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: Wim Van Eesbeek

Hazerug [Hareback], 1997

Panamarenko

Object , 90 x 70 x 50 cm

motor, kevlar, expoxy, plastic, propeller, felt, metal

"Yes, that Hazerug made quite a deafening racket in Hirsch's laboratory. The windows would burst open and all the students would run away! First just to the stairwell, then out onto the street! But that test-dummy with the Hazerug really flew high! If you put that backpack on for a real flight, you'd die from the noise and vibrations. You'd just shake apart!" - Panamarenko

Since the project Rucksackflug that Panamarenko began in the middle-1980s in the Swiss Alps, diverse drive-mechanisms for backpack flyers continued to evolve. At the start of the 1990s, Panamarenko set himself the task of developing a backpack device that would give the pilot the feeling of flying like a bird, something that could just streak away in a flash...

The construction of the propeller and the motor remained the major obstacles. I fiddled around with that motor for half-a-year 'til I got what I wanted, Panamarenko explains. The backpack cannot have too big a propeller, because you have to be able to take-off and land anywhere and a large propeller is an encumbrance. So the smaller the better from that angle, but then you need more thrust to get off the ground...

Finally, Panamarenko mounts the motor in a round housing, with the propeller at the rear in a vertical position. Via the round housing, the displaced air is expelled below under high pressure through wide jet nozzles. Panamarenko uses a Suzuki engine with sawed-off cooling fins. On the one hand to cut down on weight, and on the other to avert impeded air flow. Together with Prof. Charles Hirsch, Panamarenko tests the backpack in a laboratory at the Vrije Universiteit in Brussels. The backpack is mounted on an iron dummy, weighed down with lead blocks. Panamarenko stands alongside the motor, wearing a helmet and earguards.

'That backpack had a special resonance pan to boost the motor, but the propeller and the air-displacement in the fans made for even more of a racket! It was deafening! Anybody close by just took-off from fright, but that thing really shot high! Afterwards I tried starting that motor once or twice, but the propeller flew off in pieces. After the first attempt, everything came loose because of the vibrations...' - Panamarenko

The name Hazerug is completely connected to the device's speed. Because a hare is so quick, and with that backpack you shot off in a flash. That's like running with a hare on your back, right?!

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