Sunday, December 23, 2007

Cloaca

Several years ago I visited New York to see my old roommate, David. We went to school together in London. He's a very talented artist, and as artists tend to do, he keeps up with goingsons in the art world. During my visit David shared with me a book of Belgian artist Wim Delvoye's art installation, Cloaca. Cloaca is a mechanized digestive system that essentially mimics how food is broken down within, and excreted from, animals including humans. Unfortunately, I missed the show by a week. David said the aroma in the room was pretty ripe, so maybe that's a good thing. Local restaurants sponsored the show by donating meals. Although I couldn't find images of them, Delvoye also creates beautiful poop mosaics from Cloaca's waste.

4 comments:

Dennis said...

Yet another productive and meaningful portrayal from the world of art. I especially like the mechanical anus featured in the final shot. It appears that the manufactured turds move along a conveyor belt to another station, do you know they're final fate? Is it just for the mosaics (a must have by the way) or are there other uses?....i.e Spencer stores.

Unfortunately, I would probably spend $10-15 to see this live.

General Ursus said...

At one time I think you may have been able to actually purchase an artist-signed turd - though I think they were primarily used in the mosaics.

Oh, I most certainly would have loved to have seen this live! What could possibly beat the convergence of high art and the scatological.

Dennis said...

scatological...definitely the word of the day.

General Ursus said...

I use it whenever I can.