''Cloaca'' is a series of

art installations Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific art, site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior intervent ...

by Belgian artist

Wim Delvoye Wim Delvoye (born 1965 in Wervik, West Flanders) is a Belgian neo-conceptual artist widely recognized for combining in his inventive and often shocking projects philosophical ideas, innovative use of materials, and a passion for craftsmanship. ...

. The installations are computerised machines that recreate the human digestive process. The machine takes in food which it moves through a series of pipes and containers where digestive processes are performed following which the machine excretes the digested material at a time advertised to gallery viewers. This digested material has both the look and smell of

faeces Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...

. Each installation has its own name, logo and technical drawings. Delvoye began working on the project in the early 1990s but did not produce a working installation until 2000 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp. Since the first installation, ''Cloaca Original'', Delvoye has exhibited a further nine ''Cloaca'' installations with the final machine, ''Cloaca Professional'', being exhibited in 2010. With each installation the machinery has become more technologically advanced and efficient. ''Cloaca'' deals with ideas surrounding biological processes and commercialism, and the aesthetics of the series draws from laboratories,

production line A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory where components are assembled to make a finished article or where materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward ...

s and consumer products. ''Cloaca'' has received both positive and negative reviews from critics. Critics also have discussed whether or not the installations can be considered as performing digestion. The general public frequently has a strong reaction to the installations, yet data gathered by the

Museum of Old and New Art The Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is an art museum located within the Moorilla Estate, Moorilla winery on the Berriedale, Tasmania, Berriedale peninsula in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the largest privately funded museum in the South ...

demonstrated that ''Cloaca Professional'' was the work of art that visitors spent the most time with during their visit to the gallery.

Background

The Belgian artist

began working on the ''Cloaca'' project in 1992 intending to create installations that reproduced the human digestive process. In an interview, Delvoye said that he has always been "interested in the

scatological In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of faeces. Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (nutrition), diet (and thus habitat (ecology), where ...

". Delvoye designed the machine in consultation with scientists from the

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp () is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UAntwerp''. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 students, which makes it the third-largest university in Flanders. ...

. The first working installation was shown in 2000. The title of the series refers to the Roman sewage system of the same name.

Installations

Every ''Cloaca'' installation follows the same general model. Food typical of a human diet is fed into a machine by gallery staff or sometimes by famous chefs who cook for the machine as part of the exhibition. The food then passes through a series of tubes and containers. The machine carefully controls the temperature of the environment and incorporates precise amounts of digestive chemicals and enzymes at different stages of the process, eventually producing faeces at an exact time advertised to visitors. The installations give off a powerful smell of faeces. As the series has progressed, the installations have become progressively more efficient and technologically sophisticated. Technical drawings of the installations detail to viewers how the different parts of the machine perform the various biological processes of digestion. For each installation, Delvoye designs a ''Cloaca'' logo.

Themes

The ''Cloaca'' series deal with themes surrounding both biological processes and commercialisation. Aesthetically, the installations combine elements of laboratories,

s and consumerism. The series explores

anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

, mechanomorphism and

posthumanism Posthumanism or post-humanism (meaning "after humanism" or "beyond humanism") is an idea in continental philosophy and critical theory responding to the presence of anthropocentrism in 21st-century thought. Posthumanization comprises "those pro ...

with Delvoye describing the installation as a "human being without a soul". The series is an absurd demonstration of the ability of machines to reproduce human functions. Delvoye's use of logos and promotional names for each installation, as well as the fast development of new installations to cater to different consumer groups, such as personal machines and commercial scale machines, demonstrates an interest in human desire and culture and their relationship to faeces.

Reception

Critical reception

When a ''Cloaca'' installation was exhibited in New York in 2002, it received a negative reaction. A critic reviewing the exhibition in ''

The Brooklyn Rail ''The Brooklyn Rail'' is an American publication and platform for the arts, culture, humanities, and politics, based in Brooklyn, New York. It features in-depth critical essays, fiction, poetry, as well as interviews with artists, critics, and ...

'' was "disgusted" by the installation and criticised its cost, reliance on gimmicks and attempt at being an "educational enterprise". The review negatively contrasted ''Cloaca'' to other work on faeces by

Pier Paolo Pasolini Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

Karen Finley Karen Finley (born 1956) is an American performance artist, musician, poet, and educator. The case, '' National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley'' (1998), argued in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, was decided against Finley and the other artist ...

, Peter Saul and

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( ; ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and Aesthetics, art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism and sociology. With Heinrich Böll, , Caroline Tisdall, Rober ...

. Reviewing the same exhibition, ''The'' ''New York Times'' called the ''Cloaca'' "brainiac Conceptual Art, top-heavy with ideas", and argued that its effectiveness lies in being operational rather than just existing as a thought experiment. Writing in ''

Frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

'' about ''Cloaca New & Improved'', critic Saul Anton described the installation as "a metaphor for our culture, as art, as economics and so on - and arguably one of the most spectacular in decades." Critics Christian Denker and Isabelle Loring Wallace have discussed whether the installations' work can be identified as digestion. Denker described the work as a "simulation" and "imitation" of the biological digestive process that omits the provision of nourishment and energy which is the primary reason for digestion. Wallace commented that what the installations demonstrate, at a great cost, is not the digestive process but rather "digestion's facsimile, not shit, but shit's representation."

Public reception

Jennifer Friedlander commented that ''Cloaca'' generates a "surprisingly disturbing effect among viewers." In his review of ''Cloaca Original'', Els Fiers wrote that gallery visitors had a "a strange look on their faces, as if they'd just paid a visit to the devil" after viewing the exhibition, and also described a school girl who began crying when looking at the installation. A survey at MONA has shown that ''Cloaca Professional'' is visitors' most hated artwork at the museum, yet the museum's iPod tracking devices show that it is the artwork visitors spend the most time with.

Background

Installations

Themes

Reception

Critical reception

Public reception

References

Further reading

See also