This ‘poop machine’ could assist in the fight against bowel cancer

One of Tasmania’s most talked-about artworks, Wim Delvoye’s Cloaca Professional, ends with a pile of shit. Literally.

The Belgian artist’s “poo machine,” part of the permanent collection at Tasmania’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), replicates a human digestive system. You “feed” it actual food, which makes its way through the system and, uh, comes out the other end as… yep.

Image: MONA/Rémi Chauvin, Image Courtesy MONA Museum of Old and New Art

Now, the ABC reports, the work could be a key advancement in the fight against bowel cancer, after the museum allowed the machine’s afternoon dump to be tested by pathologists for bowel cancer on Tuesday.  Read more…

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