Provisions TV: Expo 58
Sunday, March 16th, 2008
This year is the 50th anniversary of the World Expo organized in Brussels in 1958. Focusing on internationalism and the brotherhood of men, the Expo expressed unlimited self-consciousness and progressive optimism. Mostly a trade fair and a platform for obvious clichés, it was at the same time a rare occasion were the subversive ideas of the modernist avant-garde and the hopeful beliefs of an open-minded post war generation went hand in hand.
My two all time favorites are the now still standing Atomium and the long gone Philips Pavilion. The Atomium (see image above), designed by Belgian architect André Waterkeyn, is 335-feet tall and consists of nine steel spheres that are connected. It represents the molecule of iron magnified 165 billion times. Being a large-scale mind blowing atom, it has exhibition spaces inside. On my recent trip to Belgium, I was confronted with numerous publications on Expo 58, which inspired me to visit the Atomium and experience its weird architecture once again.

The Philips Pavilion was more than a building at the fair; it was a multimedia experience displaying the technological skills of the Philips Company by combining light, sound and color. Le Corbusier is often credited as the main architect of the building, but his involvement is slightly overestimated. In reality, his collaborator Iannis Xenakis, a Greek architect and experimental music composer was responsible for the design. Le Corbusier, however, commissioned electro-acoustic composer Edgard Varèse to create an immersive sound installation, Le Poème Electronique (The Electronic Poem). Visitors to the Pavilion were treated to an impressive multimedia performance: 400 loudspeakers moving Varèse’s composition through 3D space, projections of images, and text by Le Corbusier.
“Le Poeme Electronique proposes to show, within a distressing tumult, our civilization on her way to conquest modern times”, Le Corbusier would say. Here is the video:
Although the World Expo of 1958 clearly reflected societal and political tensions of its time (Cold War competition and displaced colonial superiority), it is difficult to avoid a feeling of nostalgia when considering the various modernist attitudes that it temporarily materialized.













