Some time ago, before openDemocracy’s discussion boards became a train wreck, I posted a few links to the x-ray imagery of Belgian artist, Wim Delvoye. A reader of that epic oD thread suggested I post Delvoye’s handiwork here, for the benefit of a more… discerning audience. Ever the aesthete, I’m only too happy to oblige. The x-rays of kissing are, I think, rather sweet, if a little continental, though other examples from this series are perhaps an acquired taste and not for the faint-hearted.

More of Delvoye’s, um, penetrating insights can be found here. Unfortunately, Delvoye’s official website is rather low in content and features only the artist’s tattooed pigs, in live and stuffed varieties. (According to one critic, Delvoye has “astounded the art world with masterpieces that test the limits of art appreciation.” We’re also assured that Delvoye’s Art Farm project, which boasts 24 tattooed pigs, “satirically mirrors the society we live in.”) Tragically, the website omits what is surely Delvoye’s greatest artistic triumph: his robotic bowel, Cloaca. This bio-mechanical installation – apparently a “highly pungent comment on the folly of human achievement” – mimics the human digestive tract, from French fries to mechanically extruded faeces. This aesthetic wonder is performed in a “relatively odour-free manner” and recorded in riveting detail. Collectors will be mortified to learn the end product of that exhibit has, alas, sold out.

More here.

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