GHENT.- Ever since the Museum of Contemporary Art was founded in 1975, Panamarenko (b. 1940 – d. 2019, Antwerp, Belgium) was a key figure for the museum. It is no coincidence that the new museum’s very first acquisition for its collection was the work ‘Deltavliegtuig P-1 Piewan’ (‘Deltaplane P-1 Piewan’)(1975). In 1980 the purchase of 'The Aeromodeller' (1969-71) saw the artist’s magnum opus added to the collection. Along with numerous other sculptures and drawings, these works comprise an ensemble that can be seen as one of the cornerstones of the S.M.A.K. collection.

Panamarenko’s work was regularly featured in important retrospective exhibitions at the museum, such as ‘Art in Europe after '68’ (1980). Moreover, former S.M.A.K. director Jan Hoet selected the artist for prestigious international projects such as ‘Documenta IX’ (1992). In 2001, S.M.A.K. organised a retrospective exhibition for which the artist devised a specific arrangement of several of his larger works in the Floralies Hall behind the museum building.

This collection presentation brings together a selection of drawings and editions that offer deeper insight into the creative process behind Panamarenko’s art objects. First and foremost, the drawings were intended to be functional, and should be seen as visual representations of Panamarenko’s thought process during the creation of an object. He often augmented the figurative sketches with captions in which we see the artist making calculations, and listing parts and materials. And yet they cannot simply be used by everyone like a kind of handbook for reconstructing Panamarenko’s spatial works. Indeed, he himself said that “[…] if you build them strictly according to the drawing, then they will look terrible.” Moreover, Panamarenko believed that drawings should also be original and powerful images. Thus despite the fact that they served as preparatory drawings, his drawings can also be seen as artworks in their own right. Indeed Panamarenko regularly chose to disseminate the drawings which best represented his ideas as multiples. He was convinced that this would ensure that his ideas were more likely to be preserved.

Panamarenko is regarded as one of the most important Belgian visual artists of the second half of the twentieth century. This exhibition was originally due to be staged to celebrate his 80th birthday. However, due to his unexpected death on 14 December 2019, it has become a posthumous tribute.