SCI-Arc continues its commitment to progressive public programming with a midweek symposium on the collision of space and sound in art, design and shared cultural experience. The event is inspired by the recent presentation of the work of avant-garde multimedia thinker and Le Corbusier protege Iannis Xenakis, which was seen at both MOCA and CalArts this past winter. “Polytopes: The Architecture of Soundscapes” brings together half a dozen of the most respected and influential practitioners in the emerging genre of the “soundscape” in design, art and architecture, including renowned installation artist and performer Steve Roden — himself the subject of a pair of museum and art-hall exhibitions at the end of last year. A “polytope” is a solid geometric shape that has a multiplicity of surfaces; tonight's combination of discussion and performance keeps up with that metaphorical mathematical pretext in its examination of increasingly popular hybrid disciplines such as “visual music” and “sound art.” While deserving of a high-minded academic approach, the point of tonight's event is to highlight the engaging, multisensory potential of such performances and experiences to spice up our perceptions of architectural and public space through unconventional, boundary-blurring art forms.

Wed., Feb. 23, 7 p.m., 2011

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