Real Greece – Part IV: Aegean Sculpture – A Church in the village of Marpissa, Paros, Greece

I was for a few days on the island of Paros, Greece, where one night I saw under the weak lunar light the Aegean Sculpture I present today. The white church looked like something much more than a religious building, and I pronounced it “a sculpture”. Next morning I went to the village in order to photograph the “sculpture”. It was there, bathed in the morning sunlight, in the middle of the small community that was still resting. This emotional experience led me to present the church as sculpture and sculpture as a working work of art, in the sense originally discussed by Martin Heidegger.

I find particularly interesting the notion of a “working” work of art, in the sense that it is a work that participates and in a way effects and reflects real life. I will therefore quote extensively from Heidegger’s work but also from scholars who have tried to interpret Heidegger after his “turn” to aesthetics and art.

I will conclude with some thoughts on the significance of the Aegean Sculpture in the context of the ever developing Greek drama, a combination of financial and cultural bankruptcy.

{In his article, “The Origin of the Work of Art” Heidegger explains the essence of art in terms of the concepts of being and truth. He argues that art is not only a way of expressing the element of truth in a culture, but the means of creating it and providing a springboard from which “that which is” can be revealed. Works of art are not merely representations of the way things are, but actually produce a community’s shared understanding. Each time a new artwork is added to any culture, the meaning of what it is to exist is inherently changed.}

(Source: Wikipedia)

{Heidegger’s basic insight is that the work of art not only manifests the style of the culture; it articulates it. For everyday practices to give us a shared world, and so give meaning to our lives, they must be focused and held up to the practitioners. Works of art, when performing this function, are not merely representations of a pre-existing state of affairs, but actually produce a shared understanding.}

(Source: Hubert L. Dreyfus, Heidegger on Art)

Heidegger articulates his thoughts by discussing an ancient Greek Temple:

{It is the temple work that first fits together and at the same time gathers around itself the unity of those paths and relations in which birth and death, disaster and blessing, victory and disgrace, endurance and decline acquire the shape of destiny for human being….(The temple thus) gave things their look and men their outlook on themselves.}

(Source: Martin Heidegger, The Origin of the Work of Art)

{Heidegger is considering art in terms of its cultural founding significance, and cultural founding art work acts as a paradigm for the event of truth’s happening. The happening of truth is described as the projection of truth, and all art is defined by Heidegger as Dichtung, or poetry.  However, this does not restrict the definition of Dichtung to include only the linguistic expression of “poetry.” Rather, he envisages Dichtung as referencing all creative, projective  events of truth’s happening. Therefore, Dichtung occurs in many forms of art: painting, sculpture,  architecture, music, and poetry. Due to art’s unique nature, it opens the space of disclosure in  such a way that it “breaks open an open place, in whose openness everything is other than  usual.”34 Heidegger stresses the potential of great art to ecstatically displace Dasein from the
realm of its everyday, ordinary ways of existing by transforming “anew” its accustomed ties to the world and Earth.}

(Source: James Magrini,

The Work of Art and Truth of Being as “Historical”:

Reading Being and Time, “The Origin of the Work of Art,” and the “Turn” (Kehre) in Heidegger’s Philosophy of the 1930s)

The work of art is not something that works out its truth merely by laying it bare and plain for all to see. On the contrary, great works of  art outshine others in their unfathomableness, (i.e. their depth). That is, anything which lends itself to conveniently summed up—described and explained away—is not thus preserved in its being let ‘stand-initself’, but rather leveled off and disabled in its capacity for bringing about wonder and estrangement; it is dragged down in connoisseurship to the realm of commonality (i.e. the unextraordinary) and commodity (i.e. the ‘art business’). It is masticated so as to be served up as fodder for idle talk.

(Source: Shawn Moi, Perplexity and Passion in Heidegger)

In the Heideggerian framework of viewing Art, the Ancient Greek Temple is “non-working Art”, in the sense that the work of art no longer has and maintains a dynamic interplay with the surrounding community. the reasonable question that emerges having seen the Aegean sculpture, is:

Is the Aegean sculpture working art, in the sense that it performs the three essential functions? (see Dreyfus):

• Manifesting a World
• Articulating a culture’s understanding of Being
• Reconfiguring a culture’s understanding of Being

I believe it is, and as long as it remains, I also believe that there is hope in the contemporary drama of Greece.

The hope is that Greeks will eventually accept to be themselves (ourselves) and stop trying to become a pathetic immitation of others. There is no survival without identity, and the Aegean Sculpture is part of the Greek’s multifaceted  identity. The acceptance of identity will also start the process of maintaining it and embellishing it, and this is where the Aegean Sculpture also comes in, with its stunning simplicity and harmony of being an integral part of the space around it.

The white structure engages the blue sky and the sea of the Aegean in an eternal embrace.

Its whiteness pays tribute to the famous marble of Paros, but beats it at the same time, as its humble and simple material reminds us that we can do wonderful things, and thus be wonderful ourselves with very “cheap” materials. The Aegean Sculpture could never be made of gold, or covered with precious stones. It would not be itself.

The Kaisariani Monastery, near Athens, Greece – Η Μονη Καισαριανης

Το υπεροχο μοναστηρι της Καισαριανης μετα απο 2 χρονια επισκευων και συντηρησης ανοιξε ξανα τις πυλες στους επισκεπτες του. Υπευθυνη για την συντηρηση της μονης και της περιοχης στο δασος του Υμηττου ειναι η Φιλοδασικη Ενωση Αθηνων, την οποια και ευχαριστω γιατι και η περιοχη αλλα και η μονη Καισαριανης αποτελουν θυλακες οξυγονου κυριολεκτικα και μεταφορικα στην δοκιμασμενη Αττικη.

Χαρτης Φιλοδασικης

Η μονη κτιστηκε στη θεση αρχαιου ιερου, μαλλον της Δημητρας της οικογενειας των Λυκομηδων.  Στην περιοχη σωζονται και τα θεμελια τρικλιτης παλαιοχριστιανικης Βασιλικης του 5ου – 6ου μ.Χ. αιωνα.

Κυρια Εισοδος

Ο ναος που διασωζεται σημερα, ειναι βυζαντινου ρυθμου, εγγεγραμμενος σταυροειδης με τρουλο (*) και κτισθηκε τον 11 αιωνα, αφιερωμενος στα Εισοδια της Θεοτοκου. Πολλα απο τα μαρμαρα του αρχαιοτερου ναου χρησιμοποιηθηκαν σαν δομικα στοιχεια.

Τοπογραφικο της Μονης

Η μονη απεκτησε μεγαλη φημη τον 12 και 13 αιωνα και η βιβλιοθηκη της ηταν απο τις πιο πλουσιες στο Βυζαντιο. Οι υπευθυνοι της μονης ειχαν πολυ καλες διπλωματικες ικανοτητες και καταφεραν να τα εχουν καλα και με τους Φραγκους οταν αυτοι κατεκτησαν την Αττικη στις αρχες του 13 αιωνα, αλλα και με τους Τουρκους.

Ναος Εισοδιων της Θεοτοκου και παρεκκλησιο Αγιου Αντωνιου

Το 1204 ο πάπας Ιννοκέντιος ο Γ’ υπέβαλλε την Μονή Καισαριανής στη δικαιοδοσία του λατίνου αρχιεπισκόπου Αθηνών. (**) Το 1458 οι Τούρκοι καταλαμβάνουν την Αττική και ο Μωάμεθ προσέρχεται στη Μονή (***) όπου, σύμφωνα με τον γάλλο γιατρό από την Λυών, Jacob Spon (1675), του παραδίδονται τα κλειδιά της πόλης. Το 1678 ο πατριάρχης Διονύσιος ο Δ’ καθορίζει την Μονή ως “Σταυροπηγική” (****) δηλαδή “ελεύθερη και ασύδοτη” ως πρός τον μητροπολίτη της Αθήνας στον οποίο έχει μόνο μία υποχρέωση: να τον μνημονεύει στη λειτουργία. Το 1792 ο πατριάρχης Νεόφυτος καταργεί με Σιγίλλιο την ελευθερία της Μονής η οποία θα υπαχθεί και πάλι στην μητρόπολη των Αθηνών. Το 1824 η Μονή πλέον “?υποδουλώνεται και οικονομείται ως ίδιον κτήμα των αγίων αρχιερέων. Τί δέν εσυνέβησαν εις αυτό, ποίας τύχας δέν εδοκίμασεν; εκατήντησεν έπαυλις βοών, όνων και αλόγων ζώων το πρώην δυνατόν νά σώση καί να φωτίση πολλάς ψυχάς ανθρώπων”. (Πηγη: Φιλοδασικη Ενωση Αθηνων).

Λουτρα

Τα βιβλια της διασημης βιβλιοθηκης μεταφερθηκαν το 1821 στην Μητροπολη Αθηνων για να προστατευθουν απο την επικειμενη συγκρουση με τους Τουρκους. Δυστυχως συνεβη το ακριβως αντιθετο. Τα βιβλια κατεληξαν στον Παρθενωνα οπου χρησιμοποιηθηκαν για να παρασκευασθουν φυσιγγια κατα την πολιορκια της απο τον Κιουταχη (αναφερεται απο τον Γιωργο Καραχαλιο στα Φαινομενα, Ελευθερος Τυπος, 11 Δεκεμβριου 2010).

Καθολικο Ναου

(*) Ο εγγεγραμμένος σταυροειδής με τρούλο είναι ο αντιπροσωπευτικός βυζαντινός ρυθμός. Κύριο χαρακτηριστικό στοιχείο αυτού του θαυμαστού ρυθμού είναι ο σχηματισμός σταυρού εσωτερικά και εξωτερικά στο σχεδόν τετράγωνο πια κτίσμα, με τον έναν ή τους πέντε τρούλους. Η δημιουργία κογχών στη βόρεια και νότια πλευρά όχι μόνο αυξάνουν τον εσωτερικό χώρο,αλλά χαρίζουν παράλληλα ομορφιά και χάρη. Υπάρχουν πάμπλλα δείγματα αυτού του θαυμασίου ρυθμού, όπως η Γοργοεπίκοος (άγιος Ελευθέριος), άγιοι Θεόδωροι, Καπνικαρέα, Καισαριανή στην Αθήνα, Παναγία των Χαλκαίων στη Θεσσαλονίκη, οι εκκλησίες του Μυστρά, κ.α.(Πηγη: Αποστολικη Διακονια της Εκκλησιας της Ελλαδος)

Η Αγια Τριαδα

(**) Μετά την κατάκτηση της Κων/πόλεως από τους σταυροφόρους επακολούθησε δια προκαταρκτικής συνθήκης διανομή ολόκληρου του Βυζαντινού κράτους μεταξύ των Φράγκων σε λατινικά φέουδα. Στο μαρκήσιο Βονιφάτιο Μομφερατικό, γνωστό στρατηγό της άλωσης της Κων/πόλεως παραχωρήθηκε ήδη από το Σεπτέμβριο 1204 το ιδρυθέν τότε Φραγκικό βασίλειο της Θεσσαλονίκης, το οποίο περιελάμβανε και την χώρα των Αθηνών. Έτσι οδηγήθηκε ο Βονιφάτιος προς κατάκτηση των περιοχών του. Η Αθήνα μετά της Ακροπόλεως καταλήφθηκαν αμαχητί. Η πόλη είχε παραμεληθεί τελείως υπό των Βυζαντινών από αρκετών δε ετών στερούταν διοικητικής κεφαλής. Η «θρυλούμενη και χρυσή πόλη Αθήνα η «πάλαι μεν μήτηρ σοφίας παντοδαπής και πάσης καθηγεμών αρετής» στις παραμονής της Δ΄ Σταυροφορίας καταπιεσμένη από τους φόρους και την απληστία των αρχόντων και λησμονημένη από τους ανθρώπους, είχε χάσει σύμφωνα με την μαρτυρία του Μιχαήλ Χωνιάτη, την παλαιά της δόξα και είχε μεταβληθεί σε μικρό και «αοίκητο χωριό» που την τύχη της ακολούθησε και το «ένδοξο επίνειό της».

Βρεφοκρατουσα

(***) Οι Τούρκοι κατέλαβαν την Αθήνα τον Ιούνιο του 1458, μετά την κατόπιν συνθηκολόγησης παράδοση της Ακρόπολης από τον τελευταίο δούκα των Αθηνών, τον Francesco II Acciajuoli, στον διοικητή της θεσσαλίας Ομάρ. Στη μακραίωνη ιστορία της πόλης των Αθηνών, αυτή η κατάληψη από τους Τούρκους αποτελεί τη μοναδική περίπτωση «ειρηνικής» κατάκτησής της χωρίς καταστροφή. Ο Μωάμεθ Β’ επισκέφτηκε την πόλη γύρω στα τέλη του Αυγούστου της ίδιας χρονιάς, προκειμένου να την επιθεωρήσει αλλά και να θαυμάσει τα περίφημα αρχαία μνημεία που την κοσμούσαν. Η εντύπωση που του προκάλεσαν τα τελευταία, ιδίως η Ακρόπολη, ήταν τεράστια. Μάλιστα, σύγχρονοι χρονογράφοι αποδίδουν σε αυτήν την επιείκεια με την οποία αντιμετώπισε τους Αθηναίους, παραχωρώντας τους ποικίλα προνόμια, όπως την ελευθερία της λατρείας και τη σχετική αυτοδιοίκηση. Έτσι, σταδιακά η πόλη αναπτύχθηκε και πάλι, μετά την εξαθλίωση στην οποία είχε περιπέσει κατά τη Φραγκοκρατία.

Παντοκρατωρ

(****) Σταυροπηγιακή μονή : Σταυροπηγιακή ή πατριαρχική χαρακτηρίζεται η μονή η οποία υπάγεται άμεσα στον Οικουμενικό Πατριάρχη και κατά συνέπεια αποσυνδέεται από την διοικητική εποπτεία του επιχώριου μητροπολίτη ή επισκόπου. Σύμφωνα με την κανονική παράδοση της Ορθόδοξης Εκκλησίας, ο Πατριάρχης έχει το δικαίωμα κατά την ίδρυση μονής σε περιοχή της δικαιοδοσίας του να αποστέλλει σταυρό, ο οποίος τοποθετείται στα θεμέλια της μονής και θεμελιώνει την άμεση εξάρτησή της από αυτόν.

Το Καθολικό και ο λουτρώνας είναι τα αρχικά κτίρια του 11ου αιώνα αλλά ο νάρθηκας, το καμπαναριό καθώς και το παρεκκλήσι του Αγίου Αντωνίου είναι προσθήκες μεταγενέστερες της περιόδου της Τουρκοκρατίας. Τα κτίσματα ήσαν διατεταγμένα γύρω από την εσωτερική αυλή, Στο ανατολικό μέρος υπήρχε το Καθολικό, στο δυτικό η τράπεζα με το μαγειρείο, στη νότια πλευρά ο λουτρώνας μετασκευασμένος στα χρόνια της Τουρκοκρατίας σε ελαιοτριβείο της μονής και δίπλα διώροφα κτίρια με τα κελιά πού είχαν μπροστά ανοιχτή στοά

Η Ανασταση του Λαζαρου

Τοιχογραφίες: Η παλαιότερη τοιχογραφία βρισκόταν στον εξωτερικό νότιο τοίχο του καθολικού πού σήμερα περιλαμβάνεται μέσα στο παρεκκλήσι του Αγίου Αντωνίου. Είναι μία μορφή Παναγίας, δεομένης προς αριστερά, με αδρές γραμμές σχεδίου που φανερώνουν επαρχιακή τεχνοτροπία του 14ου αιώνα.
Ο ναός και ο νάρθηκας κοσμούνται από τοιχογραφίες τής εποχής της τουρκοκρατίας. Οι τοιχογραφίες του νάρθηκα έγιναν από τον Ιωάννη Ύπατο από την Πελοπόννησο, το 1682 και με δαπάνες του Μπενιζέλου, σύμφωνα με επιγραφή που υπάρχει στον δυτικό τοίχο.

Στον τρούλλο παριστάνεται ο Χριστός Παντοκράτωρ, στο τύμπανο, που χωρίζεται σε δύο ζώνες και εικονίζονται η Ετοιμασία του θρόνου, η Παναγία, ο Ιωάννης ο Πρόδρομος, οι άγγελοι καθώς και τετράμορφο σύμπλεγμα των τεσσάρων Ευαγγελιστών. Στην κόγχη του ιερού παριστάνεται η Θεοτόκος Πλατυτέρα, ένθρονη, πλαισιωμένη από δύο σεβίζοντες αγγέλους.

Οι τοιχογραφίες του ναού δεν διακρίνονται για καινοτομίες στους εικονογραφικούς τύπους αλλά ανήκουν σε κρητικά εικονογραφικά πρότυπα του 16ου αιώνα που συναντούμε στις εκκλησίες του Αγίου Όρους.

Ο χαρακτήρας των τοιχογραφιών του 17ου αιώνα γίνεται πάντως όλο και πιο λαϊκός. Η τάση αυτή είναι φανερή στις τοιχογραφίες του νάρθηκα τόσο στο στυλ όσο και στην τεχνική εκτέλεση. Είναι φανερή πλέον η βούληση του ζωγράφου να απομακρυνθεί από τα πρότυπα της Κρητικής Σχολής.

Η Τραπεζα

Τράπεζα

Απέναντι από το καθολικό, στη δυτική πλευρά του τείχους, μέσα σε ένα ενιαίο και αυτοτελές κτίριο βρίσκονται η τράπεζα και το μαγειρείο. Η τράπεζα είναι μια επιμήκης ορθογώνια θολωτή αίθουσα που χωρίζεται σε δύο χώρους. Το μαγειρείο είναι προσκολλημένο στη νότια πλευρά της τράπεζας, είναι τετράγωνο με θολωτή οροφή απ’όπου υψώνεται η καπνοδόχος. Η εστία βρίσκεται στη μέση και γύρω της έχει κτιστό πεζούλι προσκολλημένο στους τέσσερις τοίχους. Το κτίριο αυτό χρονολογείται πιθανότατα από τον 16ο ή τον 17ο αιώνα.

Αγορι και Γαιδουρακι

“Arantzan zu?!” (Thou, among the thorns?!) – The Basilica and Sanctuary of Arantzazu in the Basque Country

According to the legend, these were the words of the shepherd Rodrigo de Balanzategui, who discovered the sculpture of the Virgin in a thorn-bush in the Onati county in the South of the Basque Country.

These words named the place Arantzazu, a holy place for the Basques, where they have erected a Sanctuary.

I visited the Sanctuary of Arantzazu more than a month ago, during a day that the skies were grey and the water was falling continuously, all day long.  As we approach the Virgin’s Assumption on the 15th of August, I felt is would be appropriate to share with you some of my pictures from the Basque Madonna.

The whole area of the Sanctuary is developed for people. You can walk, rest, enjoy the natural environment, visit the Church and the other edifices. The Basilica was rebuilt in 1951, when it was decided that no further extension of the old building made sense.

The Church is modern. The imposing belfry tower has a minimal cross on top.

The main entrance of the Church is modern but powerful.

The spikes of the facade are “thorns”.

The four doors of the main entrance were made by Eduardo Chillida. In the page of Onati dedicated to Arantzazu, we read: “The four doors that provide access to the church were designed by Eduardo Chillida and seem to be almost below ground, being set at the bottom of a steep staircase.”

“With their mineral appearance, the doors suggest the entrance to the underground world, an impression which is further reinforced inside the church by the massive high altarpiece, which measures over 600 square metres. The altarpiece was designed by Lucio Muñoz and is carved in wood of many different colors.”

The 14 Apostles guarding the entrance are the work of Jorge Oteiza. The Bilbao Guggenheim organized in 2005 a major retrospective of Oteiza’s work. We read in the Exhibition program: ” In the same year (1950), he began work tentatively on a major commission for the statuary of the basilica at Aránzazu, a huge undertaking finally realized in 1969. Here, religious motifs are depersonalized; figures are emptied, opened to space, and filled with spiritual content.”

The Pieta crowns the 14 Apostles.

The crypt is accessible from the inside of the Basilica. It is utterly modern, and captivating. The Onati site comments: “The crypt, decorated by Nestor Basterretxea, contains 18 murals of exceptional expressive strength, which have a somewhat aggressive use of color.”

The 15th century statute of the Virgin.

May her Mercy envelop and deliver us more true and free to the world.

May her Grace help us to sustain pain and sorrow.

May her Heart keep us warm in the cold and dark terrain of solitude and remembrance.

Exiting the Chillida doors.

Time to go.

Time to get lost in the mountains and the clouds.

La Mezquita in Cordoba – Part I

I am not familiar with Islamic art. But my recent visit to the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain was an ecstatic experience. This is the first part of an article on the Mezquita of Cordoba.

I start with some history, borrowed from the vast resources of the Metropolian Museum of Art in New York, then continue with a short tour of the outside, and conclude the first part with the entrance in the Mezquita and the first impressions and feelings.

“On July 19, 711, an army of Arabs and Berbers unified under the aegis of the Islamic Umayyad caliphate landed on the Iberian Peninsula. Over the next seven years, through diplomacy and warfare, they brought the entire peninsula except for Galicia and Asturias in the far north under Islamic control; however, frontiers with the Christian north were constantly in flux. The new Islamic territories, referred to as al-Andalus by Muslims, were administered by a provincial government established in the name of the Umayyad caliphate in Damascus and centered in Córdoba. Of works of art and other material culture only coins and scant ceramic fragments remain from this early period of the Umayyad governors (711–56).

When the Umayyad caliphate of Damascus was overthrown by the Abbasids in 750, the last surviving member of the Umayyad dynasty fled to Spain, establishing himself as Emir Abd al-Rahman I and thus initiating the Umayyad emirate (756–929). Abd al-Rahman I (r. 756–88) made Córdoba his capital and unified al-Andalus under his rule with a firm hand, while establishing diplomatic ties with the northern Christian kingdoms, North Africa, and the Byzantine empire and maintaining cultural contact with the Abbasids in Baghdad. The initial construction of the Great Mosque of Córdoba under his patronage was the crowning achievement of this formative period of Hispano-Islamic art and architecture.”

(Source: The Art of the Umayyad Period in Spain (711–1031) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Aerial view of the Mezquita in Cordoba (source: Wikipedia)

The Great Mosque of Cordoba was built over a period of three centuries, from the 8th to the 11th. It is a rectangle with a orange tree court with a basin adjacent to it. This court is the oldest Moorish garden in Spain (marked as 7 in the plan that follows).

The concept was to imitate if not exceed the Great Mosque of Damascus.

At the edge of the tree line at the bottom of the photo is the bank of the famous river, Guadalquivir. The plan of the Mezquita that follows is “turned upside down” compared to the photo. The river is at the top. The resolution of the plan is high so that you can download it and view it in full resolution for the details.

The Minaret, enveloped by a Baroque Tower in 17c

Door of Forgiveness (1 in the plan)

Puerta San Esteban (Door of Saint Stephen) - Marked 3 on the plan

Puerta San Miguel (Door of Saint Michael’s) – Marked 4 on the Plan.

Door of the Psalms, viewed from the Orange Tree Court – Marked 6 on the Plan.

Carved wooden beams in the cloisters – detail (Marked 8 on the plan)

When the Moors first arrived in Cordoba, they were content to share the Visigothic Church of Saint Vincent with the Christians. When this became insufficient, AdbAl-Rahman purchased their part and started building  the Mosque (marked 9 on the plan) with 11 aisles, opening onto the Orange Tree Court. The architectural innovation in the mosque was the superimposition of two tiers of arches to give added height and spaciousness. They used marble pillars and Roman stone from St Vicent’s Church and other buildings in the area.

Once you are inside (you enter in the area marked 8 on the plan) you get overwhelmed by the “forest of pillars” as one traveler put it, and the  completely new feeling of space. It is as if space is distorted, but yet it returns to its normal state, If there is one thing that I will never forget from my visit there is this “feeling” of space. The last time I felt this was when I visited the Chillida museum in the Basque country. The photos cannot convey this feeling, but you get an idea.

This is one of the corridors that take you from the entrance to the Mihrab (marked 13 on the plan), which you can barely see at the end. The two pillars at the beginning of this corridor are supporting the Christian Cathedral that is almost embedded in the Great Mosque. In the photo below you see the parallel corridor on the left as we face the Mihrab.

As I walk down this corridor with direction towards the Mihrab, I get to see some of the marvelous arches within arches of the Great Mosque.

With these first impressions of the inside area, I conclude Part I of my visit to the Mezquita of Cordoba.

In Part II I will cover the Christian Cathedral and the area of the Mahrib.

Poeme electronique: The Phillips Pavilion in the 1958 Brussels World Fair

This post is about the joint work of three modern day geniuses: Le Corbusier, Edgard Varese, and Iannis Xenakis:

Poeme electronique, the multimedia environment at the Phillips Pavilion in the 1958 Brussels World Fair.

In 1956, the artistic director of the Philips company, Louis C. Kalff, asked Le Corbusier to design a pavilion that would embody and demonstrate the excellence of the company’s products for the benefit of visitors to the Brussels World’s Fair. Le Corbusier agreed, proposing a “bottle” that would house a light, colour, image, rhythm and sound show that Le Corbusier called an “electronic poem”. Poème électronique was the title of the musical score commissioned from avant-garde composer Edgar Varèse specifically for use in the Pavilion.

(Source: Carlotta Daro, Canadian Center of Architecture)

The Philips Pavilion staged what would now be called a multimedia event, or interdisciplinary poly-art orgy, for the five months of the World Fair. There were projected images (Le Corbusier at least chose these), two hanging, sculptural figures, and two pieces of early electro-acoustic music: Xenakis’s Concrète P.H., and Edgard Varèse’s Poème électronique. The exterior of the Pavilion was based on the parabolic curves that Xenakis had discovered in mathematics and which he used to structure his early musical works, such as Metastasis; it was a symphony in swooping steel and concrete, and seeing it today in photographs, it still looks like the future made flesh. (Never designed as a permanent structure, the Pavilion was pulled down shortly after the World Fair – a shame, since the theoretically impermanent Eiffel Tower is still going strong).

(Source: How Iannis Xenakis turned his back to Architecture, Guardian)

Before you read on, have a look at this “virtual” representation of the project.

«The Philips Pavilion presented a collage liturgy for twentieth-century humankind, dependent on electricity instead of daylight and on virtual perspectives in place of terrestrial views.»
(Source: Marc Treib, Space Calculated in Seconds, Princeton, 1996, p. 3)

Le Corbusier wanted to create a Gesammstkunstwerk. As an architect he understood how people experience space and fill it with sight and sound

Poème Électronique is a concept that jumps straight off the theoretical draftboard into reality. That’s why he threatened to quit altogether if Philips wanted to drop Edgard Varèse. The whole point, for Le Corbusier, was that Varèse, neglected and frustrated, represented the new frontier, mixing technology with art.

(Source: Classical Iconoclast)

“The structure is composed of hyperbolic-paraboloid shells which, up to now, have not been used for the problems of the type. The walls are constructed of rough slabs cast in sand moulds on the ground, measuring about 5′-0″ on a side and 2″ in thickness. They are mounted in place by means of a movable scaffolding and are supported by a double network of cables, 3″ in diameter, suspended along the cylindrical directrices of strongly reinforced concrete. Such is the principal of the structure.”The electronic poem of Le Corbusier at the Philips Pavilion marks the first appearance of a new art form; ‘The Electronic Games’, a synthesis unlimited in its possibilities for color, imagery, music, words and rhythm.”

Source: Le Corbusier Complete Works in Eight Volumes

“The electronic poem of Le Corbusier at the Philips Pavilion marks the first appearance of a new art form; ‘The Electronic Games’, a synthesis unlimited in its possibilities for color, imagery, music, words and rhythm.”

(Source: Hans Girsberger, ed. Le Corbusier 1910-60. p236.)

“They asked Le Corbusier to design something and Le Corbusier asked me to design something. At that time, I was very much interested in shapes like hyperbolic paraboloids, things like that; and so I organized them to form a shell in which we could produce sounds and images on the walls. I did the designs and I showed them to Le Corbusier and he said, ‘Yes, of course.’”

“The structure represents a shift from a translational notion of volume (whereby the elevation is a vertical translation of the plan) to a new concept of volume, with three truly distinct, non-homomorphic, dimensions.”

– Yannis Xenakis, design engineer and Le Corbusier associate

As the story goes, Le Corbusier did not acknowledge Xenakis’s role and contribution to the design and construction of the Pavilion, resulting in the two men having a dispute in 1957. Here are the details:

“The ground breaking on the project was in May of 1957. The images to be projected inside were still not assembled, while Le Corbusier made excuses about a constant preoccupation with the project and needing adequate time for his ideas to gestate and be realized. Le Corbusier arrived in Paris to sign off on the design, then went to Eindhoven where he played it up to the press, posing for photos and pointing out his unique design elements at work. Xenakis was disgruntled, feeling neglected, unacknowledged, and upstaged. This kind of treatment is the norm, particularly in design firms. The head of the firm comes up with the broad strokes, dividing time between PR work and asking designers to adjust their work, then signs off on the plans and takes the credit. Xenakis, however, was not prepared for this reality. He immediately wrote to the Philips Corporation, claiming the design as his own, and requesting due credit in future. Such a move was unprecedented. Le Corbusier had never shared credit with anyone, and an employee with such audacity would normally be summarily dismissed. Xenakis, however, was too important to the firm, and Le Corbusier was forced, however reluctantly, to acknowledge, if not accept, Xenakis’ design contributions. Le Corbusier wrote to Philips, defending his work methods, claiming that none of his 250 architects had ever received any credit for any of the firm’s work.”

(Source: Discorgy)

Architecture’s loss was, however, music’s big gain.

Xenakis turned his creative genius exclusively to music.

I want to share with you “Sea Nymphs”, a piece he wrote in 1994 for the 70th Anniversary of the BBC Singers.

The reason is that I was fortunate to attend the world premiere of the piece in London’s Wigmore Hall.

During a break, I managed to talk to Xenakis himself.

A soft spoken, extremely polite man, who contributed immensely to contemporary music.