Skip to navigation Skip to content

Fondation

Wimdelvoye bg 1280x912

Wim Delvoye

  • Exhibition
  • Contemporary Art
Look up to address on google map

Fondation PHI 451 & 465 Saint-Jean Street
Montréal, Québec H2Y 2R5

Wednesday to Sunday:
11 AM to 6 PM

Free admission

Curator

Since the late 1980s, Belgian artist Wim Delvoye has been challenging the art world status quo through a multidisciplinary practice that includes sculpture, drawing, photography, installation, and video. Montreal audiences were first introduced to his work in 2009 through the presentation of Cloaca No. 5 at the Galerie de l’UQAM. Part of a larger series, this provocative machine/sculptural work reproduced the human digestive system whereby food was processed and transformed into waste matter. This initiation into Delvoye’s œuvre offered insight into his examination of consumerism and his critique of our intensely capitalist society. At DHC/ART, a major presentation of recent sculpture, drawing, and video will take us deeper into his study of a range of related topics, including branding, class, the economy, technology, and globalisation.

The works on display at DHC/ART underscore Delvoye’s distinctive strategy of employing fusion and torsion to re-signify and de-contextualize a range of objects, symbols, and icons. In the series Car Tyre (2011), the status of the lowly rubber tire is elevated to that of precious objet d’art after its utilitarian surface has been painstakingly hand carved with ornamental designs. Twisted Dump Truck (2011) is formed out of stainless steel that has been laser cut with an intricate, Gothic pattern; the twisting of its body further de-stabilizes a reading of the truck’s semantic and physical unity. Sculptural works based on forgotten, neo-gothic statues, such as La Pêche Clockwise (2011) and La Pêche Counterclockwise (2011), are also re/deformed into tornados of sumptuous nickled-bronze to disrupt established ideas and liberate interpretations. DHC/ART will also present a selection of Delvoye’s renowned tattooed pigskins. This project, which caused an outcry among animal rights activists, cleverly amalgamates the conceits of art collecting, the lowly rank of the pig, and the notoriety of tattoos to raise questions about class, value, and craft.

As we are immersed into Delvoye’s world, binary relationships such as sacred/profane, use/value, high/low culture, and traditional/modern begin to emerge. But rather than remaining polemical, Delvoye’s work suggests an elaboration of meanings, where contradictory notions can coexist in a kind of exquisite harmony, or in what he has termed ’emulsions’. The conceptual chemistry, sense of humour, aesthetic juxtapositions, and affecting physicality of Wim Delvoye’s work deliver an astute critique that has the power to provoke a deeper reflection into our relationship with the panoply of systems, hierarchies, and discourses that shape and affect our contemporary condition.

Biography

Wim Delvoye
Born in 1965 in Wervik, Wim Delvoye lives and works in Ghent, Belgium. Recent solo exhibitions include large surveys at MUDAM in Luxembourg; The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Iran; The Pushkin State Museum, Moscow; The Musée du Louvre, Paris; Musée Rodin, Paris; BOZAR, Brussels; The Guggenheim Collection, Venice; The New Museum, New York; and The Power Plant, Toronto. Delvoye’s work has also been displayed in large-scale group exhibitions, such as Documenta IX; the 1999 Venice Biennale; Triennale di Milano; Yokohama Triennale; 3rd Moscow Biennale; CAPC Musée de Bordeaux; Lyon Biennale; MOCA Shanghai; MoMA PS1; The Vancouver Art Gallery; and The Grand Palais in Paris.

IEX Space Explorers INFINI COVER

Off-Site Location

Space Explorers: THE INFINITE

May 3 January 7

The immersive experience Space Explorers: THE INFINITE, presented in the Old Port, is back in Montreal featuring new captivating content captured in space

Experience Immersion
PHI Event Centre Sexe Desirs Data COVE Rv2

Centre

Sex, Desire and Data

August 1 January 7

An immersive exhibition that explores the connections between sexuality and technology

Exhibition Immersion
PHI Event Centre Myriade Chromatique Credit sylvain dumais COVER

Free

Centre

Chromatic Myriad

August 15 July 31

The PHI Centre showcases a light installation with evolving content, adapting to the seasons and exhibitions

Installation Technology
PHI Event PDA Pioneer Numerique COVER

Free

Off-Site Location

New Media Pioneers

September 21 December 30

Presented at Place des Arts, New Media Pioneers celebrates the work of Michel Lemieux of 4D ART and Édouard Lock

Exhibition Immersion
Rt rehearsal studio thumb

Free

Foundation

Rirkrit Tiravanija: JOUEZ/PLAY

November 3 March 10

The PHI Foundation is pleased to present JOUEZ/PLAY, a solo exhibition by artist Rirkrit Tiravanija

Exhibition Contemporary Art
BNCR pep thumb

Free

Foundation

The Bureau of Noncompetitive Research

November 3 March 10

The Bureau of Noncompetitive Research is a public engagement project by the collective of the same name. Taking place in the PHI Foundation’s Education Room

Installation Contemporary Art
465 G 6 Rirkrit thumb

Foundation

Guided Tours with the Education Team for All

December 7, January 18, February 8 and March 7

The PHI Foundation invites you to participate in a guided tour led by our team of educators in order to discover the exhibition JOUEZ/PLAY by artist Rirkrit Tiravanija.

Event Contemporary Art