Urgent Conversations: Athens – Antwerp

    ENELNL

    The exhibitions Urgent Conversations: Athens–Antwerp and Urgent Conversations: Antwerp – Athens are a collaboration between EMST and M HKA, a theoretical and visual dialogue, based on works from the collections of both museums, which includes more than 70 works structured in 22 topics.   

    28.04.2017 - 07.01.2018        

    M HKA, Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen - Leuvenstraat 32, 2000 Antwerpen

    EMST, National Museum of Contemporary Art - Kallirrois Avenue & Amvr. Frantzi Str., Athens 11743

    Panamarenko

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    (c)image: Luc Schrobiltgen, Courtesy Samuel Vanhoegaerden Gallery
    Maquette van Scimitar [Model of the Scimitar], 1992
    Panamarenko
    Object , 56 x 220 x 113 cm
    metal, rubber, nylon, tape, styropor, balsa

    This model for the Scimitar is a small helicopter with a single rotor and three curved rotor blades. A small stabilizing tail rotor is fitted at the back with a rod. The main rotor is positioned at the aircraft’s centre of gravity, above the pilot. Panamarenko named the machine with the curved wings after the curved sword of Saladin, who had a scimitar made of Damascus steel. Panamarenko made his helicopter’s bent rotor blades from polystyrene around a balsa-wood armature that narrows towards the tips. The wings were coated with liquid putty and then covered with silk. To operate the machine, the pilot lies on a balsa-wood seat. The helicopter is powered by a combination of arm and leg movements. A lever on the pilot’s left-hand control rod adjusts the position of the tail rotor and hence the direction
    of the aircraft. The original flying machine, with a span of 11 meters, has hung in the arrivals lounge at Brussels International Airport.

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