The Flemish artist Wim Delvoye has entered his name for an international competition to restore the damage caused by the fire that ravaged the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris this week. The competition for a restoration was announced by French prime minister Edouard Philippe this week. EU laws make it necessary for any public contract over a certain value to be open to tenders from all 28 member states. Private contributors have already pledged almost one billion euros.
Delvoye has in the past described himself as the “Viollet-le-Duc of our times,” after the man who designed the cathedral's spire, which fell victim to the fire. Delvoye's works include a Gothic construction of a cement mixer and a dumper truck (photo).
“My trucks, cement mixers, cranes and life-size towers are an ode to medieval Gothic art of the sort we see at Notre Dame in Paris and the cathedral of Cologne,” Delvoye wrote in a statement. “Thnks to modern industrial techniques such as 3D printing and laser cutting, I have been able to develop a new type of modern architecture. On the basis of my long immersion in Gothic architecture, I feel called upon to take part in the reconstruction of this monument.”
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
