Iannis Xenakis presents Polytopo in Mycenae

Polytopes are a series of multi-media installations in different parts of the world, which combine music with visual stimuli in specific, specially designed spaces. One of the most well-known installations of its kind is the Roman Baths building of the Cluny Museum, as part of the first autumn festival in Paris in 1972. In this installation, as in similar ones in open archaeological sites such as Persepolis in Iran in 1971 and Mycenae in 1978, the contrast of the ancient against the new and technology is evident. For the Polytopo of Mycenae, Xenakis declared that: Polytopo symbolizes many places, signifies many places. And I say place, in a general sense, the abstract, the practical, the real: a geographic place, an artistic place – of music let's say – of light, a place of history, place of poetry – especially here – and so on [...] Mycenae represents one of the earliest Greek cultures and this culture was distinct and extremely beautiful. [...] When I came back, this culture made me think that it would be interesting to make a fresh start in order to revive it [...]