During every edition of STRP, special attention is paid to a theme that focuses on Eindhoven and the relationship between creativity and technology under the ‘RE:’ banner. This year, RE: is dedicated to the 1958 work of art Le Poème Électronique.

In 1956 Philips commissioned the renowned architect Le Corbusier to build a pavilion for the World’s Fair in Brussels. Le Corbusier wished to avoid designing yet another industrial exhibit and told Philips that he would create an ‘electronic poem’ about the technological development of mankind. Together with composer Edgar Varèse, architect Iannis Xenakis and cinematographer Philippe Agostini, Le Corbusier developed a spectacular work of art in which light, sound, film and architecture merge to form a revolutionary multimedia spectacle. STRP will host a symposium on this remarkable cultural legacy, which was created in Eindhoven’s NatLab.

Five hundred visitors gather inside the futuristic pavilion at the World’s Fair. The excitement is palpable. While an introductory text is projected on the wall, oscillating sounds issue from the left and right from hidden speakers. A nude female mannequin at the top of the ceiling lights up as ultraviolet lights flashed across the diagonal side walls. The audience is startled by the weird electronic sounds cascading over them from somewhere far off in the distance in the pavilion. A series of abstract light patterns and graphic images and photographs of monkeys, birds, skeletons, explosions and babies alternate as the soundscape seems to continue moving along the walls of the tent-like structure. After eight minutes, the lights go out and everything is quiet. The dazzled spectators stumble out through the exit doors, making way for the next group of curious World’s Fair visitors.

Le Poème Électronique tells the story of mankind and the quest for harmony in an ever-increasingly technological society. In the mid-1950s, technology is a source of hope, inspiration and optimism. At home, families gather around the radio or the black and white TV set. In the streets, the first affordable cars cruise around. In space, the Russians launch Sputnik, the first satellite. At Philips’ Natuurkundig Laboratorium (Natlab) in Eindhoven, in addition to developing new electronic appliances, which include an honest to goodness colour TV, the future of music is taking shape, too. Using huge tape recorders, reels, mixing boards and homemade electronic instruments, pioneers such as Dick Raaijmakers, Tom Dissevelt and Henk Badings create new electronic music. This technical playground in Strip-S is where the composer Varèse spent several months working with the Natlab technicians on Le Poème Électronique presented in the mathematically constructed pavilion at the World’s Fair.

On Thursday, 9 April, STRP is hosting a symposium with lectures, presentations and works of art about Le Poème Électronique and its significance today. The talks are in Dutch.

Date: donderdag 9 april
Location: STRP Lab

Program:

15.00u - 15.30u         Inloop

15.30u - 15.40u         Opening symposium door Ties vd Werff (STRP)

15.40u - 15.50u         Vertoning Le Poème Électronique

15.50u - 16.10u         Historische achtergrond en reconstructie werkzaamheden Le 
                                Poème Électronique door Kees Tazelaar (hoofd Instituut voor Sonologie)

16.20u - 16.50u         Le Poème Électronique als model: een deconstructie
                                door Horst Rickels (kunstenaar en docent aan het Koninklijk 
                                Conservatorium in Den Haag)

16.50u - 17.00u         Pauze

17.00u - 17.30u         Een elektrisch gedicht op muziek van dun beton in een beweging van een 
                                kortstondige stilte door Jacob Voorthuis (cultuurfilosoof, verbonden aan de 
                                faculteit Bouwkunde van de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven)

17.30u - 18.00u         Patronage: Pioneers Positioneren zich met Propaganda door Wim 
                                Langenhoff (eye-witness en conceptueel engineer)

18.00u - 19.00u         Paneldiscussie met: 
                                Joost Rekveld – hoofd ArtScience @ Interfaculteit Den Haag
                                Peter Peters – oprichter ArtScience @ Universiteit Maastricht
                                Marc Maurer  – Baltan Laboratories 
                                Dolf Wittkamper – senior Director @ Philips Design 
                                Arie van Rangelrooij - EN&EN Architecten / Stichting Alice
                                Paul Devens – geluidskunstenaar  

19.00u - 19.30u         Pauze

19.30u - 21.00u         Vertoning documentaire 'Kamer 306' over het NatLab van 1956 - 1960

21.00u - 22.00u         Presentatie werken van studenten van de opleiding ArtScience aan de 
                                Interfaculteit

22.00u - 22.30u         RecPlay: performance van studenten van de Interfaculteit

Het symposium is bedoeld voor studenten, kunstenaars, technologen, onderzoekers, en alle andere geinteresseerden. De voertaal is Nederlands. Ga naar het onderdeel Talks van het programmaoverzicht voor meer informatie over de sprekers.