Henri Van Herwegen first made himself heard in the mid 1960s. He came up with the pseudonym Panamarenko – a reference to Pan American Airlines, with a Russian-like suffix – and in 1966 had his first solo exhibition in the Wide White Space Gallery in Antwerp, with actions, happenings and a number of poetic objects. Through the gallery he came into contact with foreign artists, such as Joseph Beuys, who convinced Panamarenko that what he made was art. In the following decades, Panamarenko became famous for his fantastical aeroplanes, cars, submarines and fragile mechanical creatures. He stopped his artistic activities in 2005 and retired.
