Source: Venezuelan Pavilion Press Release VENEZUELAN PAVILION, NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR 1964-65 The Venezuelan Pavilion, sponsored by the Ministerio de Fomento of the Government of Venezuela, was designed by architects Edmundo Diquez and Oscar Gonzalez, with Stephen Leigh & Associates, Inc., consultants. It is a sober expression of young Venezuelan architecture. Covering an area of 10,000 square feet, the building is constructed of prefabricated concrete in the form of four hyperparabolic umbrellas. The walls are of redwood, conceived of as a composition of planes and volumes separated from each other by open integration of ceiling and walls provides a dramatic interior effect, whose changes in perspective will delight the spectator. The exhibition will demonstrate the imagination of the designer and the craftsman of Venezuela and will consist of four main sections. As you enter the Pavilion, you will see the colonial art and historical background of the country. In this section, an original altar from one of the first churches built by the Spaniards in Venezuela will be on display. In the rear section will be the industrial displays, showing the potential of Venezuela with samples of manufactured products, raw materials, technical data on production and marketing, as well as comprehensive data on the industrial life of the country. Photographs of plants, factories and other industrial installations will create the atmosphere for the display of samples of products pictured. There will be a special exhibit on the oil industry. Officials from Venezuela's commercial world will be on hand to discuss opportunities in the country and to answer questions from American businessmen. Along the mezzanine of the building, there will be an exhibit of Venezuelan art, including contemporary and ancient samples of the cultural life of the country. As you walk out of the pavilion, you will see the last and most fascinating part of the exhibit - Venezuela in the future. next to the exit will be a counter where souvenirs and typical handicrafts of Venezuela will be on sale. Among the highlights of the Pavilion will be entertainment by guitarists, dancers, and other Venezuelan performers. Guitarist Alirio Diaz, pianist Judith Jaimes and contemporary dance groups are scheduled for this season. Venezuela will spare no effort in assuring that each visit to its Pavilion will be a memorable experience. The Venezuelan pavilion at the New York World's Fair, designed by two young architects of Caracas, is a modernistic structure of California redwood with 6,500 square feet of space. Visitors will find samples of Venezuelan industry, as well as pictures, charts and displays that give an idea of the country's development today. President Johnson dedicated the pavilion in person last May 9. President Johnson shakes hands with the typically attired hostesses at the Venezuelan Pavilion. At his side is ex-President Betancourt. Following are Ambassador Tejera-Paris, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Tejera-Paris. Source: Venezuela Up-to-Date Summer 1964, Vol. XI, No. 8 The Venezuelan pavilion at the New York World's Fair was open to the public May 9. President Johnson paid honor to the nation by dedicating the pavilion in person. After cutting a symbolic ribbon at the entrance, he and Mr.s Johnson, accompanied by former President Betancourt, Venezuelan Ambassador and Mrs. Tejera-Paris and other Venezuelan officials who came especially for the occasion, viewed the exhibits, shook hands with the hostesses in their picturesque costumes, and sauntered to admire the works of arts brought from Venezuela. Greeting the President, Ambassador Tejera-Paris said: "Your coming to this pavilion is a great honor you bestow on the people and Government of Venezuela. You will find this exhibition to be, not so much a show of industry, in this country of inventors, as it is the presence of a small but proud country that has achieved a big victory against terrorists and has rallied around hope and the pursuit of happiness." President Johnson replied: "As President of a democracy, I am proud to be present at the Pavilion of another great democracy whose vision and spirit have lighted not only this hemisphere but all the world, and to be present here with the leader of that democracy during the time that great effort was being made." The New York Times says: "The Venezuelan Pavilion has received less notice than it deserves because it opened late. An airy wooden structure designed with fifty times the imagination of the average, it parcels out its limited area by concentrating on small, well spaced nuclei where at one moment you may be looking at a case of pre-Colombian or folk art and the next at an industrial display, with no sense of being bounced around." A modernistic building of redwood throughout, the pavilion occupies an area of 6,500 square feet. pictures, charts and displays are on the main floor, paintings and sculptures on the mezzanine. It was designed by two young Caracas architects. It was financed for the most part by Venezuelan industrialists.