Xenakis Creative Hand

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Xenakis's Hand, or The Visualization of the Creative ProcessAuthor(s): Sharon KanachReviewed work(s):Source: Perspectives of New Music, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Winter, 2002), pp. 190-197Published by: Perspectives of New MusicStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/833553 .

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XENAKIS'SHAND, ORTHE VISUALIZATION OF THECREATIVEPROCESS

SHARONKANACH

C'est la sensibilite de la main qui parle. J'en ai l'experience de cettemethode.-Iannis Xenakis

xENAKIS'S THINKING PROCESS is manifest in his hand-he calculated,composed, searched, discovered, all in and while writing. Writing-be it musical, numbered, graphic or etymological-represents his pre-ferred means for thinking, communicating, sharing with others. Fine-pointed and personal, yet always perfectly recognizable throughout theyears, the decades, his hand remains legible, be it in his drafts of articles,his personal correspondence, his sketches, graphs, conference notes, his


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innumerable calculations ... no matter in what tongue,' in what form oflanguage.With his quasi-exhaustivemethodology and rigor, Xenakis characteris-tically strives to possess his subject as entirely as possible. He leaves noth-ing to chance. Tracing each step of the way appears to have been anabsolute necessity for this placid man. "Writeand keep writing until youfind what you are looking for!"2The impressive, near-gargantuan quan-tity of personal archives he left behind bears witness to this obsessionwith work. These archives, now on permanent deposit (though withrestricted access) at the Bibliotheque nationale de France, comprise oversixty storage boxes filled to the brim with such documents, writings,traces.

Surprisingly,Xenakis almost systematicallyused ink ratherthan a pencilwhen writing. It was, in my opinion, his way of "thinking out loud";once something is said, it cannot be taken back, erased. It can be devel-oped, refined, elaborated, even contradicted, but never eliminated.Indelible. The mental processes of creation, normally inexpressible orkept secret, are traced for this thinker, this musician, this architect; theprocesses are thus visible and retraceable.Furthermore, such visualizationprocedures support the very Xenakian notion of the rationalization ofintuition.3 Indeed, Xenakis argues that bringing intuition to a consciouslevel allows it to be observed and elaborated as a basic phase in the cre-ation of a new work. The visualization process and its results are usefulfor creating both the distance and the means necessary for such observa-tion.

Xenakislater admitted that while working on his first musical pieces:I had to organize this new material. It was natural for me and myadvantage over other composers was that I could design. It wasmuch easier for me to use a graphic approachto music than the clas-sical notation with which I had never been able to see everything atthe same time, as you do on a graph ...4

This then can be a first reason behind such trace-creating workmethods-in order to be able to secure a visibleglobal overview.In pub-lished interviews and elsewhere, Xenakis often evokes his experience as anarchitect as one of the keys to being able to enjoy a global conception ofa musical work.5 In fact, this capacity to possess a musical work in itsentirety and to be able to visualize it in a glance it represents one of theuniversallyrecognized and supreme sensual pleasures of musicians-evenMozart mentions it in his letters! This task of instantaneous visualization

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of a musical work was a constant in Xenakis's research that ultimatelyevolved into his famous UPIC,6 or computerized musical drawing board.Looking at the carbon copies of his personal correspondence (andnotably the letters written to Xenakis's early mentor, HermannScherchen), one gets the distinct feeling that they have by no means beensaved for the sake of anecdotal evidence. Rather,Xenakispreciously keepsand files these traces as work documents, as stages in an on-going pro-cess. Most likely, Scherchen was going to answer. It was therefore essen-

tial to remember his own original words, in order to reply intelligently.Often, his correspondence is short answers to specific questions; butsometimes it is much more elaborate, relating a given state (mental, artis-tic, philosophical) at a given time. A second reason then behind Xenakis'sdrive to write-and not only letters-is to createphysicalproofor recordofactivities involving thirdparties.In 1963, Xenakis wrote in the "Subscription Bulletin"7 promotingMusiquesFormelles:

Having been obliged to make a clean sweep of so many subcon-scious or acquired traditions, new points of reference had to be puton record, in the same manner as my "works" that result from or areprovoked by the same, in order to not forget. For using man's abilityto "engrave"is necessary in this tunnel, this darkness .... . This book is the temporary fruit of reflections, of trials anderrors, of certain ways of thinking and doing, for example, music.Therefore, it is the tails of the coin whose heads is my musical work.Thus perhapsit may be of some pragmaticuse.

Thus, Xenakis portrays-in this preview-the motivation behind whathas proven to be one of the most complex and most revolutionary bookson twentieth-century music. This need to "put on record,"to "engrave... in order to notforget" appearsto be a third reasonfor Xenakisto write.In addition, the dates are thereby established and never lie. (It is impor-tant to note that this third reason concerns exclusively Xenakis's ownintellectual or creativeitinerary, whereas the second was most often pro-voked by outside sources.) Xenakiswas often quite proud of the precur-sory nature of his findings yet frustrated by their lack of formalrecognition.8Xenakisscrupulouslykept everything in his archives,more or less well-organized in separate files. Many of these thousands of pages of docu-mentation are not fully formed written sentences, but sketches, calcula-tions, and cursory indications such as single words. However, Xenakisrepeatedly declared, "Every piece of mine contains a philosophical

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question."9 Each and every phase of a musical composition or theoreticalexploration is carefullynotated, including even the easiest calculation onewould normally do mentally. It is as though a mental space is somehowdefinitively liberated once an element is committed to paper, leaving hisimagination and creativityfree to explore beyond. His student notebooksfrom his earliestyears at the Athens Polytechnical Institute alreadyshowthis near-obsessional methodology in his work and his thinking process.Writing therefore becomes a way for Xenakis to free himselffrom menialor even more lofty contingenciesand can be considered a possible fourthreasonwhy Xenakis spent so much ink. This meticulous manner of calcu-lating and notating, virtually never showing eraser marks or crossed-outelements, is clearlyexemplified throughout his creativelife in his personalarchives.This is what enables him to elaborate new concepts or gives himthe freedom to apply established concepts to different, often unlikelydomains. It is how he enlarged his own field of truth and investigationand managed to surpasshis own or imposed limitations.This theme of self-surpassingis primalto Xenakis'stheoretical writingsas well as it was to his teaching.10 In fact it is the basis of his paradigm ofcreativity,leading eventually to true originality, and is indeed intimatelycorrelated to one's capacityof observation. For example, in his short butimportant article, "Musique et originalite,"11he distinguishes "lower"and "higher" levels of creativity based on one's ability to "give birth tothe yet unconceived" through "visualthinking," elevating observation tothe level of consciousness. Through this admittedly "superhumaneffort," one may invent or define new rules or laws, thus attaining thecreation of something truly original. This constitutes the ultimate goal ofthe rationalization of intuition mentioned above.

Finally,we must not forget Xenakis's actual drawings. As an engineerand later as a draughtsman and ultimately as an architect first in LeCorbusier's studio12 and finally on a free-lance basis, he created an incal-culable number of plans, studies and sketches. His freehand drawingsshow a very personal and elegant style where the plastic qualities, express-ing a unique poetic economy, create a good fifth reasonfor pursuing suchendeavors. In addition, it is through the bias of his drawings that he wasable to transpose musical concepts into architecturalpractice such as thefamous "undulating glass panes."13 One of the icons of twentieth-century architecture, the Philips Pavilion for the World Fairin Brussels in1958,14 composed of hyperbolic paraboloids, was developed by Xenakisin parallelto his musical researchthat resulted in his firstmajororchestralcomposition, Metastaseis.

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Let us then summarize what appear to be not only the motivationsbehind but also the result of Xenakis's urge or need to create writtentraces:1) To produce a global overview2) To establish physical proof or record of activities involving third

parties3) To record his intellectual or creative itinerary4) To free himself from contingencies5) To work with new plastic qualities

We have all, at one time or another, delved into one or several of theseacts, consciously or unconsciously, which constitute various stages ordegrees of the kind of visualization essential for subsequent observation.What is unique about Xenakis'sapproachis that a work's realization-beit musical, architectural,or even theoretical-went through severalor allof the above processes before finding its definitive form. For example,starting with an abstract idea, Xenakis would begin to calculate (fourthreason). From chosen results of that process, he would attempt a graphicrepresentation (first reason). From there, he would transcribethat visual-ization either into musical notation, or text, or architecturalplan (thirdreason), etc. No matter what means of expression he chose, every singleone of his works went through several of these visualization processes,without any established order. His capacityfor observation of these visu-alizations was what enabled him to make knowledgeable value or aes-thetic judgments. Through consciousness gained thanks to these steps,he was able to be free enough to create something new, one is tempted tosay, by progressivelyattaining a universalstate.Understanding the importance and methodology behind these visual-ization procedures can help us to enter the depths of Xenakis's thinkingand creativeprocess, but can of course in no way substitute for the poweror the mystery of his actual works. In relation to his musical works, thegenesis is complete only upon performance and listening. It is curious tonote that Xenakis never wrote a book. Nevertheless, his bibliography isquite impressive.15To date, there are some 160 articles (28 of which areunpublished) plus over 100 interviews16catalogued. From his numerousarticles, Xenakis constructed only two books (in French): MusiquesFormellesand Musique. Architecture.17A third volume signed by him,Arts/Sciences:Alliages, is a transcription of his verbal thesis defense pre-sented in 1976 at the Universite de Paris-Sorbonne when awarded a State

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Doctorate in letters and humanities, and was published in 1979.18 Inthese works, Xenakis often produces examples of the reasons 1), 3) and4), illustrating specific aspects of his creative and thinking processes. Twoother collections of articles have appeared under Xenakis's name,although neither contains material that had not been published previ-ously elsewhere. Both received Xenakis's authorization, although theywere entirely conceived by third parties: KIleiitha and Musique et Origi-nalite.19Neither, unfortunately, is illustrated.Finally,his very last project, which we had the pleasure of discovery ofsharing together, was to compile the bulk of his texts, projects and real-izations concerning architecture under the title TheMusic ofArchitecture,scheduled for release in the Spring of 2003 by The MIT Press. Startingwith the related material already collected in Musique. Architecture, wewere able to enhance this new volume with temporarilyforgotten docu-ments we uncovered in his personal archives and from other sources.Numerous illustrations of all five categories of visualization of Xenakis'screativeprocesses outlined above will therefore soon be available for con-sultation and study.

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NOTES

1. Xenakis was a true polyglot: he admitted having never lost the habitof counting in his native Rumanian; his mother-tongue was, ofcourse, Greek; he was fluent in French and English, and his Germanwas passable.2. This was Xenakis's inevitable refrain each time I approachedhim witha problem, be it musical or of any other nature.3. Cf. Iannis Xenakis, Formalized Music (Stuyvesant, NY: PendragonPress, 1992), especially Chapter 1, p. 22, and also Balint AndrasVarga, Conversationswith lannis Xenakis (London: Faber and Faber,1996), 200, etc.4. Quoted in Nouritza Matossian, lannis Xenakis (London: Kahn &Averill, 1990), 92.5. Cf. for example Matossian, lannis Xenakis, 69; Varga, Conversationswith lannis Xenakis, 127; etc.6. For full information on the UPIC, cf. Xenakis, Formalized Music,329-34.7. Since MusiqueFormelleswas firstpublished as a special double issue ofand by La Revue Musicale, a well-respected periodical, the book wasinitially launched by a subscription among its regular subscribers andalso by a loose-leaf tract.8. In, for example, Iannis Xenakis,Arts/Sciences:Alloys(Stuyvesant,NY:Pendragon Press, 1985), his Thesis Defense before an illustriousjury,Xenakis repeatedly emphasizes the dates of his seminal works, musi-cal, theoretical, or architectural.9. Cf. for example, Matossian, lannis Xenakis, 107.10. Although Xenakis never considered himself a teacher, many of hiswritings are scattered with references to abolishing existing teachingmethods and inventing new ones that would expose students to aRenaissance model of instruction, including the study of paleontol-ogy. However, he was often invited to give lectures in places such asTanglewood, Darmstadt, Sienna, and various universities worldwideand was a Associate Professor at Indiana University at Bloonmingtonbetween 1967 and 1972, and later, a Professor at the Universite deParis I between 1972 and 1989, where I had the honor and chal-

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lenge of following his post-graduate courses between 1977 and1980.11. Iannis Xenakis, "Musique et originalite," PhreatiquesNo. 28, 62-6;reprinted in Iannis Xenakis, Musique et Originalite (Paris: Editions

Seguier, 1996), 7-16.12. Xenakis worked in Le Corbusier's studio in Parisbetween 1947 and

1959.13. Xenakis applied Le Corbusier's famous "Modulor" distributions tocreate revolutionary rhythmic glass facades, called "UGP," or undu-

lating glass panes.14. Although Philips commissioned Le Corbusier for this project, it isnow formally recognized that the Pavilion's architecturalconceptionwas entirely Xenakis's.15. Cf. Makis Solomos, "Bibliographie Commentee de/sur Iannis

Xenakis" in Presencesde lannis Xenakis/Presencesof Iannis Xenakis(Paris: Centre de Documentation de Musique Contemporaine,2001), 231-65.16. Two of these interviews are actuallybooks: Varga, Conversationswithlannis Xenakis, and Francois Delalande, Ilfaut etreconstammentunimmigre (Paris:Buchet-Castel/INA-GRM, 1997).17. Iannis Xenakis, MusiquesFormelles Paris:La Revue Musicale, 1963).

This original edition was translated, revised, and published withadditional new material as Formalized Music (Bloomington: IndianaUniversity Press, 1971). In 1981, a new edition was published inFrench by Editions Stock, Paris. In 1992, Xenakis and I furtherrevised and added new material to Formalized Music (Stuyvesant,NY: Pendragon Press). Iannis Xenakis, Musique. Architecture(Tournai, Belgium: Casterman, 1971).18. A translation of this valuable introduction to Xenakis's thinking was

published under the title Iannis Xenakis, Arts/Sciences: Alloys(Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1985).19. Iannis Xenakis, Keleiitha, edited by Alain Galliari,preface and notesby Benoit Gibson (Paris: l'Arche, 1994). Iannis Xenakis, Musique etOriginalite, (Paris:Editions Seguier, 1996).

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