guest track program
The sculpture was created by the Greek artist Panayiotis Vassilakis, known internationally as Takis. Crafted from chrome steel, magnet, needles, and nylon thread, this kinetic work joined the MACA collection as a new guest piece in a program first conceived in 2011. The piece itself is dated 1960 and explores how unseen forces can become visible through material form, a signature approach for Takis who often plays with metallic surfaces and magnetic fields to reveal dynamic energy in motion.
Originating from the artist’s private collection, the work sits within a broader narrative about the figure behind a generation of kinetic art. Takis, who lived and worked in Paris during the mid-20th century, is regarded as a pioneering voice in kinetic sculpture and a figure of international interest for his experimental approach to matter, movement, and perception.
Takis’s practice bridges art and science, probing the interaction between ordinary objects and the energies that shape them. His sculptures frequently rely on magnetism, gravity, light, and sound to transform intangible forces into tangible aesthetics. If one looks closely, hanging needles and the magnetic field create a choreography that translates invisible natural forces into visible, tangible form. In the artist’s own view, the process captures pure thought in physical manifestation.
Throughout his career, Takis’s works have entered prestigious museums around the world. They are part of the permanent collections at institutions such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Tate Modern in London, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Menil Collection in Houston, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, among others.
In 1986, Takis returned to Greece, yielding to new cycles of research and creation at the Arts and Science Research Center, commonly known as Takis Foundation. Located on the Gerovouno hill in Athens, the foundation was established to promote awareness and appreciation of visual arts among the public and to support arts education programs, with a formal inauguration in 1993 as part of its mission.
Antonio Manresa, a Cultural Council Member, remarked on the significance of Takis’s work, describing a unique piece that sits at the forefront of kinetic art and invites direct engagement from visitors. The sculpture’s presence in MACA offers a rare encounter with a pioneer’s tangible exploration of energy and perception, inviting audiences to experience motion and force in a museum setting.
guest track program
With the guest piece program, MACA seeks to bring works temporarily lent by other institutions into the public sphere, recontextualizing them within the museum as standalone exhibitions tied to the permanent collection. This approach enriches the museum’s twentieth-century art collection by presenting diverse artists and historical artifacts in fresh dialogue. Visitors encounter specific works within the museum’s exhibition context, where pieces speak to one another through dialogue, discussion, alignment, or tension.
The program highlights a wide range of artistic moments represented in the collection, offering an inviting lens through which the public can engage with art that extends beyond the walls of the hosting institution. By situating a single work within a curated showcase, MACA creates a stage for conversation about form, energy, and perception as articulated by the artists themselves. The initiative builds a bridge between historical significance and contemporary relevance, inviting visitors to reflect on how kinetic ideas continue to resonate today.
Since its founding in 2011, MACA has hosted fifteen guest pieces, each contributing to the ongoing dialogue between the permanent collection and visting works. Through these acquisitions and exchanges, the museum fosters a dynamic environment where works from diverse generations and geographies can converse and illuminate evolving art practices for a broad audience.