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This article analyses the underpinnings of the dynamics that took place throughout the Swiss National Exhibition in Lausanne in 1964. Since the mid-19th Century, European countries have celebrated their own values and historical progresses in universal exhibitions. The model has greatly inspired Swiss National Exhibitions. As a gathering place, they still have today the official mission of taking stock of the situation of the country, whose expected outcome is a greater social cohesion towards the future. The article questions such claims by appraising how a society can stage itself beyond official functions and mere propaganda tools.