Brussels World’s Fair – 1958

Electronics company Philips ordered a pavilion with French architect Le Corbusier for their presentation at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958. One of Le Corbusier’s stipulations was the use of composer Edgard Varese to supply the audio for the multi media presentation to be held inside.

This might have been the first time people got enveloped in 3D sound and vision in such a way since the caves of Lascaux were used for that purpose the last time (Immersion Into Noise – Joseph Nechvatal).

Besides Edgard Varese’s Poeme Electronique getting spatially distributed inside the construction, Iannis Xenakis’ composition Concret PH was played before the start of the multi media presentation. Xenakis should also be credited with the design of the pavilion.