Page 57 - Studio International - February 1968

Why mass-produce such works, you may say? Why
not issue instructions and let everyone do it for him-
self? Why not indeed? I should not think the idea
would alarm Takis.
Granted that mass-produced art is a valid art form-
and I am under no illusion that what I have just said is
sufficient to convince the sceptic-there still remains
the question of the advisability of making works of art
available to as many people as possible. Of course, it
is nice to think of everyone being able to own works of
art and live with them. But does this not lead to a
devaluation of the work-an aesthetic not an eco-
nomic devaluation? Surely we would soon tire of
works which we came across wherever we went?
I do not think so. It is a fallacy to think that rarity in
itself is an aesthetic virtue. Works of high aesthetic
value are rare. But it is not because they are rare that
they are of high aesthetic value. The works we
normally see multiplied are tedious because they are
of little aesthetic value. Indeed, a good test of whether
a multiplied work-whether print, cast, 'multiple' or
'unlimited'-has aesthetic value is: can you bear to
see it cropping up again and again ?The Greeks be-
lieved that once you have found a satisfying propor-
tion, you should not hesitate to repeat it, and so they
filled the eastern Mediterranean from Sicily to Persia,
with temples which, though often identical or nearly
so, never fail to please. There is no reason in principle
why multiplying works should in any way devalue
them aesthetically. Moreover, not everyone will
choose the same works nor place them in the same
surroundings.
If Takis's unlimiteds raise any problem it is that of
finding a place in the house in which to put them. But
this has nothing to do with their being mass-produced
or unlimited.
However, I can see two possibilities which mass-
produced art may give rise to. One is the mass-pro-
duction of inferior imitations of the original 'unlimited'.
The other is the devising of some means of introducing
subtle differences into each copy-such is the craving
for rarity, even if it is not an aesthetic virtue. The first
of these is the more serious as it may lead to a
debasement of taste which I presume is the exact
opposite to what Takis has in mind when he says: 'if
the artist anticipates the multiplication of his original
...he is in the position of a man responsible for the
irrigation of a whole area.' It is irrigation, not dilution,
that he proposes. q

Takis 'unlimiteds' are available from Unlimited,
Widcombe Manor, Bath, U.K. and Unlimited, 73
Princedale Road, London, and in Paris from Editions
Claude Givaudan, 201 Boulevard St Germain, Paris
Vile. The 'Signal' series is priced from £12 7s 6d to
£19 7s 6d.

Far left, circuit diagram of a Takis series, and, left and
facing page, some of the newly-released 'Signals'.