My previous impressions of Wim Delvoye's work was that he's known for making quite bizarre statement pieces such as his tattooed pigs. So when this assignment was given I was a little apprehensive of what he might construct in the space of Napoleon's apartments. Initially my reaction was to the opulence of the apartments. Having never stepped foot in them before they are filled with detail and fit for any royal or important figurehead.
Delvoye's silver swirling sculptures were what I first noticed. They oddly complimented the space, the use of texture in the sculpture worked with the ornate chandeliers. Although the viewer could tell that the material used to make them was very different to the material used in the apartments it was not an eyesore to look at them as part of the room. The overall presence of the work did not faze me as a problem. I felt as though they brought a little life into the apartments.
The narratives in Delvoye's work were hard to link together. On one hand you have the story of Chloe and Daphnis depicted in an intertwined sculpture and on the other there are elaborate depictions of twisted dump trucks. I fail to understand the narrative as a whole, but what I can conclude is that each piece has its own statement to make whether it is meant to reference royalty or tell us something about the space. Each piece seems to have its own story. For example the bunny slippers, when I first saw the animals I assumed that they were game animals shot and stuffed by some person who inhabited the apartments. When I looked closer at the label I noticed that they were slippers and not full sized rabbits. It was sort of a play on royalty for me. Bunny slippers are under the connotation of being soft and comfortable that old people wear while shuffling around their apartments, and here Delvoye presented real rabbits made into slippers I suppose under the same connotation, but on a more luxurious scale. 
The context of this show is essentially what I described earlier, a grand setting with an artist who is trying to make it slightly more human, by bringing new pieces of work in and giving life again. I felt that because some of Delvoye's pieces were objects such as pigs or trucks, even though there were beautiful, I was able to relate to them. As Fred Wilson says in his interview that creating an exhibition is about a relationship between the space and the viewer, and how his goal was to make the viewer talk and question. I find that Delvoye was able to do this with his work, and where he chose to place them within the space.
Delvoye's work will always be considered valuable just because of who he is, but because of the setting of where the work was placed the meaning has become more valuable. The pieces are no longer just bunny slippers they are bunny slippers in napoleons apartments in the Louvre. That in itself gives meaning to a piece simply because of the setting that it is in.
I suppose the impact on the collection would be how the viewer see's the space and the impact they receive from the work. Macdonald speaks frequently about the relationship between collecting and people, that the objects are frozen once collected. However, when placed in a museum setting they are re-animated and brought to life. In this case the Delvoye's work becomes part of the timeless work that is Napoleons apartments.
The timeline of the apartment is fractured, because you are mixing old with new or past with present. This makes the exhibition temporary and raise the question can these pieces of art stand the test of time like the apartment and its content? Overall I enjoyed the exhibition I thought it brought life to the opulent apartments and raised questions on what was old and what was new.
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