Excavator

"With its mathematical symmetry and skeletal tracery, Delvoye's Caterpillar is a hybrid machine combining the architectural and mechanical, the divine and the secular, the feminine and the masculine. Deriving its composite parts from Gothic cathedrals, the work evokes the representation of divine harmony and cosmological order in Gothic architecture and conveys removal of earthly temporal constructs in order to allow for human aspirations that reach towards the heavens - an earthmover, literally and figuratively. At the same time the work suggests a struggle between the greater glory and power of God and the unrelenting (and destructive) potential of mortal ingenuity, might and godly ambition.

This scale model version is a unique work, being the first prototype Delvoye has designed and developed in a series of Gothic works which have been displayed in their full size versions in various places across the world (New York 2003; Basel 2007; Shanghai 2010; ...)"