Takis (Panayiotis Vassilakis, 1925–2019) was a self-taught Greek sculptor celebrated for pioneering kinetic art, where invisible natural forces—wind, magnetism, electricity, light—become the materials themselves. Influenced by ancient Greek Cycladic figures and modern sculptors like Giacometti, he moved to Paris in 1954, where he developed his signature Signaux (Signals): slender iron rods topped with bells or bulbs that sway in the breeze, capturing spatial energy and creating sound—an early fusion of nature, spirituality, and art as sensory experience. Across the 1960s, he expanded into télé‑sculpture, magnetic sculptures, and musical environments, collaborating with figures like Duchamp and performing feats such as suspending a man using magnets in 1960. 

The 1984 work Signal is a later, refined iteration of his Signaux series, blending his kinetic roots with structural monumentality. Romantically aligned with nature and spirituality, it's an iron sculpture designed to move and resonate—echoing the cosmos within its simple form. Within Takis’s practice, this piece sits at the convergence of his early experimental Signals and his later sculptural mastery—both echoing his ambition to materialize unseen energies and foster sensory dialogue between viewer, nature, and the spiritual dimension.