Updated 04-May-2020.
Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about TAKIS!
My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: Panayiotis Vassilakis was a self-taught Greek artist known for his kinetic sculptures . he exhibited his artworks in Europe and the united states . popular in france Takis was fascinated by the long, exaggerated features that Giacometti would use in his sculptures . he created his first atelier with his childhood friends, and fellow artists, in Anakassa first sculptures were plaster busts and combinations of plaster and wrought iron . Takis moved to Paris where he learned to forge, weld, and cast metal . while there he created small sculptures inspired in 1957, Takis was waiting at a train station and noticed how the lights and energies of the station melded together . this influenced the creation of a series of sculptures, Signaux (Signals Takis saw these Signals as capturing the energies of the wind and sky . his first Signals were much more rigid than later creations in the same series . in the 21st century, the sculptures have sold he explored the magnetic forces and energy of the magnetic fields . he also had a child with artist sheila Fell in 1958 . Takis also began a relationship with American artist Liliane Lijn this year . in 1960, Takis moved on from floating nails to a floating man . Takis continued to do experimental work with different energies in the world . he also experimented with electricity, sound and light . with these new influences, he created Telepeintures, Telelumieres, Cad in 1966, Takis began to use his magnets to create art with sounds, as well as visuals . his installation Electro-Magnetic Musical is a series of white panels with guitar strings stretched across their width . Takis likened the music to the sound of the natural forces of the cosmos . his invention, Sculpture hydromagnétique, is the result of his research at MIT . Takis inspired a group of people to start a chip company of the same name . in 1974, Takis returned to Paris and started creating his Erotic sculptures . he returned to Greece in 1986 where he established in an interview published in the Tate catalogue, Takis explains his role as one of demystification . “it’s only about revealing, in one way or another, the sensory vibrations or the interlac Takis created his first musical in collaboration with Earle Brown, entitled the “Sound of Void”. It is exhibited one year later in Cordier-Ekstrom Gallery in New York City, in an exposition titled For Takis’s Light Signals and Sound Sculptures form the stage setting and inspire the choreography of Jaap Flier’s dance group “Elkesis” of the Nederlands Dans Theater. 1973: Holland Festival Ballet the first Espace Musical goes on exhibition at the Kunstverein in Hanover . Takis composes the music for Costas Gavras’ film Section spéciale . 1977: Participates in Documenta VI at Kassel, exhibiting Takis creates the music and the stage design for Sophocles’ Electra directed by Michael Kakoyannis, in Epidaurus . 1984: Participates in the exhibition The Century of Kaf the defense public authority grants Takis the use of the largest space that has ever been given to any artist in the history of Paris: 3,500 m2 (26,840 sq ft) for a forest of 76 Sign “Isidos Awakening”: performance with Barbara Maurothalasiti . 1992: Transforms the Beauvais waterworks into a 65 m (211 feet) musical sculpture . 1993 the Minister of Greek Culture, Melina Mercouri, described them as “totems of the 21st century”. – French Republic honors Takis with the special edition of a stamp depicting Takis’ spiral. Takis elected to represent Greece at the 46th Venice Biennale . he declares: “i am a citizen of the world” and “annuls” the Greek pavilion . 2001: The European Parliament four years later, the picture of the three artworks is used for Centre Pompidou’s Christmas card . Takis participates in the exhibition Music Mirrors – History Conscience commissioned by the Company for the Creation of Takis’s Ligne paralléle vibrative (1972) and Colonne magnétique (2003) are presented at Xippas gallery in Athens . – Exhibition at the European Cultural Center of Delphi Takis’s poster inspired by the Athens 2004 Games and commissioned by the Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne . he puts out of use four of his Musicals exhibited in “Takis, Magnetic Fields”, Solo exhibition at Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France 2016: “The Signals and The Fourth Dimension” at Xippas Gallery, Geneva, Switzerland 2019: Takis retrospective at