspirations and highlights scientific, technological, economic and social progress.”

Expos thus offer a useful lens on how political and cultural elites in the GCC are imagining and narrating the future. The “future” is a nebulous concept that seems innocuous at first brush: who wouldn’t want to celebrate progress and improve “humankind’s knowledge”? But futures are deeply political. There are inherent divides within any society around who gets to define, design, and imagine a particular vision of the future. So too do visions of the future carry weighty silences.

The visions and silences of desired Gulf futures were on full display [5] at Expo 2020 in Dubai, and are already being celebrated [6] and contested [7] in Saudi Arabia as its planning for Expo 2030 begins. But Gulf futures are also being conjured and contested in Japan today, as I witnessed over two weeks attending the mega-event in May 2025.

Expo 2025 Osaka is not an insignificant interlude for the GCC states. The first UAE’s first participation at a BIE Expo was in Osaka when the emirate of Abu Dhabi - before the UAE became independent - had a pavilion in Expo 1970. According to the UAE Ambassador to Japan, Shihab Al Faheem, Abu Dhabi had come “full circle” [8].

Expo 1970 Osaka was likewise remembered as Kuwait’s first Expo. The Times Kuwait also celebrated this early Expo in the context of the country’s first ties to Japan through its Arabian Oil Company (now part of the Fuji Oil Company [9]), which discovered the Khafji oil field in 1960. For its part, Saudi Arabia’s pavilion celebrated [10] the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Japan on 7 June 2025. The other GCC participants, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain, also found strategic stories to narrate their connection with Japan at Expo 2025 - in all cases, focusing on their shared heritage [11] around water, oceans, and coastlines.

But a World’s Fair is a global event with a global audience. What visions of the future are the GCC pavilions putting forward for the rest of the world to consume in Osaka today? For some, today’s Gulf boosters are notorious for over-promising their techno-utopian schemes to transform the city, the earth, the sea, and social life. Yet Expos themselves are also subject to the same critique.

Indeed, techno-utopianism could be found in nearly every corner of Expo 2025, just as it was at Osaka’s Expo 1970 [12]. Many in the BIE community are keen to maximize the overly fantastical kitsch factor of World’s Fairs future-mongering, visible in country pavilion’s like that of the USA and Turkmenistan, as well as other special pavilions like Null2 [13] and the Japan gas industry’s Obake Wonderland [14].

In their visions of “Designing Future Society for Our Lives” at Expo 2025, Gulf organizers largely refused the techno-kitsch and collectively adopted a simpler, sleek aesthetic to broadcast their visions of Gulf modernity. Or, as Qatar’s Ambassador to Japan, Jaber Jarallah M. A. Al-Marri, explained in a BIE interview [15]: “The architecture of Qatar’s pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai is an elegant blend of tradition and modernity, embodying the nation’s progressive spirit while honouring its rich cultural heritage.”

Showcasing Gulf modernity

The GCC pavilion exteriors were not designed to be flashy, instead standing out from others at Expo 2025 in their elegance. To achieve this, most hired elite architects to design them. Saudi Arabia’s pavilion, for example, was designed [16] by the famous British firm, Foster & Partners. Qatar’s pavilion was collaboratively designed [17] by the Japanese firm, Kengo Kuma and Associates, and Qatar Museums. Instead of using foreign architects, Oman’s Expo team organized a national competition [18], which selected the work of several Omani designers.

The fact that all GCC states had “Type A” (large, standalone) pavilions - is a testament to their wealth relative to other countries. Of the GCC states, only Bahrain’s initial US $10 million price-tag [19] for their pavilion is publicly available. The others likely spent well in excess of this, perhaps even in the range of US $100-200 million, as their structures and interior displays were far more elaborate. Regardless of the actual cost, the message of the pavilion exteriors was that the GCC states are wealthy - and that they are willing to spend generously on culture.

The GCC pavilion interiors also emphasized similar messages about the future. Local Gulf newspapers routinely described the pavilions as being a manifestation of the country’s development plan, i.e. Oman Vision 2040, Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, Qatar National Vision 2030, etc. The pavilions did in fact reflect the nationalistically-defined priorities of these vision documents, which place a strong emphasis on economic development. Most included the spectacular views of glimmering city skylines, while Saudi Arabia’s pavilion had a large video display showcasing its extravagant hi-tech plans for Neom. All GCC pavilions also touted their various investments in science, space, and technology in their mixed media displays.

Yet technology was not a core focus for the GCC pavilions. Instead, the stronger emphasis in each was placed on two other themes - preserving local heritage, and protecting the natural environment. Together, they reflect an increasingly global idea that to be “green” is to be modern [20], and were communicated in no small part through the pavilions’ dominant aesthetic of earth-tone elegance.

Preserving Gulf heritage

Preserving local heritage was especially evident in how most Gulf pavilions worked to showcase their shared “maritime heritage” with Japan. This included Qatar’s overarching theme, “From the Coastline, We Progress,” which was reflected in the pavilion’s use of wood materials. Not only was this said [21] to be the same wood used in the building of traditional dhows, but Ambassador Al-Marri explained [22] that the entire structure was to evoke “the image of a dhow gracefully navigating the waters, symbolising Qatar’s historical reliance on the sea and its continuous journey toward innovation.” Inside, the exhibits were surrounded by dramatic curtains depicting old maritime maps.

Bahrain’s pavilion also featured nautical map-themed curtains throughout the space, following a similar theme of “Connecting Seas.” The tour included several miniature boats or ships, which visitors were invited to touch and feel for themselves. The Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities was one of the major organizers of its pavilion and as its president, Shaikh Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, explained [23]: “The pavilion embodies Bahrain’s commitment to shaping a better future by drawing on its rich maritime heritage, economic resilience, and cultural dynamism.”

This Bahraini official’s remarks reflects a common refrain among the Gulf organizers: that their vision of the future is rooted in their heritage. For example, the same BIE interview [24] included Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Japan, Dr. Ghazi Faisal Binzagr, who used a nearly-identical story to explain how the pavilion’s “design will reflect the story of Saudi Arabia, from its deep-rooted history to its vibrant present and, ultimately, to its ambitious vision for tomorrow under our transformation of Vision 2030. […] Through the pavilion, we invite visitors to experience our rich traditions and bold transformations and understand Saudi as an ancient culture that is open to the world and driving new possibilities for a shared future.”

The UAE pavilion likewise linked heritage and the future [25] through its “Earth to Ether” theme, organized around the 90 palm-like columns populating the entire pavilion. Its introductory placard read: “Welcome to the United Arab Emirates Pavilion: Earth to Ether. Rooted in the earth and reaching for the sky, our date palms stand as living symbols of who we are-resilient, generous, and ambitious. Through them, we share our story - a history of perseverance and a future shaped by our commitment to empowering all life, on our planet and beyond.” The palms had short refrains written at the base, with one reading for example, “Rooted in heritage and aiming for the stars, our purpose-led visions safeguard a thriving future.”

The UAE example, like that of Qatar and Bahrain, shows how the future is defined not as something separate from the past, heritage, and the earth, but as being directly shaped by it. This perspective on the future is a familiar nationalist story in the GCC states - and it is one that naturalizes the claims of Gulf citizens to their privileged position within their home country. Even where foreigners are included in various images and scenes of progress in the pavilions, they are never cast as the “real” representatives of that country. This was especially evident in how many of the Gulf pavilion workers were foreigners (hired for their Japanese-language skills), but who were never asked for photographs by attendees. Instead, tourists only approached Gulf citizens in national clothes, treating them as the truly “authentic” mascots of the place.

Protecting the Gulf’s natural environment

Environmental sustainability was one of the most prominent themes in the wider landscape of Expo 2025 Osaka’s pavilions. The Gulf pavilions were no exception. However, “sustainability” takes many forms as it is interwoven with nationalist tropes in any given country. In the GCC pavilions, the visions of green futures were not defined by the climate change “crisis” narrative that is common in Europe (best illustrated by the Expo 2025 pavilions of Germany and Portugal). Rather, they focused on the environment and natural resources as a national endowment - to be celebrated, but also exploited to serve future generations in the Gulf.

The simple celebration of nature was especially evident with how the Oman pavilion narrated the country’s connection with water. Visitors entered and left through a falaj-inspired corridor, which had quotes about water from Omani and Japanese figures. The pavilion’s main activity was to watch a short video about Oman’s historical relationship with water, which included images of opulent date palm oases organized around traditional aflaj, and culminating with the statement: “Every drop of water here is a new opportunity for a brighter tomorrow.”

Oman’s pavilion had nothing to say about its other important resource, oil, but the pavilions of Bahrain and Kuwait did. Both had displays that celebrated their oil industry, and its role in advancing their modernization agendas. But both also added that this fossil energy history was what allowed them to embrace alternative energy futures. These were mostly vague references, best illustrated by Kuwait’s oil history timeline display, with the final 2025 historical marker simply reading: “The Kuwait history of oil and gas: it is a history of empowerment - empowering the people of Kuwait and beyond, eventually opening doors towards a sustainable world.”

The Kuwait pavilion’s vague reference to a “sustainable” future is not unique: environmental advocates have been anxious about how the term is used and abused [26] for many years. One major critique is that it becomes a PR foil to “greenwash” the reputation of companies that do not have progressive environmental policies or, worse, actively pursue environmentally harmful business.

This is well illustrated in the UAE pavilion, which had a section themed “Stewards of Sustainability,” which was sponsored by the national oil company, ADNOC. This display was not a one-off, but reflects the UAE’s leadership in the broader trend of greening oil money [27]. It also reflects the state-backed effort to promote green nationalism [28], which puts increasing demands not just on UAE residents, but also on companies like ADNOC to brand themselves as “green.”

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Expos are, at their core, cultural diplomacy mega-events. As such, the GCC pavilions at Expo 2025 Osaka had to be curated by individuals with sufficient diplomatic credentials to tell the “correct” national story about the future. It is therefore no surprise that the pavilion sponsors were primarily drawn from various museum and culture organizations in the respective countries. As the arts and culture scenes boom in the region – especially in Saudi Arabia [29], the UAE [30], Qatar [31], and to a lesser extent, Oman [32] - they are able to draw on a growing and more sophisticated pool of cultural elites.

The Gulf political and cultural elites responsible for imagining the national response to the Expo theme of “Designing Future Society for Our Lives” are exceptional in their privilege. Yet even when the pavilions sought to communicate Gulf wealth, they were assiduous in refusing the techno-kitsch common to Expos - quietly but deliberately working to cast off the Orientalizing “nouveau riche” stigma [33] that has dogged the region for decades.

Nor did the GCC pavilions deviate from the standard nationalist tropes and images that are being circulated at home. The future, according to them, is a place and time that is simultaneously modern and rooted in heritage. The question of who is welcome in this future is left open, as is the question of how to celebrate nature’s bounty and beauty in the face of climate catastrophe and devastating conflicts the region. These silences were easily tucked away in the earth tones and elegant architecture of Osaka’s Expo oasis. But they are silences that few in the Gulf can afford to accept much longer.