9 - Panamarenko (Belgian, 1940-2019)

Panamarenko (Belgian, 1940-2019) General Spinaxis - 1968 Balsa wood and plastic 18 x 93 x 54 cm With a handwritten certificate by the artist, including a sketch of the work, dated 1976. Provenance: Helmut Klinker Collection, Bochum Galerie Vega, Liège The Robert and Suzanne Pannier Collection, Bruges Published: Interfunktionen, vol.4, 1970, p.7 (ill.) Jürgen Harten, Panamarenko, in Das Kunstwerk, 24, 1971, il.4, p.26 Irmeline Lebeer, Les machines volantes de Panamarenko, in Chroniques de l'art vivant, n°27, February 1972, p.20 (ill.) Marc Callewaert, Icarus in artisanaal stadium, in Gazet van Antwerpen, 27 February 1973 Mizue (Tokyo), n°817, 1973, p.81 (ill.) Rolf Diekhof, Panamarenko in Zeit Magazin, n°20, 15 May 1973 Panamarenko, Der Mechanismus der Schwerkraft, geschlossene Systeme der Geschwindigkeitsveränderung, Marzona, Bielefeld, 1975, pp.32-33 (ill.) Jo F. Du Bois, Panamarenko of de droom van een self-made ingenieur, in Streven, 29, 1976, p.915 Werner von Mutzenbecher, Margrit Suter, Panamarenko. Flugobjekte und Zeichnungen, Kunstverein, Basel, 1977 (ill.) Lucius Grisebach, Paul Hefting, Panamarenko [exhibition catalog Nationalgalerie], Berlin, 1978, pp. 54, 87, 113, 224 (ill.) Catherine Strasser, Panamarenko. La fonction et la contemplation, in Art Press 66, January 1983, p.30 (ill.) Panamarenko. Een overzicht 1965-1985 [exhibition catalog], MuKHA, Antwerp, 1989, p.22 (the artist with General Spinaxis at the Prospect 68 exhibition in Düsseldorf) Nicolas Bourriaud, Keiji Nakamura, Hans Theys, Panamarenko [exhibition catalog], The Tokyo Shimbun, 1992, pp.47, 108 (ill.) Anny De Decker, Bernd Lohaus, Wide White Space: Hinter dem Museum 1966-1976 [exhibition catalog], Düsseldorf: Richter Verlag, 1995, p.171 (ill.) Michel Baudson, Panamarenko, Flammarion, Paris, 1996, p.124 (ill.) Literature: Paul Morrens, Hans Willemse, Copyright Panamarenko: Verklarende woordenlijst, Ludion, Ghent, 2005, pp.72-73 Exhibited: Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf, Prospect 68, 20 - 29 September 1968, pp.14-15 (ill.) Wide White Space, Antwerp, 1969 (ill. invitation card) Kunstmuseum, Luzern； Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf； Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Panamarenko. Automobile und Flugmaschinen, 1972-1973, cat.8 (ill.) Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, Panamarenko, 8 May - 1 June 1973, cat.7 Kunsthalle, Basel, Panamarenko. Flugobjekte und Zeichnungen, 11 June - 11 September 1977, cat.3 (ill.) Musée d'art et d'industrie, Saint-Étienne, Panamarenko, General Spinaxis, dessins et maquettes, November - December 1977 Nationalgalerie Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz (18 May - 30 July)； Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo (27 August - 15 October)； Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (15 November - 27 December), Panamarenko, cat.16 (ill.) Bunkamura Museum, Tokyo, Panamarenko, 19 July - 16 August 1992, cat.16 (ill.) Bozar, Brussels, Wide White Space, 27 October - 31 December 1994 Panamarenko's earliest works emerged from the experimental artistic milieu that developed around Antwerp during the 1960s. Closely associated with the activities of the Wide White Space Gallery and the city's happenings, he constructed poetic objects from humble materials such as cardboard, felt and found elements, works that retained certain affinities with Pop Art while already revealing a fascination with invention and transformation. Executed in 1968, General Spinaxis marks a decisive moment in this development. Here, many of the themes that would come to define Panamarenko's oeuvre come together: an enduring fascination with flight, a poetic engagement with science and engineering, and the inventive use of simple, everyday materials. General Spinaxis reflects a moment when the international imagination was captivated by new possibilities of flight and exploration. Conceived a year before the Apollo 11 mission transformed the dream of reaching the moon into reality, the work inevitably belongs to that wider climate of technological optimism. Yet Panamarenko's response could hardly be more different. While increasingly complex aerospace engineering sought to overcome the limits of nature, he constructed his own flying machine from fragile balsa wood and plastic. The modesty of these materials is essential to the work. The fragile construction does not diminish the ambition of the project； on the contrary, it restores something of the wonder that has always accompanied humanity's dream of flight. The historical importance of General Spinaxis was recognised almost immediately through its inclusion in Prospect 68 at the Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. Organised by Konrad Fischer, the exhibition established a new format in which leading avant-garde galleries presented their artists directly, circumventing the traditional structures of the museum. Through Antwerp's Wide White Space Gallery, Panamarenko's model was shown alongside works by artists including Joseph Beuys, Chri