Panamarenko on show at Jean Tinguely Museum, Basel

This Belgian artist, born in 1940, in Switzerland is difficult to categorise. He is an artist, engineer, poet, physicist, and visionary all at the same time, yet his giant machines and models appear to be the work of a failed inventor, rather than a man of science or art. Although often seen as an eccentric or outsider, the popularity of his “Aeromodeller” has led to international recognition, with a retrospective in Munich in 1982, followed by a second in 1998 at the Fondation Cartier in Paris. This exhibition was organised by the Hayward Gallery in London and both Panamarenko and the show’s curator, Jon Thompson, supervised the installation at the Jean Tinguely Museum.