Hans Theys

Panamarenko describes 100,000 Revolutions/Minute Jet Turbine as a revolutionary invention. It is a machine that can rotate fully around its own axis. Panamarenko constructed it out of simple materials like a bicycle chain and batteries. The contrast between the concept – the ‘revolutionary invention’ – and its execution – which is ‘cobbled together’ using simple materials – results in a piece that is both poetic and disarming.

In the early 1970s, Panamarenko built a series of accelerators, which he used to try to prove his theory of ‘Closed System Power’. They consist of engines that develop accelerated motion by revolving on their own axis. The theory ultimately proved unworkable in practice. Writing in 1975 (Panamarenko, Marzona, Bielefeld, 1975, pp. 11– 35), Panamarenko described the accelerators as ‘educational efforts without much success’, adding: ‘The experiment will continue.’ The accelerators are experiments with a small internal combustion engine, mounted on a wooden base
and connected to a closed circuit. According to Panamarenko’s theory, once applied, it ought to be possible to generate the energy needed to displace a given mass indefinitely, creating an energetic snowball effect. The artist believes his
theory was never taken seriously by the world of science, because it was not formulated in standard scientific language. Panamarenko continued his research in the 1980s and ’90s, resulting in his ‘Toy Model of Space’ – a theory described in more detail in the chapter of ‘Lift the Machine’.