Oxygen production while airborne by mechanical means for five minutes, 1969, Mixed media.
110 x 200 x 65 cm

Panamarenko is not concerned with the issue of simply moving from one place to another, nor is this his reason for creating machines ― flying or otherwise. The notion of movement, in effect, offers no solution to constraint or dependence. This is why his machines and projects need not be completed or functional to liberate the poetic power contained in their imaginary field, just as their potential functioning would in no way diminish the poetic enjoyment of his investigative process. Panamarenko is reported to have said, “The most absurd remark one could make is that if the things I ’ve made had to really work, they would no longer be art.”