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ATHENS RIVIERA JOURNAL
culture

The interplay
and inextricable
connection between
sound and space are
central to Xenakis’s
work, which also
deployed computers
and mathematical
concepts such as
stochasticity and
game theory to create
an unprecedented
paradigm.

studying with Olivier Messiaen, who encouraged him FROM LEFT AND CLOCKWISE: IANNIS XENAKIS UNDER THE SKYLIGHT OF THE CHAPEL OF THE CONVENT OF LA TOURETTE ©COLLECTION XENAKIS FAMILY. DIATOPE (BEAUBOURG POLYTOPE)/ PHOTO BY PASCAL DUSAPIN. INTERIOR VIEW OF THE DIATOPE (BEAUBOURG POLYTOPE), 1978 © COLLECTION XENAKIS FAMILY. PHILIPS PAVILION, BRUSSELS, 1958 © KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V / PHILIPS COMPANY ARCHIVES. INSTALLATION VIEW OF THE EXHIBITION XENAKIS AND GREECE/ PHOTO BY PARIS TAVITIAN.
to bring his other studies and talents to his music.
It was there, in the confluence of his passions, that
Xenakis created something extraordinary.
Tapping into his astute mathematical thinking, his
understanding of physics, his engineering background XENAKIS’S UNIQUE WORLD ENCOMPASSES
and his love of philosophy, Xenakis embarked on truly
unprecedented aesthetic explorations that easily hold SWEEPING SOUND MASSES AND
their own more than half a century later. Working in ULTRAMODERN MULTIDIMENSIONAL
graphic scores rather than using traditional notation,
he composed his first major work, Metastasis, in SPATIAL AND MUSICAL UNIVERSES.
1953-54, drawing inspiration from Einsteinian views
of time, the Fibonacci sequence, and his memories
of the sounds of warfare. At its 1955 premiere, the called “polytopes”, and specially designed computer major comprehensive exhibition in Greece of the
work’s otherness bordered on scandalous; today the processes and systems. artist’s work, “Iannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys” (co-
complex, 61-player orchestral piece is widely hailed Based on abstract mathematics yet hailed for their produced with Musée de la Musique - Philharmonie
as seminal, a watershed in a career that spanned half physicality, Xenakis’s deeply visceral works, vocal, de Paris), as well as a second, parallel exhibition,
a century. During this time, Xenakis emerged as the instrumental and electronic, are discourses between “Xenakis and Greece” (co-produced with the
originator of musique stochastique, music composed sound and space that create contours and textures, Contemporary Music Research Centre at the Athens
with the aid of computers and based on mathematical explore and nurture new interfaces between the sciences Conservatoire). The exhibitions showcase the artist’s
probability systems, and he also composed, wrote, and art, and invite the audience to revisit the very notion most important works across disciplines, illuminate
taught, performed around the world, and continued of listening to music and experiencing space. his personal history, and explore his controversial
to explore the liminal spaces between space and For the first time ever, the National Museum of relationship with his ancestral homeland; both will
music, through music, audiovisual installations Contemporary Art in Athens is now hosting the first run through 7 January 2024. 

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