Hans Theys

Hans Theys is a twentieth-century philosopher and art historian. He has written and designed dozens of books on the works of contemporary artists and published hundreds of essays, interviews and reviews in books, catalogues and magazines. All his publications are based on actual collaborations and conversations with artists.

This platform was developed by Evi Bert (M HKA / Centrum Kunstarchieven Vlaanderen) in collaboration with the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp (Research group Archivolt), M HKA, Antwerp and Koen Van der Auwera. We also thank Idris Sevenans (HOR) and Marc Ruyters (Hart Magazine).

Panamarenko

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(c)image: Panamarenko Archive

Le Garage des Alpes , 1989

Panamarenko

Object , 116 x 258 x 136 cm, 45.5 x 143 x 84 cm

wood, metal

View of the installation "Le garage des Alpes" Furkapas. Workstation of the artist.

From 1984 on, Panamarenko designs various works in his studio in the Swiss Alps. In the garage of the annex where he resided, he also built a track tank with which he could comfortably traverse the rocky terrain. He provides the vehicle with caterpillar tracks driven by an electric motor, and with a large iron saddle in the middle.

'You had to push on the control button right and left to ride straight ahead, and then you could go over anything. If you hit against a table leg, it would just pull itself up and hop... right on the table top! The caterpillar tread gripped anything it came into contact with. That worked very well in the mountains. It turned in a flash; you let up on the control button and it reacted immediately. With all that power on the caterpillar track! And it stopped automatically too, because the transmission was so big the tank couldn't move if the motor wasn't turning. Anyway, his kind of tank on caterpillar treads worked much better than snowmobiles with skis underneath, because the tank could handle anything, rocks included...' - Panamarenko

As part of the exhibition-series Furk'Art, this mountain tank was exhibited in 1989 at the same location where it was designed. The installation comprised a table with tools, a pastille motor and the tank, and was christened by Panamarenko as Le Garage des Alpes.

'After all, it was in the middle of the Alps, right!? And on the front of the annex you still had 'Garage' written in large letters. On top of that, you needed to have some place inside to keep that tank..' - Panamarenko

Panamarenko really 'road'-tested that tank as well.

'On the face of it, it worked quite well, but I had to stop every 5 minutes for some repair or other. That was because the terrain was so uneven and rocky, with protruding points and the like, that the catepillar tracks would keep getting stuck, and that would pull the whole mechanism apart.' - Panamarenko

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