Iannis Xenakis Drawings
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"Study for Metastaseis" from around 1953 shows how architecturally minded Xenakis was even when plotting out a piece of music. "Metastaseis" is one of his most significant compositions and it was the basis for his Philips Pavilion in Brussels with Le Corbusier. -
Here is a more detailed view of the swooping arcs that inform his musical works in another "Study for Metastaseis" from 1953. -
Another "Study for Metastaseis" from around 1953. -
Here is Xenakis and Le Corbusier en route to the Philips Pavilion in Brussels in 1957. The Pavilion was perhaps Xenakis's most significant architectural work, but Le Corbusier took credit for it. Xenakis left his office soon after. -
This drawing is a study for Xenakis's 1977 composition Jonchaies. -
This is another "Study for Terretektorh", also from 1965-66. -
Here is Xenakis in 1974 pictured at Mycenae, one of Greece's richest archaeological sites. Mycenae was the fabled kingdom of Agamemnon. -
Later in Xenakis's architectural career he designed a series of multimedia installations that combined sound, music, lighting and architecture which he called Polytopes. Here is the Montreal Polytope circa 1967. -
This "Study for Polytope de Montreal" from 1967 illustrates Xenakis's eye for a visual spectacle in full display. -
This colored-pencil drawing is entitled "Study for Polytope de Montreal (light score)" and is from around 1966. -
This is a blueprint for the "Polytope de Montreal (plans, elevations, axonometrics)" from 1966. -
"Study for Terretektorh (glissandi)" is a wonderful example of how Xenakis's thinking about architectural form and musical notation were inextricably linked. This pencil drawing is from 1965-66 and is from the Iannis Xenakis Archives at the Bibliotheque nationale de France in Paris. -
Study for Terretektorh (distribution of musicians), December 20, 1965 Ink on paper 9 x 9 inches Iannis Xenakis Archives, Biblioth�que nationale de France, Paris -
Iannis Xenakis pictured in 1995. -
This 1963 drawing, "Cosmic City (aerial perspective)" illustrated Xenakis's essay on urbanism, The Cosmic City published in 1965 in Francois Choay's L'Urbanisme, Utopies et Realite.
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Events this Weekend: 4.8-4.11
Clear your calendar: It's a weekend of closings in the architecture and design gallery scene.
Events this Weekend: 1.14-17
This long weekend sees two exhibition openings and two closings worth checking out: a look at Iannis Xenakis's work and the changing understanding of "landscape" in New York, Daniel…Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect, Visionary
The exhibition explores the fundamental role of drawing in the work of Greek avant-garde composer Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001). A leading figure in twentieth century music, Xenakis was trained as a civil engineer, then became an architect and developed revolutionary designs while working with Le Corbusier. Comprised of over 60 documents created between 1953 and 1984, this will be the first North American exhibition dedicated to Xenakis’s original works on paper. Included will be rarely-seen hand-rendered scores, architectural drawings, conceptual renderings, pre-compositional sketches, and graphic scores.
Matthias Heiderich's Berlin
Self-taught photographer Matthias Heiderich has spent the past three years roaming around Berlin, snapping photos with his medium-format film camera and Pentax digital camera.
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