Those who love the wondrous constructions of contemporary artist Panamarenko will be overjoyed in 2025 with a grand total of four exhibitions that are dedicated to him.
© Wikimedia / Michiel Hendryckx
Panamarenko, the artist name of Henri Van Herwegen, was born in Antwerp and died in 2019. This key figure in post-war European avant-garde art would have turned 85 this year, and that is reason enough to put the spotlight on his spectacular artistic and technological experiments. Primarily an artist, but also a physician, inventor, visionary and engineer of dreams. He was particularly passionate about everything relating to space, cosmos, movement, flight, energy and gravity. That was translated into remarkable scale models of imaginary racing cars, submarines, aeroplanes, flying carpets, balloons, birds and other flying, motorised or sailing objects. He also adored mechanical chickens, an expression of his love and admiration of the animal kingdom. We assume that experimenting was more important to him than the final result – but in fact we're not sure.
Whichever it was, the four exhibitions allow you to discover the exciting and diverse universe of Panamarenko:
- Panamarenko’s ZOO aan ZEE (Zoo by the Sea) (Scharpoord Cultural Center, Knokke-Heist, until 24 August 2025)
- V1 Barada Jet (Port House, Antwerp, until 2 May 2025)
- Panamarenko. Infinite imagination (KMSKA, Antwerp, until 4 May 2025)
- Panamarenko. Journey to the Stars (M HKA, Antwerp, until 7 September 2025)
