In response to a request from the architect of the Grande Arche, J.O von Spreckelsen, Takis designed 17 light signals. Installed in 1991, these luminous elements range in height from 6.50 to 11.50 metres.

Placed at the rear of the Grande Arche, they mark the end of the axis that crosses La Défense, responding to those of Takis' Bassin to present a sensory experience, a changing spectacle, day and night. In this way, colors vibrate differently, offering walkers a forest of lights to find their bearings.
 

Greek sculptor Panayotis Vassilakis, known as Takis, was born in Athens in 1925. He now lives and works in Paris. Largely self-taught, he tried his hand at classical portraiture in the late 40s, before moving on to stylized figures and refined human forms.

Inspired by airports, marshalling yards and magnetic fields, fascinated by light and movement, he borrows his basic materials from manufactured objects to create compositions he calls "Tableau vibratif", "Télésculpture", "Télélumière" and "Sculptures lumineuses". His first "Signals", piano strings vibrating in the wind, were created in 1955.