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<\/a>\n\t\tPioneering kinetic artist Yaacov Agam receiving the Israel Prize on April 20, 2026 at the Yaacov Agam Museum of Art, with museum director Ruthi Maccabbee (Jessica Steinberg\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n
Agam asked about the use of the word \u201cuniversal,\u201d puzzled that the transliterated term was used \u2014 universali \u2014 instead of the Hebrew word, olami.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I look around at my works, what I see is beyond the pieces themselves,\u201d said Agam. \u201cI turn my head and see something different. Everything changes here. That\u2019s the reality. Reality in other art is set and narrow, and here it isn\u2019t \u2014 it\u2019s open, and it changes and brings you closer to seeing the reality of Hebrew and Judaism.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an apt description of Agam\u2019s kinetic art, which he has often described as art in motion, in which the art doesn\u2019t move, but the viewer does.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up with an instinctive sense of creativity, and that\u2019s the basis of Judaism, the sense of creativity, that nothing stands in one place, that change is based on the viewer\u2019s position, and things look different every time,\u201d Agam said.<\/p>\n
\t The rabbi\u2019s son<\/p>\n The artist, who was born Yaacov Gibstein and later changed his last name to his mother\u2019s maiden name, Agam, was born in British Mandate Palestine, with a father who was a rabbi and a kabbalist.<\/p>\n He trained at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design before moving to Zurich in 1949 for his studies, and then to Paris, where he lived for the next few decades.<\/p>\n Agam was quickly recognized for his kinetic art and sculptures, eventually showing his works at the first Biennale in Paris, New York\u2019s Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, Centre Pompidou, and a host of other institutions.<\/p>\n \t Agam became known for massive, colorful sculptures, including \u201cDouble Metamorphosis III,\u201d the fountain at the La D\u00e9fense district in Paris, and the Fire and Water Fountain in Tel Aviv\u2019s Dizengoff Square.<\/p>\n When asked on Monday about the Dizengoff Square fountain, Agam recalled the dozens of angles visible every time it moved.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is what shifts, and that\u2019s to open your thoughts and creativity and understanding and expression of the reality in another way,\u201d he said of the fountain.<\/p>\n \t (The fountain was removed from Dizengoff Square in 2016 for renovations and returned two years later, but is still without its full color and water mechanism, something which Tel Aviv residents complain about regularly. Kisch said during his meeting with Agam that he would \u201clook into it.\u201d)<\/p>\n Agam\u2019s second home<\/p>\n Agam and his family have more influence at the Yaacov Agam Museum of Art, which opened in 2019 after Agam proposed the idea to the city of Rishon Lezion, where he grew up in the 1930s and 1940s.<\/p>\n The museum has become a second home for Agam, housing his artwork and acting as the arbiter of his legacy.<\/p>\n Agam was heavily involved in its design, working with architect David Nofar to design the building\u2019s sharp angles and spaces, including the outdoor pavilion filled with the 29 \u201cPillars of Clila,\u201d named for his late wife.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tPioneering kinetic artist Yaacov Agam receiving the Israel Prize from Education Minister Yoav Kisch on April 20, 2026 at the Yaacov Agam Museum of Art (Jessica Steinberg\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tPhoto of Agam Yaacov, Israeli artist, reclining on one of his works at the Georges Pompidou Art Center, June 28, 2003, in Paris where his works of kinetic sculpture are on exhibit. (Jack GUEZ \/ AFP)<\/p>\n<\/a>
\n\t\tYaacov Agam\u2019s iconic fountain in Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv, August 2012 (Michal Dahan)<\/p>\n