On July 14, 2007, artist Ruben Santiago installed a hydro-massage shower in a public toilet on George Orwell Square (a.k.a. Trip Square) in Barcelona, Spain. Without permission or official authorizationSantiago dismantled the "antivandalic devices" in the toilet and installed the shower (along with bath gel and shampoo and towels) as an act of civil disobedience and infiltration, which, he says, "in spite of its will to improve the public services given to the citizen, has to be generated from illegality."

Trip Square is inhabited by three antagonistic groups, says Santiago: antiriot police, the Pirates (homeless people and drug dealers and consumers) and local neighbors and tourists. "The shower structure and mechanism was installed hiding from the police patrols, with the complicity of the residents. Its purpose was to improve the daily life conditions of the Pirates and occasional travelers. ... The shower system was extensively used by the habitual ones of the square during the three days that it stayed operative. During the third night, it was destroyed by a group of drunken tourists, and then removed by the municipal cleaning team. Among the shower users, speculations on the origin of this unexpected equipment are still discussed."

http://www.hangar.org/gallery/TURNING-A-PUBLIC-TOILET-INTO-A-SPA

   

Comments

Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

URL:
Remember me? YesNo

Comments: