Electronic Poem

Poème Électronique is an 8minute piece of electronic music by composer Edgard Varèse written for the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels Worlds Fair The Philips corporation commissioned Le Corbusier to design the pavilion which was intended as a showcase of their engineering progress The pavilion was shaped like a stomach with a narrow entrance and exit on either side of a large central space As the audience entered and exited the pavilion the electronic composition Concret PH by Iannis Xenakis who also acted as Le Corbusiers architectural assistant for the pavilions design was heard Poème électronique was synchronized to a film of black and white photographs selected by Le Corbusier which touched on vague themes of human existence