塔基斯 Takis｜当艺术遇见科学 When Art Meets Science
Speaking of sculptures, what comes to your mind? Probably The Thinker by Auguste Rodin, David by Michelangelo, or maybe the Venus de Milo – Venus with missing arms. Those are the impressions sculptures leave to the majority: firm, solid, and static. However, what if someone tells you that a sculpture can be made of magnetism? As you may doubt if that is feasible, Takis has devoted almost 70 years to craft sculptures with “unseen” materials, naming magnetism for an instance. Different from the solid and static sculptures we are familiar with, the type of sculptures he created are called kinetic sculptures, which involve energy and moving.
说到雕塑，你的脑海内会浮现出什么？也许是罗丹的《思想者》、米开朗基罗的《大卫》，亦或是《断臂的维纳斯》。这些便是雕塑给大多数人的印象：稳固，敦实和静止。但是，如果有人说雕塑可以由“磁场”构成你会怎么想？在你还怀疑这是否可行的时候，塔基斯（Takis）早已将近70年的时间和精力致力于用那些“看不见的”材料制作雕塑，就像刚才提到的“磁场”。与我们所熟知的固态且静止的雕塑不同，他创作的雕塑称为动态雕塑，涉及能量和运动。
Magnetic Field (1969) by Takis. Steel and iron. Courtesy of Tate. Photo: Tate Photography (Mark Heathcote).
《电磁场》
The Signal of Style Changing
风格转变的《信号》
Takis, originally named as Panayiotis Vassilakis (Greek: Παναγιώτης Βασιλάκης), was a self-taught Greek artist known for his kinetic sculptures who passed away recently on August 9, 2019. Takis was born in Athens in 1925. His early life was covered by the shadow of World War II, in which he fought in the Greek Resistance, and Greek Civil War. Although Takis already showed his talent at a young age, his family could not support him financially for education due to wars and poverty, so he had to teach himself by reading science, philosophy, poetry, mythology, and arts.
塔基斯（Takis）原名Panayiotis Vassilakis（希腊文：ΠαναγιώτηςΒασιλάκης），是一位自学成才的希腊艺术家，以其动态雕塑而闻名，他近期于2019年8月9日去世。塔基斯于1925年出生于雅典，他的早年生活几乎在战争的阴影下度过。第二次世界大战时，他参加了希腊抵抗运动，后来的希腊内战亦对他造成了不少影响。尽管塔基斯年幼便已展现出了才华，但是由于战争和贫困，他的家庭无法为他提供适当的教育，因此他不得不自学，阅读科学、哲学、诗歌、神话和艺术等书籍。
His artistic path started around his 20s in a basement workshop, though his family did not accept his longing for arts. In 1952, Takis creates his first atelier with his childhood friends and artists, Minos Argyrakis and Raimondos, in Anakassa, Athens. His early pieces were influenced by Picasso and Giacometti, as well as Greek sculptures that he grew up around. For example, one of his famous early sculptures, The Four Soldiers, was inspired by Man Pointing by Giacometti.
在塔基斯的双十年华之际，他的艺术之路在一个地下工作室悄然启程，只不过家人对此十分反对。1952年，塔基斯与他儿时朋友、同时也是艺术家的Minos Argyrakis和Raimondos在雅典的Anakassa创立了第一个工作室。他的早期作品受到毕加索、贾科梅蒂以及他周围长大的希腊雕塑的影响。例如，他著名的早期雕塑作品之一The Four Soldiers（四个士兵）的灵感来自贾科梅蒂的Man Pointing（指向远方的人）。
The Four Soldiers (1952) by Takis. Plaster. Courtesy of Takis Foundation
《四个士兵》
In 1954, Takis moved to Paris to pursue an artistic career – that is where his ideas about sculpture began to change. The 1950s witnessed the acceleration of science and technology, especially with the wide use of radar, which Takis happened to find charming.
1954年，塔基斯移居巴黎去追寻他的艺术职业生涯。从此之后，他对雕塑的观念开始发生变化。二十世纪五十年代见证了科学技术的飞速发展，尤其是随着雷达的发明和广泛使用，巧合地是，塔基斯也迷上了雷达。
In February 1955, Takis was standing on the platform at Calais train station. He was traveling back to Paris from London – at that time, he was already an artist with somewhat fame, however, his train was delayed. So, his eyes fell on a trackside signal, a metal upright pole with flashing lights at the top. He was immediately obsessed with how lights and energies interact with each other. This drove him to create a series of sculptures, Signals, which are sculptures that are made of long thin metal rods that vibrate and bend as the wind passes through them, similar to energy caught by radar transmitters. Takis saw these Signals as capturing the energies of wind and sky. From that day forward, he devoted himself to sculpting energy instead of matter.
时间回溯到1955年2月，那天塔基斯正站在法国加莱火车站的月台上。他正在等从伦敦到巴黎的火车——那时他正是“小荷才露尖尖角”。但是，他的火车晚点了。因此，百无聊赖的他将目光投向了轨道旁的信号灯上。那是一根金属杆子，顶部闪烁着灯光。不知怎么的，他顷刻间便迷上了光与能量的相互作用。这驱使他创造了一系列雕塑，即《信号》（Signal），这些雕塑是由细长的金属棒制成的，每当有风吹拂时它们便会弯曲、摆动，这一过程有些类似于雷达发射器捕获的能量的原理。塔基斯将《信号》看成是捕捉风和天空的能量的方式。从那天开始，他便致力于用看不见摸不着的能量进行雕塑。
Signal ‘Insect-Animal of Space’ (1956) by Takis. Iron. Courtesy of Takis Foundation
《信号‘昆虫与动物的空间’》
The Magnetic Magnetism
极具吸引力的磁场
From 1955 to 1965, Takis experimented with all environmental and natural elements that surround us but are unable to be identified with naked eyes, electricity, sound, and light, to name a few. He had been searching for a way to unveil the unseen forces of the universe. Among those, Takis favored magnetism most, because the push and pull effect that magnets can have on metallic objects offered a seeable track of movement to feel the energy.
从1955年到1965年，塔基斯用我们日常生活中所涉及的自然元素均进行了实验，这些元素有个共同点，那就是无法用肉眼识别，例如电、声和光。他一直在寻找可以揭示自然种看不见的力量的方法。其中，他最喜欢磁场，因为磁铁对金属物体的推拉作用提供了可见的运动轨迹，可以直观感受能量。
Vibrating Vertical Line ECG – V.Si.245 (1966) by Takis. Painted wood, electromagnet and iron wire. 74.7 x 10 x 8.3 cm. Courtesy of Takis Foundation. Photo: White Cube (Ollie Hammick).
《震动的天线》
In an interview published in the Tate catalog, Takis explained his role as one of demystification, though not quite in the manner of a science lesson. "It’s only about revealing, in one way or another, the sensory vibrations or the interlacing potentials for energy that exist in the universe," he explains. "I think that’s the role of an artist, whether painter, sculptor, or musician. ... I don’t think this energy should be considered as something abstract." For Takis, the numinous is as natural as Maxwell's equations and his sculptures take up where physics leaves off.
塔吉斯在与泰特目录（Tate catalogue）的一次采访中解释了他的角色——将复杂而难以理解的事情通过简明的方式解释清楚（这类人被称为demystification）。“我只是以某种方式揭示宇宙中存在的振动或隔行扫描的能量。” 他解释说：“我认为这是艺术家的角色，无论是画家，雕塑家还是音乐家都是如此……我认为这种能量不应被视为抽象的东西。”对于塔基斯来说，所谓的超自然就像麦克斯韦（物理电磁学奠基人）的方程式一样有迹可循。在物理学降落的尽头，塔基斯的雕塑恰好起航。
One of the most significant masterpieces in the 1960s by Takis was The Impossible – Man in Space (French: L’Impossible – Un Homme Dans I’Espace), an art performance taking place at the Iris Clert Gallery in Paris. His friend, the South African poet, Sinclair Beiles collaborated with him to perform the show. Takis floated Beiles mid-air with a system of magnets, appearing to oppose gravity. During the performance, Beiles read a poem titled Magnetic Manifesto: “I am a sculpture… There are more sculptures like me. The main difference is that they cannot talk… I would like to see all nuclear bombs on Earth turned into sculptures…” and then he “throws himself in the air”. Because of the magnetic system, he seemed to be hovering in the air.
塔基斯在二十世纪六十年代最重要的杰作之一是《不可能的人——太空人》（法语：L'Impossible – Un Homme Dans I’Espace），这是一场在巴黎Iris Clert画廊举行的艺术表演。他的朋友，南非诗人辛克莱·贝勒斯（Sinclair Beiles）与他合作演出。塔基斯设计了一套磁铁系统将贝莱斯悬浮在空中，表现出与重力相持的场景。在表演期间，贝莱斯朗读了一首题为《磁性宣言》的诗：“我是一个雕塑……还有更多像我一样的雕塑。我们主要区别在于他们无法开口……我希望看到地球上所有核弹都变成雕塑……”。念完后他“将自己抛向空中”，不过由于有磁系统，他看起来像是悬停在空中。
La Sculpture Telemagnetique de Takis (1959) by Takis. Courtesy of Takis Foundation.
In 1968, Takis moves to Massachusetts of United State of America, where he was invited with a researcher’s scholarship from the Center of Advanced Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and began to study hydrodynamic energy there. As the result of researching at MIT, he created a series of sculptures relating to liquid and magnetism.
1968年，塔基斯移居美国马萨诸塞州，从马萨诸塞州理工学院（MIT）的高级视觉研究中心受邀获得研究员奖学金，并开始在那里研究流体动力能量。作为研究结果，他创作了一系列与液体和磁性有关的雕塑。
Sea Oscillation First Experiment (1968–1969) by Takis. Courtesy of Takis Foundation.
塔基斯在做水面振动试验（第一次）
Takis believed that “I cannot think of my work as entirely my work. In a sense, I’m only a transmitter, I simply bathe in energy.” The most magical quality of his art is that it holds such universal significance without signifying anything outside of itself.
塔基斯认为：“我不认为自己的工作全都是自己的工作。从某种意义上说，我只是一个发射机，我只是沐浴在能量之中。” 他的艺术最奇妙的地方是，尽管那些艺术品没有彰显出任何本身以外的要点，但那些作品往往都能折射出放之四海而皆准的重要意义。
Insidos Light and Signals (1966–1981) by Takis. © Takis Foundation. Courtesy of White Cube. Photo: White Cube (Jon Lowe).
《灯光和信号》
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