Takis, Tate Modern

Alexander Calder harnessed wind. Jean Tinguely employed mechanics. But the Greek artist Takis would use magnets to establish himself as one of the leading figures of kinetic art. Born in Athens in 1925 as Panayiotis Vassilakis, Takis would become known as one of the most innovative artists in the 20th century through his exploration of unseen forces in his sculptures.

This July, Tate Modern opens the nonagenarian's largest exhibition in the UK with over 70 of the artist's works including many of his famous ‘telemagnetic’ pieces. Electromagnetism was something that fascinated Takis throughout his career and was an animating influence in his work. Be mesmerised by his masterful manipulation of magnetic forces in the floating metallic objects of Magnetic Wall 9 (Red) (1961). A highlight of the exhibition will be Magnetic Fields (1969), on display for the first time since the 1970s, in which magnetic pendulums stimulate movement from nearly a hundred sculptures.

This multi-sensory exhibition will also include many of Takis’s musical devices which invite viewers to interact with them to create ethereal, resonating sounds. His famous Signals series of antennae-like sculptures will also provide an other-worldly environment where manmade forms become sources of beauty. Experience electromagnetic poetry in an exhibition that's sure to be immersive, provocative and playful.