The Order of Things: Carte Blanche to Wim Delvoye - Exhibition Catalogue of the 2024 Wim Delvoye Exhibition at the Musée d'art et d'histoire, Geneva

In 2024, the Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève (MAH) awarded a Carte Blanche for the fourth time: to the Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. The museum’s collection and archives are presented alongside Delvoye’s installations and sculptures, as well as with his own collections of everyday objects and media images. Delvoye engulfs us in a playful and associative abundance of objects, references and interventions. He wrests objects from our habitual ways of seeing and casts them in a new light—an approach that this virtuoso of ambivalence calls “elegant vandalism.”

WIM DELVOYE (*1965) is a celebrated Belgian neo-conceptual artist and sculptor known for his provocative and intricate works that challenge conventional artistic boundaries. Delvoye’s art often merges high art with popular culture, creating thought-provoking pieces that reframe everyday objects through a lens of irony and ambivalence. His work encompasses a range of media, from large-scale installations and sculptures to detailed laser-cut designs and reimagined architectural structures. Notable for coining the term “elegant vandalism,” Delvoye has exhibited globally, captivating audiences with his playful yet critical take on art, culture, and the reinterpretation of classical motifs. His contributions continue to influence and inspire the contemporary art landscape.