Shitting on art

September 16, 2003 5:39 PM

You've got to be impressed by Smith College's Brown Fine Arts Center. Not only do they have traveling shows, permanent works, and student installations, they've got one thing few other museums can boast: Restrooms As Functional Art. Check out the photos to see the different ways the men's and women's rooms became works in an of themselves.
posted by mathowie (13 comments total)

I don't know about you, but I think the men's looks hideous, but I would hate to use one of the custom painted bowls in the women's.
posted by mathowie at 5:42 PM on September 16, 2003

Awesome. This may help to minimize graffiti, as well.
posted by dg at 6:24 PM on September 16, 2003

Duchamp would be proud.
posted by samuelad at 6:34 PM on September 16, 2003

shit, thats great!
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 6:46 PM on September 16, 2003

I think both the bathrooms were really cool.

However, this begs the question: do the people whose job it is to clean these every day get to call themselves "art restorers?"
posted by contessa at 6:52 PM on September 16, 2003

Does the fourth photo down remind anyone else of an egg being accosted by a multitude of swarming sperm? Aren't those rooms supposed to relax you, instead of give you nightmares about getting knocked up by ginormous tadpoles?
posted by StrangerInAStrainedLand at 6:54 PM on September 16, 2003

It's not so much "restroom as art" as "art in the restroom." There doesn't seem to be much thought to creative placement of the sinks, toilets, etc., and the fixtures are all standard-issue. It seems more like the artists were given an odd-shaped canvas than that the washrooms are works of art in and of themselves.
</highfalutin pseudointellectualism>

BTW, am I the only person in the US of A who says "washroom" instead of "restroom" or "bathroom"?
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:54 PM on September 16, 2003

Yes, yes, that is great art... FOR ME TO POOP ON!

Check out the Kohler Arts Center urinals. Previous potty posts on MeFi here and here.
posted by Frank Grimes at 7:07 PM on September 16, 2003

BTW, am I the only person in the US of A who says "washroom" instead of "restroom" or "bathroom"?

That reminds me of how we tend to use euphemisms in the US of A. When I was in Australia, I asked where the "restroom" was, and the waiter said "the what? let me ask the chef if we still have that" and returned a few minutes later to say that they were all out.

From then on, I used the no-bullshit, to-the-point term everyone else used: "toilet", though it felt weird. I still remember being a kid and using the term "TP" because "toilet paper" sounded almost like a swear word.

Man, we americans are pathetic.
posted by mathowie at 7:08 PM on September 16, 2003

Your average grungy-pretentious cafe in the Bay Area has bathrooms decorated more artistically than this "Art."
posted by Zurishaddai at 7:52 PM on September 16, 2003

I have always been amused to hear Americans use the term "restroom", as if they are afraid to use the word "toilet" and yet they are happy to watch a movie where every second word seems to be shit or fuck. The "TP" thing cracks me up as well.
posted by dg at 7:55 PM on September 16, 2003

Duchamp would be proud.

So would Chin.
posted by arto at 11:08 PM on September 16, 2003

Wasn't Martin Mull's senior art show called "I'll be Art in a Moment?" Or did I just dream that?
posted by jpburns at 4:45 AM on September 17, 2003