Cloaca

History

Wim Delvoye started to draw its machine in 1992.

It was presented for the first time in 2000, with the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen (Mr. HKA) with Antwerp. Since, Cloaca makes the round the world tour: Zurich (2001), Vienna (2001), Düsseldorf (2002), New York (2002), Lyon (2003), Toronto (2004), Prato (2004) etc

He was contacted by industrialists of the Agro-alimentaire interested by his machine and wishing to test their products. Wim Delvoye refused their offers.

Technical side

The first version of the Cloaca - there is eight - is a machine of 12 meters length, 2,8 meters broad and 2 meters in height. It is made up of 6 container, cloches different pancreatic juices, Bactérie S and Enzyme S, Acide S, etc, the whole in a very wet medium. The bells are connected between them by a series of tubes, pipes and pumps. Controlled by computers, the installation is maintained at the temperature of the human body (37,2 °C) and makes circulate the food, introduced 2 times per days, during 27 hours, to produce there with final Excrément S.

Its cost of construction is approximately 200.000 Dollar S.

The fourth version (the Cloaca Turbo ) implements three industrial washing machines rises in series and a tunnel of drying to produce same the " résultat". In 2007, there existed eight machines, of which the Turbo one (fast digestion) or the Minis (an appetite of cat) or Personal Cloaca which are vegetarian. Wim Delvoye also created a " Wim Shop" where he proposes " products dérivés" : printed toilet paper of the Cloaca logo, Tee-shirt, books and even a headstock with its image.

Artistic aspect

Equipped with apparent serious with a scientific laboratory (Wim Delvoye was surrounded by several scientists and engineers to conceive its machine ), exposed under the conditions, they so solemn finally, of Art, Cloaca introduces food provided by a delicatessen (but several big bosses agreed to compose of the menus with its intention) and produced Excrément S. the excrements are packed vacuum and marked of a logo which Pastiche those of Ford and Coca-Cola and are then sold around 1.000 Dollar S part.

The nonsense and the uselessness of the product are reinforced by serious its realization, because this machine really functions and its scientific quality is far from being negligible. Concerning its inspirations, Wim Delvoye declares in an interview for the daily newspaper Le Monde of August 2005, that it is the machine to eat in Modern times of Charlie Chaplin which gave him the idea to conceive Cloaca . Works of Piero Manzoni ( Merda d' Artista ), of Marcel Duchamp ( the Bride exposed by its single people even , the Crushing one of chocolate ) and of Jacques Lizène ( Paintings with the fecal matter ) rather were a source of legitimation of its work.

There exists a precedent with Cloaca : the duck automat of Jacques de Vaucanson, which digested food and transformed it into droppings. The conjurer Robert Houdin will discover, by restoring the automat, that there was " a trick " and that the chemical conversion operated in the Estomac of duck really did not function, contrary to Cloaca .

External bonds

the site of '' Cloaca ''
Discussion with Wim Delvoye, on the site of Le Monde

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