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Belgian Artist Wim Delvoye Hangs Steel Suppository in the Louvre

May 31, 2012 07:07 PM EDT    | Jessica Kramer
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Suppo
A scale model of "Suppo" before it was hung in the Louvre. (Photo : Wim Delvoye)

A museum-spanning exhibition called "At the Louvre" by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye opened up today at -- surprise! -- the Louvre. 

The pièce de résistance from the controversial conceptual artist (who became famous for his tattooed pig skins and a feces-producing machine, Cloaca) is his 40-foot Gothic steel spire hanging under the Parisian museum's glass pyramid.

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The twisty patterned phallic object is titled "Suppo," short for "suppository."

ArtInfo translated some of Delvoye's more amusing quotes from AFP.

"Such a beautiful suppository is just another way of surprising people," Delvoye said. "The pyramid is like a butt."  

He then explained his somewhat odd choice of name. It was a toss-up between "Suppo" and "Doner Kebab," the Middle-Eastern dish that it resembles.

"The Louvre preferred something scatological that does not make reference to any cultural differences and couldn't be deemed discriminatory," he said.

The rest of his exhibition, which runs through September 17, includes about 30 other works spread throughout the surrounding Tuileries Gardens, in the Gothic halls of the Department of Decorative Arts and in the Napoleon III apartments. The latter includes three fiberglass pigs wrapped in ornate rugs, and nearby a sculpture shows a deer and a doe engaged in an unnatural sexual position.

These other multi-disciplinary works are made of stained glass, porcelain and bronze, and explore themes of 19th-century sculpture and digital reproduction while toying with "ironic appropriation of past styles."

Delvoye couldn't be more delighted to have his work shown at the Louvre. "It's a very strong brand," he said, "like Led Zeppelin or Microsoft."

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