Inside Le Corbusier's Philips Pavilion: A Multimedial Space at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair

In 1958, Swiss-French architect and urban planner Le Corbusier designed the Philips Pavilion for the World's Fair in Brussels. It is the only building the artist produced for a Dutch client. The unconventional pavilion was the setting for the experimental performance "Le Poème électronique," by avant-garde composer Edgard Varèse, seen by one and a half million visitors. Combining film, color, music and light, this event is regarded as the first multimedia performance for the general public. After its demolition in 1959, the pavilion became an icon of 20th-century art. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam hosts a scale model of the pavilion and also provides the eight-minute soundtrack of "Le Poème électronique." EYE Filmmuseum, also in Amsterdam, has kept the film footage of the performance. This monograph includes a complete overview of the Philips Pavilion, including its history, construction and detailed documentation of "Le Poème électronique."