Evoluon

One of my first memories of television was watching the trade test transmission films on the fledgeling BBC2. This is probably because they were shown at least once a week for several years and in the pre-video era, it was unusual to see any programme more than a couple of times.

My favourite film was Evoluon, made in 1968 and shown regularly until 1973. Evoluon was a flying saucer-shaped science centre, built in Eindhoven, Holland in 1966 and this short film is like a homage to the Space Age.

At a time when many people are feeling fairly pessimistic about the future, there is something terribly poignant about Evoluon's optimism and blind faith in science as the guarantor of health and happiness.

This was, after all, the age when we thought it was a good idea for families to live on the eighth floor of a tower block. We also looked forward to living on the moon and eating pills instead of all that miserable food business. What were we thinking?

Interestingly, Evoluon's fortunes mirrored those of the Modernist movement and by the 1980s, visitor numbers had dwindled to the point where the science centre was closed. Tragically, Evoluon was re-launched ten years later as a conference centre for businesses. From the sublime to the tedious.