Saturday, November 12, 2011

Artifact Blurb for Ashley Bennett and the "Don't miss a sec" toilet

“Don’t Miss A Sec” toilet
Exploring the construction of sexual identity through architecture, Monica Bonvicini focuses on the gendered nature of the building environment. In using her research to create large scale sculptural art, she provokes modernism. Evidence of her approach and design success in seen in the “Don’t miss a sec” toilet. Placed in Messeplatz in Basal, Switzerland in an exhibition center, this toilet is definitely the “Loo with a view”. Placed inside of a transparent glass, the toilet can be used without losing sight of what is happening around you. From the outside, the toilet room looks like a structure of mirrors, but from the inside one can look through a fully transparent 360 degree window of the chaos and world around them. The toilet inside the structure is made of stainless steel and is usable today. However, this piece is more than a public restroom facility but a work of art as well. Though this is a very creative design, it does pose some flaws. During the daytime the transparency mechanism works fine; no one is able to see inside the “toilet room”. But, at night if someone were to peek into the mirror they would have clear sight as to what is happening on the inside of the structure.
This toilet appropriately fits into our exhibit as an artifact because it represents the “journey of the john”. It shows how far the toilet has come over the years. From outhouses, to a creative piece of usable toilet art, the toilet has made huge improvements over the years. This is just one example of this concept in looking at more modern times in design and innovation of public restroom facilities. Using the toilet is no longer only considered being a dark, smelly, dungy experience apart from the world, but perhaps becoming a part of your everyday life by placing it on the outside city grounds. This new relationship being a joint experience; one can continue to be a part of the atmosphere around them without having to leave it for the restroom. It no longer is just a place to “get the job done”, but will challenge ones curiosity and bravery. It also plays with peoples comfort levels and how comfortable they are using the bathroom in specific environment change. For some this may be a cool experience and for others it may be ones worst nightmare. What do you think?

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