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

(c)image: Wim Van Eesbeek
KYRPWWAWAX, International Happening News, Happening in een heerlijke stad IV [KYRPWWAWAX, International Happening News], 1965
Poster , 28 x 44 cm
black ink, pink paper

The happenings with which Panamarenko was involved were announced by a series of posters, which were distributed, hung in cafés and posted at various locations around the city, including the walls of the Academy of Fine Arts. The posters were designed by Wout Vercammen, Hugo Heyrman and Panamarenko. The first one, produced by Wout Vercammen, refers both formally and in terms of its content to Paul van Ostaijen’s famous collection of poems Occupied City (1921), which fell somewhere between Expressionism and Dadaism. This Dadaist line was extended into the following posters by, for instance, turning a poem from Occupied City into a collage. Heyrman continued to apply and develop the collage medium in the posters that followed, giving the happenings a title and a form, and preserving their otherwise ephemeral visibility.

Poster for the happening (with Yoshio Nakajima, Wout Vercammen, Panamarenko, Hugo Heyrman) on August 6, 1965 in Ostend.

Also included in the magazine, Milkyways and happenings nr.4, p.2, 1965.