The Philips Pavilion, Brussels World's Fair 1958

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Behind the Scenes:
Poème Electronique

The virtual-reality re-creation of the Philips Pavilion in 1958 was conceived and directed by Vincenzo Lombardo, Professor of Informatics at the University of Turin, Italy. Professor Lombardo, in video, photographs, and sound, will take you through the historical detective work to demonstrate how the reconstruction of the Philips Pavilion and the multimedia show, with its music and images by Edgard Varèse, Iannis Xenakis, and Le Corbusier, was accomplished.

Friday, January 15
6—7:30pm, including the first show
Judson Church
55 Washington Square South
New York City

For this fundraising event, we suggest a donation of $50. Please consider an additional voluntary donation in support of EMF's programs.

To make a donation online, click here.

Or call us at (888)749-9998. Or send a check to Electronic Music Foundation, 307 7th Avenue Ste 1402, New York NY 10001.

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It was Le Corbusier, one of the most celebrated and prestigious European architects during the 1950s, who first said the words. Responding to Louis Kalff, an executive at Philips Corporation, he said, "I shall not create a pavilion, but a poème électronique ..."

Xenakis, who was working for Le Corbusier at the time, designed the Pavilion. Le Corbusier designed the multimedia spectacle that took place inside the Pavilion.

It was one of the most important artistic moments in the 20th century. For the first time, music and image had been integrated with a space to create an immersive multimedia environment. And it was a great success. More than two million people visited the Pavilion and saw the show during the time of the World's Fair.

Vincenzo Lombardo, Professor of Informatics at the School of Multimedia and Arts, University of Turin, Italy, who conceived the Virtual Poème Electronique project, led a group of researchers and artists in different countries throughout Europe in the creation of a virtual reality model of the Philips Pavilion.

In this Behind the Scenes event, he'll describe the process by which Xenakis planned the design. He'll show Le Corbusier's notes, Xenakis' drawings, photos and videos from the World's Fair in 1958, and a video of the construction. He'll take us on a virtual visit through the Pavilion, discuss the structure and reconstruction issues in re-creating the sounds and the images, demonstrate the Virtual Poème Electronique Project, and offer some guidelines for experiencing the audiovisual content.

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