Wim Delvoye:
Mini Cloaca’s First Snack
Cloaca: 2000 – 2007
30 September 2007 – 6 January 2008
41, rue Notre-Dame – B.P. 345 –
L-2013 Luxembourg
Tel. (+352) 22 50 45
Fax (+352) 22 95 95
info [at] casino-luxembourg.lu
This is the 8th Cloaca that Wim Delvoye has conceived and built since the release of Cloaca Original in 2000. Mini Cloaca is a tubular structure made of metal and glass, and composed of mechanical organs that swallow, grind, digest and defecate a given amount of food. The quantity of food ingested is equivalent to that of a French-style breakfast. The particular aestheticism of this machine, with its transparent organs and visible Archimedes-screws, is an attraction in itself.
After Mini Cloaca‘s activation, Casino Luxembourg now hosts three functioning Cloaca machines: Cloaca – New & Improved, Personal Cloaca and Mini Cloaca. They are fed on a daily basis until 6 January 2008.
About the exhibition:
For the first time ever, the exhibition Wim Delvoye: Cloaca 2000 – 2007 brings together the eight machines that have been produced so far — Cloaca Original, Cloaca – New & Improved, Cloaca Turbo, Cloaca Quattro, Cloaca N° 5, Super Cloaca, Personal Cloaca and Mini Cloaca — alongside more than 200 original drawings, 3D and x-ray photographs, models, sealed bags of Cloaca Faeces and other paraphernalia that assemble to form one of the most extraordinary artistic endeavours of all times.
Wim Delvoye’s Cloaca series is a human dream come true in that it reproduces the functioning of the human body. Thanks to an unprecedented combination of art and science, these machines-as-artworks, while retaining an undeniable popular character, inscribe themselves in a historic tradition that ranges from Jacques de Vaucanson’s (1709-1782) famous Canard [Duck] to the no less notorious Merda d’artista [Artist’s shit] by Piero Manzoni (1933-1963). Witty and poetic, Delvoye’s devices nevertheless introduce a new era, which is that of the cybernetic and entrepreneurial artist who designs the machine that creates his works, ridding the figure of the artist of the romanticism commonly attached to it and inserting his products in the global economic system, even going so far as to introduce them to the stock market www.cloaca.be
Super Cloaca, which was activated once on 13 October (Museum Night), will remain on display at the Musee d’art moderne Grand-Duc Jean (Mudam Luxembourg) until 26 November.
A specially furbished Wim Shop at the Casino Luxembourg will hold an assortment of books and specifically created Cloaca products: Cloaca T-shirts, a Wim Delvoye doll, a 3D Viewmaster, Cloaca toilet paper, bags, posters, etc.
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated book (French/English edition) with original texts by Luis Camnitzer, Michael Glasmeier and Jens Hauser, which is already on sale at Casino Luxembourg and on the internet site: www.casino-luxembourg.lu
The OK – Centrum für Gegenwartskunst in Linz (A) will permanently broadcast live images of the exhibition in their space.
Curator: Enrico Lunghi
Assistants: Guillaume Baudin and Kevin Muhlen
The exhibition was made possible with the precious help of the Studio Wim Delvoye in Ghent info@cloaca.be
Associated caterers (Luxembourg): Brasserie des Nations, Restaurant Contact, Grand Hôtel Cravat, Restaurant Il Cherubino, Maison Paul Elio & Fils, Coffee Lounge, La Table du Pain, Mesa Verde and Les Jardins de St.Remy.
Opening Hours:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.,
Saturday, Sunday and public holidays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
Tuesday closed
