100 YEARS FROM THE BIRTH OF THE SCULPTOR TAKIS

A pioneer of kinetic art, Takis (Panagiotis Vassilakis, 1925-2019) created sculptures that combine science and technology with natural phenomena, ancient art and music. Takis was born in Athens in 1925. Self-taught in sculpture, his early works were influenced by Picasso and Giacometti. In 1954, he settled in Paris and started the Signals kinetic sculptures series. He then moved on to explore magnetism and experimented with electricity, sound and light, trying to make the invisible visible through his art. In 1959, he presented his first Telemagnetics, soon followed by Telesculptures, Telepaintings, Telelights and Musicals. Between 1968-1969, as an artist in residency at MIT, he made Hydromagnetic sculptures. In 1986, he returned to Greece, where he founded the Research Center for the Art and the Sciences at Gerovouno, Attica. He won numerous awards and his works are exhibited in the world’s major museums. As he said, “What I was obsessed with was the concept of energy… My desire as a sculptor was to learn how to use this energy and, through it, to fathom the mysteries of the universe”.