A contemporary art gallery in Ottawa is raising a stink with an exhibition dedicated to excrement. The show opens Thursday but already critics are dumping on it.

The five-week exhibition at the SAW Gallery is called Scatalogue: 30 years of crap in contemporary art.

It's an examination of all things excremental and tackles art's "last remaining taboo," according to co-curator Stefan St-Laurent.

"It's certainly a unique show in Canada," said the Moncton-born performance artist, who came up with the idea along with his twin brother Jason to celebrate the gallery's 30th anniversary.

The show features everything from a wooden Brian Mulroney statue holding a turd in his outstretched hand to cow pie clocks to genuine soiled trousers.

But because the artist-run gallery is supported by federal tax dollars -- $72,000 over two years -- it's being pooh-poohed.

And who better to comment than a member of the Canadian Alliance? The official opposition briefly called themselves the Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance, or CCRAP.

"I don't think taxpayers will say this passes the sniff test," said Alliance Heritage critic Chuck Strahl.

Government officials point out, however, that no federal money was specifically earmarked for Scatalogue.

"This is an operating grant which is there to contribute to the gallery's operations and not one particular exhibition," said Donna Balkan of the Canada Council for the Arts.

The curators claim there's a serious message behind all the doo-doo.

"We chose Scatalogue: 30 years of crap in contemporary art to reach a wider public that would have this misconception about contemporary art that it's crap ... it's futile," St-Laurent said.

The exhibit features work from 25 national and international artists, including filmmaker John Waters, whose play Hairspray won a Tony award. He once tried to introduce the concept of 'Smellovision' with one of his movies -- and you can guess what smell.

Belgium artist Wim Delvoye's work is also featured. He recently sold out his edition of freeze-dried, vacuum-packed "completely biologically correct" excrement at $1,500 US per baggie.

With reports from CTV's Joy Malbon and Canadian Press