Paul Panhuysen: Kde bydlí Apollón / Where Apollo Dwells | exhibition

ExhibitionCella Gallery and Hovorny, Opava

PAUL PANHUYSEN: KDE BYDLÍ APOLLÓN / WHERE APOLLO DWELLS
12. 11. 2024 – 30. 1. 2025
Cella Gallery
Curator: Miloš Vojtěchovský

The exhibition opening will take place on Tuesday, 12 November, at 6 PM at Cella Gallery.

The fifth exhibition in a series focusing on prominent European artists who have expanded the concept and boundaries of sound art will present the work of Paul Panhuysen (1934–2015). Where Apollo Dwells offers a small selection from the multifaceted and extensive oeuvre of this interdisciplinary artist and curator, who is often mentioned alongside significant figures in the history of intermedia art from the second half of the 20th century. At Cella Gallery, we will present the sound installation titled ‘La vie est une guitare sur la quelle vous nʼaimez jouer que même air éternellement’. Francis Picabia (Life is like a guitar, on which you only like to play the same eternal melody), which premiered at the Transparent Messenger symposium in Plasy in 1994. The work consists of twelve metal discs arranged on the floor in a constellation based on the so-called “magic square” by the Baroque mathematician and poet Claude Gaspar Bachet de Méziriac. Beneath each disc is an amplifier and speaker, connected to a relay with sound chips that constantly combine twelve identical short melodies. Panhuysen also employed the mathematical combinatorics of “magic squares” in a series of large colour prints titled ‘Two Families of 64 Squares’, referring to the methods used by John Cage in graphic musical scores. For Panhuysen, logic and magic are integral parts of one concept of reality and creation. The installation also includes photographs and examples from the publishing activities of Het Apollohuis (The Apollo House).

Paul Panhuysen (1934–2015) was a Dutch composer, visual and sound artist, and curator. He was the initiator and founder of the international art centre Het Apollohuis in Eindhoven (1980–2001). The former tobacco factory, where he worked and lived with his wife Hélène, combined functions as a gallery, studio, artist residency, and organisational infrastructure for the creation and presentation of sound installations, sculptures, free improvisation concerts, and experimental and electronic music. Panhuysen studied visual arts at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht and sociology at Utrecht University. After experimenting with abstract expressionism (around 1964) and minimalism (until 1966), he turned to music, sound art, performance, and installations under the influence of the Fluxus movement. His social engagement and belief in the mission of experimental art as a catalyst for social change developed from the 1960s onwards. In 1967, he founded the Free Community of the Global City of Peace and Joy, and a year later, the multinational improvisation music ensemble Maciunas Ensemble. From the 1980s onwards, he led Het Apollohuis. In his sound installations, he often combined long stretched piano strings, either mechanically or electronically triggered, with everyday objects. He exhibited, performed, and curated numerous exhibitions and festivals across Europe, the USA, and Asia. Under the roof of Het Apollohuis, he released several sound recordings and catalogues.

The exhibition was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Statutory City of Opava, and the State Fund for Culture.