Occasionally, the recognition of a significant figure in the cultural landscape of a country or the acknowledgment of their contributions may take time, but inevitably, their moment arrives. This is precisely the case for composer Iannis Xenakis, whose legacy is currently honored with an exhibition at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (ΕΜΣT) in Athens, Greece.
In collaboration with the Contemporary Music Research Centre (CMRC/KΣYME) at the Athens Conservatoire, the exhibition "Iannis Xenakis and Greece" (running until February 18th) explores the composer's works, their connections with architecture and mathematics and the complex relationship with his homeland. Another exhibition, "Iannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys" at the same venue closed instead earlier on in January.
Xenakis was born in Brăila, Romania, to wealthy Greek parents. He received a privileged education at a boarding school on the island of Spetses, where his passion for music flourished, partly inspired by his late mother, a pianist. Despite his musical inclination, his fascination with mathematics seemed to prevail and, after completing his education at the boarding school, he pursued further studies at the Athens Polytechnic.
After the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II, Xenakis joined the National Liberation Front (EAM), later participating in armed resistance. In December 1944, he sustained injuries, including the loss of an eye, during clashes between the left-wing resistance forces and the Greek Government, royalists and their British allies.
Three years later, when the Greek government started arresting resistance members, he went into hiding and then fled to France; in the meantime he was sentenced in absentia first to death and then to life imprisonment.
In Paris, Xenakis apprenticed at Le Corbusier's studio, initially as an engineering assistant, later becoming a collaborator. He worked with Le Corbusier on several key projects and completed alone the Philips Pavilion for the Brussels World's Fair Expo 1958 from a basic sketch by Le Corbusier.
The pavilion became an iconic building and one of Xenakis' earliest so-called "multi-media" works: an early example of parametric architecture, the Pavilion consisted of nine hyperbolic paraboloids; inside it featured music by Edgar Varèse (his "Poème Electronique"), while at the entrance to the Pavilion Xenakis' own composition "Concret PH" could be heard.
While working at Le Corbusier's, Xenakis continued studying focusing on harmony and counterpoint, attempting to apply mathematical formulas to music.
Although initially influenced by Greek folk melodies, Xenakis's compositional style evolved under the guidance of Olivier Messiaen, embracing modal serialism. Notably, his composition "Metastaseis" (1953-54) directly integrated architectural concepts, marking a significant milestone in his career.
Xenakis garnered increased recognition in the late '50s (Xenakis left Le Corbusier's in 1959 to focus on teaching and composing) and the '60s, emerging as a trailblazer in computer-assisted composition (German conductor Hermann Scherchen also contributed to his public recognition).
He also wrote seminal works, including the book "Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition" (French edition 1963, English translation 1971).
His return to Greece in 1974, following an amnesty by Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis, marked a pivotal moment. In 1979, Xenakis co-founded the Contemporary Music Research Centre in Athens, alongside composer Stefanos Vassileiadis, musicologist, teacher and architect-urbanist John G. Papaioannou, and others.
This institution, now housed at the Athens Conservatoire, was inspired by Xenakis's earlier venture, CEMAMu (Centre d’Études de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales, founded in Paris in 1972), and became fully operational in the '80s. Despite living in exile for most of his life, Xenakis's work resonated in Greece and his work in France contributed to shape a legacy in his home country's cultural landscape.
The exhibitions at ΕΜΣΤ, taking place 23 years after Xenakis's death, are the proof of a renewed interest for his work in Greece.
The first exhibition ("Sonic Odysseys"), curated by Mâkhi Xenakis, Thierry Maniguet, and Katerina Gregos, concluded in January. It unfolded across six chapters, offering visitors a comprehensive journey through Xenakis's life, encompassing his musical and architectural endeavors. Featuring scores, photographs, and architectural models, it contextualized his work within a broader framework.
The event looked at Xenakis's fascination with ancient Greek, Pre-Columbian, African, and Asian cultures, but also explored topics such as sound spatialization, machine utilization in composition, and the concept of Polytopes.
The latter - multi-media spatial creations integrating sound, light, and live performances - were a synthesis of Xenakian thought, complex projects that mixed electronic or instrumental sound with light installations.
In "Iannis Xenakis and Greece" curators Stamatis Schizakis and Stella Kourbana gathered materials from the CMRC historical archive to shed light on Xenakis's life and on his mission to advance music composition through technology.
This is a compact exhibition (still ongoing) and features Xenakis's handwritten texts, music scores, event programs, photographs, recordings, and videos. Through these materials visitors are invited to trace Xenakis's journey into music and architecture, gaining insights into his thoughts, aspirations, and ties to Greece and his dreams for the future of the arts in his home country. In this event his relationships with prominent figures in the musical milieu of Greece, such as John G. Papaioannou and composer Manos Hatzidakis, who valued and promoted Xenakis's work during his period of self-exile in France, are set against Greece's musical and cultural background of the time.
Particular emphasis is placed on Xenakis's interactions after his return to Greece in 1974, highlighted by the presentation of the "Mycenae Polytope" (1978) and the establishment of CMRC (1979). Both are regarded as integral for the realisation of his musical and pedagogical vision.
The groundbreaking "Mycenae Polytope" performance, held in September 1978, marked Xenakis's return after 27 years of exile. Inspired by a school trip memory at the age of 14, the performance illuminated the acropolis and surrounding hills with an avant-garde spectacle combining light, sound, and live performances. It featured the army, a children's choir, shepherds and sheep equipped with bells and a diode between the horns drawing luminous constellations in the darkness, and a chorus of women reciting extracts from Greek texts and tragedies including Homer's "Iliad" and Sophocles' "Oedipus". Large anti-aircraft projectors, fireworks and slide projections were added to the show, directed by Xenakis from a walkie-talkie.
Xenakis's invention of UPIC in 1979 sheds light on his intricate connection with Greece, underscoring the country's deeper and more sophisticated history in contemporary avant-garde music than commonly acknowledged.
This electronic composition system, equipped with a graphic interface, was devised by the artist to translate images into notes. Some of his architectural drawings, which he called "arborescences", resembled both organic forms and architectural structures. The curves and lines of these drawings provided to the system real-time instructions (similar to the prompts we give to Artificial Intelligence applications nowadays) for sound synthesis. Thus, the drawings transformed into compositions - "Mycenae-Alpha" was one of the pioneering pieces crafted using UPIC.
Thorugh the materials in the exhibition it is also possible to spot the mathematical structures, algebraic concepts and principles of physics including statistical mechanics of gases, statistical distribution of points on a plane, minimal constraints, game theory and group theory that Xenakis applied to his soundscapes. He also developed a stochastic synthesizer algorithm called "dynamic stochastic synthesis". This innovative approach involves generating amplitudes and distances between borders of polygonal waveforms through a randomized process, resulting in the creation of both aleatoric timbres and musical forms.
Xenakis was a prolific composer and created over 150 works – from vocal, choral and orchestral, to chamber and solo music for piano, strings and percussion. His compositions, ranging from fierce intensity to expressive catharsis (a concept borrowed from ancient Greek theatre), reflect his profound engagement with various disciplines.
Fashion designers may therefore find Xenakis inspiring for different reasons, from his experimental ethos, his fusion of architecture and music, to his passion for sound spatialization (think about the soundscapes employed in a space like a runway show) and the evocative titles of his compositions (for example, "Aïs", a painful sound tribute to his late mother Photini who died prematurely, or the last one, "O-Mega"), resonating with themes of personal loss and intellectual breadth.
Yet maybe the most inspiring aspect about him remains the fact that he was an engineer, architect, composer, mathematician, and computer expert, so he had a polymathic approach, advocating for interdisciplinary alliances between arts and sciences.
Image credits for this post
Images 1 - 7.
Xenakis and Greece, National Museum of Contemporary Art (ΕΜΣT), Athens, Greece
Installation views
Photos by Paris Tavitian
8.
Iannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys
Installation view (left to right): Philips Pavilion (architectural model), Diatope de Beaubourg (architectural model)
Courtesy: Rijksmuseum and Χenakis Family Archives
Photo by Paris Tavitian
9.
Iannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys
Installation view (detail): books and objects from the personal library of Iannis Xenakis
Courtesy: Χenakis Family Archives
Photo by Paris Tavitian
10.
Iannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys
Installation view
Photo by Paris Tavitian
11.
Iannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys
Installation view (from left to right): display cases with a selection of architectural sketches of Iannis Xenakis’'Polytopes; photograph depicting Iannis Xenakis in front of the Convent of La Tourette, France
Courtesy: Χenakis Family Archives
Photo by Paris Tavitian
12.
Iannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys
Installation view (detail): Diatope de Beaubourg, 1977 (architectural model)
Courtesy: Rijksmuseum
Photo by Paris Tavitian
13.
Iannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys
Installation view (detail): display cases showing a selection of Iannis Xenakis' Polytopes (incl. scores, designs, studies, and photographs)
Courtesy: Χenakis Family Archives
Photo by Paris Tavitian
14.
Iannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys
Installation view (detail): display cases showing a selection of Xenakis’'studies and scores for the Philips Pavilion and the work Metastasis
Courtesy: Χenakis Family Archives
Photo by Paris Tavitian
15.
Iannis Xenakis: Sonic Odysseys
Installation view (detail): books and objects from the personal library of Iannis Xenakis
Courtesy: Χenakis Family Archives
Photo by Paris Tavitian
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