The shortest international exhibition

December 25th, 2006

An exhibition going on for more than a day is no surprise for anybody at all. In the world of today, exhibition salons can be held for weeks or sometimes months. To hold the shortest exhibition ever arranged was a challenge nobody dared to meet until recently. A bit risky, after all, it can be utterly unnoticed by anybody. Such a risky step is affordable to those only, whose reputation is unblemished in the exhibition business, and whose name is well known throughout the world. Finally, the challenge was taken by MVK Exhibition company well known for its name and its exhibitions. The location for the shortest and, moreover, international exhibition, was Paris The intended exhibition site, such an original idea!, was the Eiffel Tower, a record in itself in earlier days: it was the largest exhibit in the world during the Paris World Exhibition in 1889. On December 11th, 2006, at one of the Eiffel Tower esplanades, the International Exhibition of MVK Exhibition company Brands was opened. To be held for one minute only. To contain all of its visitors, the ceremonial ribbon cut during the formal inauguration and its no less formal closing. So far, it is known that it is going to contain only two exhibits, which suggests it will be an international exhibition containing the lowest number of exhibits, too.

Here are some of the brands (exhibition projects of MVK Exhibition company) displayed in the shortest international exhibition in Paris: Euroexpomebel / EEM, Intercomplect, Rosupack, Polygraphinter, WOODEX / Forestry Engineering Products, Mechanical Engineering / Mashex, A-Testex (Analytics), Equiros (equestrian exhibition), PCVEXPO, Interbass and Sweets Expo (Canada).

Another noticeable thing about the unusual project was a live feed with the Russian Paris (there is indeed such a place), with a copy of the Eiffel Tower installed there. The village of Paris was founded in the Urals Region in 1815 as a settlement of Ataman Platov’s Cossacks, who had just returned from a French campaign. Not long ago, a local mobile communications company installed a copy of its French namesake as a broadcast transmitter in the village. Here it is, an Eiffel Tower of its own in the village of Paris, if 6 times smaller than its original. And, from this very copy, a Russo-French live feed was streamed to the “original” Paris during the shortest international exhibition in the world.

Alexey Svistunov, Head Editor of Russian Book of Records, went to Paris to witness and make a record of the event. With use of a stopwatch obtained from the Guinness Book of Records for this purpose, he made a record of both the commencement time and completion time of the shortest international exhibition in world history. Right on the spot, at the Eiffel Tower, MVK Exhibition company top management members were presented with a diploma issued by the Russian Book of Records to recognise this unusual achievement. Colleagues from the Guinness Book of Records will have a movie and hundreds of photos also providing evidence of the shortest exhibition ever held.

The idea of the unusual event to be held at the Eiffel Tower in combination with the live feed and the shortest exhibition in the world belongs to Alexey Shaburov, Chairperson of the Board of Directors and Executive Vice-President of MVK Exhibition company. Another team has been recently sent to the Russian Paris to establish communication with big Paris. Phone calls have already begun to be made to the Russian Book of Records Editor’s Office. The callers are eager to know: how was it, at the exhibition, which was truly historical from all points of view?

Another unique event held within the project should also be mentioned. Between the four legs of the Eiffel Tower, a group of French people recruited by MVK managers arranged themselves into giant MVK letters by lining themselves up into columns to shape the appropriate letters. Photo reporters present and tourists, who happened to be nearby, were capturing photos enthusiastically, from a birds“ eye view height, standing on the sightseeing esplanade of the Tower, the living letters remained formed, until all of the camera’s flash memory megabytes were exhausted.

After the record was duly confirmed, a very important conference was held in the Tower under the aegis of MVK. The conference was dedicated to the exhibition business in Russia. All aspects of the Russian exhibition business gathered that day at the Eiffel Tower to drive it home to the French that Russia is the best country for a good display of one’s own self and for having a look at others. That night, an official reception party was held at the Russian Embassy in France, where all events of the day were celebrated with glasses of Burgundy in hand.

From: PARIS Agency