A feces-extruding artwork described as a "mechanized sculpture" continues to draw record crowds to the University of Quebec in Montreal.

"Art should be useless. And this is very useless, but it's entertaining," Belgian conceptual artist Wim Devoye says of his notorious work Cloaca No. 5, which has been on display at the university since Jan. 16 (and remains until Feb. 14).

Devoye calls the latest incarnation of Cloaca in Montreal a more advanced version of his early versions, including the one that appeared in Toronto in 2004.

"This machine is much smaller, easier to travel with … [a] more sporty model, but it has an enormous capacity," he quipped to CBC Radio's Q on Friday from his art studio in Ghent, Belgium.

"This machine doesn't just make poop, it makes reflection, it asks questions. It is a big metaphor for art creation: digesting influences from other artists and making it your own."

Devoye, whose has a reputation for unusual installations, said he became inspired to create Cloaca during the 1990s because the art world, at that time, was "very affected by dialogues about the other or ethnicity or gender. A lot of issues were a little bit separatist. It was about differentiating yourself from the other," he recalled.

"I thought I should make an art piece that includes all of us. That doesn't differentiate between all of us."

As is usual for the piece, Cloaca No. 5 has stirred up controversy during its Montreal stay, including from some critics who questioned the $30,000 Canada Council funding it took to ship and present the contemporary art installation.

Still, "a lot of people who are mildly disgusted about contemporary art somehow like what I do because it somehow fits into their [perception]," Devoye said.

"They are thinking that contemporary art anyway is a big load of crap. So if someone dares to just say that — by making this project — it makes them very happy."

He also said that everyone — from visitors to the exhibit to people criticizing the sculpture's existence after reading a story about it — contributes to his artwork overall.

"They are all complicit: by photographing Cloaca the machine, or buying a [limited-edition piece of freeze-dried] poo, or just looking at the website. Whatever people do, even a negative reaction in the press, it is all belonging to this one big project. It is like a document, an interesting document."