Through his Art farm in Bejing Delvoye is raising and tattooing pigs that move from commodity status to art status in a very short time. In his 2005 Border Crossings interview with Robert Enright, "Vim & Vigour; An Interview with Wim Delvoye", Border Crossings Issue No. 96. 1 November 2005, the artist talks about this work and the implications of growing art.
http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/articles/record.html?record=412
“We make art that’s unsellable, but it grows and it shows, in an ironic way, how investment works. Like the economic principles of Adam Smith: the idea of how capital operates with interest and yields and margins. That idea of harvesting is really interesting. The art farm plays into that glorious capitalist metaphor of growing paintings. I never heard of any collector rushing to an art show because the paintings were going down in price. Even the most notable collector, who sees himself as a museum, is speculating, somehow. If he's not speculating for monetary value, he’s certainly speculating for social and symbolic value.”
I'm interested in how these works/animals generate value biologically - by growing. It is their mere existance which allows the value of the work to increase and as they mature the work unfolds and develops further. Interestingly aesthetic value is attached to the animal at the first impression made by the tattooist, however economic value is only achieved at the death of the animal. Between these two points the rendered image expands increasing their size and hence their economic value; the growth of the investment. Delvoye states “No one wants to give a penny for an electronic tattoo on a live pig. But if the pig dies, it’s art. Then it’s a pigskin, it can be stuffed; it becomes a commodity.” Just as the imminent purchase of the dead pigs skin will seal its ultimate value so to museums have the final say in the value of many great works and are where great paintings go to die.
Is the value of this work influenced by the process of harvesting? In her essay for crienglish.com, Wim's Wonderland, Lissette Olivares suggests that “to objectify the tattooed pigs as the only artistic element within this experimental project would be to ignore the entire process, or lifecycle, of Art Farm. One of its most important elements is its source of employment and its role as industry. Delvoye explains, "The idea for Art Farm is not only to produce art but to harvest art, for me it's the beginning of making art pieces who are developed in a very biological way."
http://www.ica.org.uk/index.cfm?articleid=14460
Intimate Transactions is an exciting new form of interactive installation that allows two people in separate spaces to interact simultaneously using their bodies. Each participant uses a physical interface called a Bodyshelf. By gently moving their bodies on this smart furniture they instigate Intimate Transactions, which influence an evolving world created from digital imagery, multichannel sound and tactile feedback.
http://www.bars.ac.uk/news/callsforpapers/Artist.htm
From Self to Shelf’ is a one day conference sponsored by Balliol College, Oxford, to investigate different national, social, political and personal concepts of the public function, and public identity, of the artist as a figure for cultural production, construction and interpretation.
http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/cat_cybersonica.php
The Cybersonica 06 Conference is the best place to be in London on Friday and Saturday if you're interested in the theory and practice of how new technologies are shaping and changing the way musicians, digital artists, audiovisualisers and software developers make and present their work.