MUSEUM OF OLD & NEW ART (MONA) Installation: Professional cloaca
Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is home to Cloaca Professional — also known as the poo machine.
The large assembly of hanging vessels connected by tubes is the work of Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye, which was unveiled at MONA in Hobart, Tasmania in 2010 as a permanent exhibit.
Specially commissioned by MONA's founder David Walsh, Cloaca replicates the gastroenterological journey food takes, beginning at mastication and ending several hours later in defecation, complete with the authentic smell.
Visitors to MONA are invited to view the "feeding" twice a day, where a staff member places small portions of food into a receptacle where it is ingested, slowly passing through a range of processes before it emerges at the other end of the machine as faecal matter, daily about 2:00pm.
Professional Cloaca has been filmed and screened to promote Australia's National Bowel Cancer Screening Program. The purpose of the screening was to demonstrate the simplicity of the test, which most Australians over 50 have had posted to them.
The test involves analysing a small sample of faeces for the presence of microscopic amounts of blood, not visible to the naked eye, with follow-up testing occurring depending on the results. Thus Professional Cloaca can be credited with saving lives. Yes, it is the smelliest exhibit we have encountered in any gallery!
MUSEUM OF OLD & NEW ART (MONA) Installation: Professional cloaca
Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) is home to Cloaca Professional — also known as the poo machine.
The large assembly of hanging vessels connected by tubes is the work of Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye, which was unveiled at MONA in Hobart, Tasmania in 2010 as a permanent exhibit.
Specially commissioned by MONA's founder David Walsh, Cloaca replicates the gastroenterological journey food takes, beginning at mastication and ending several hours later in defecation, complete with the authentic smell.
Visitors to MONA are invited to view the "feeding" twice a day, where a staff member places small portions of food into a receptacle where it is ingested, slowly passing through a range of processes before it emerges at the other end of the machine as faecal matter, daily about 2:00pm.
Professional Cloaca has been filmed and screened to promote Australia's National Bowel Cancer Screening Program. The purpose of the screening was to demonstrate the simplicity of the test, which most Australians over 50 have had posted to them.
The test involves analysing a small sample of faeces for the presence of microscopic amounts of blood, not visible to the naked eye, with follow-up testing occurring depending on the results. Thus Professional Cloaca can be credited with saving lives. Yes, it is the smelliest exhibit we have encountered in any gallery!