photo by Yasunori Takeuchi, courtesy Toilennale
What looks like a giant cake, or possibly an ice cream sunday, stands in the street, connected to a park. This is a piece of art. But it’s also a public toilet. It’s both. As part of the 2015 Oita Toilennale, perhaps the world’s first art festival dedicated to toilets, artist Minako Nishiyama conceived of the project. And with the help of artists Mika Kasahara and Yuma Haruna, the 3 female artists brought “Melting Dream” to life.
photo by Yasunori Takeuchi, courtesy Toilennale
photos by photographer min
But the candy colored toilet is not all sweets. Aside from being subliminally erotic, the structure is embedded with some rather dark premonitions. “The concept of the piece is that Japan, the sweet country of ambiguity, is beginning to crumble,” says Nishiyama. The original idea for the piece dates back to the Fukushima nuclear incident 4 years ago. Nishiyama worries that people are going about their daily lives as if nothing changed.
You can visit (and use) Nishiyama’s toilet, as well as the 2015 Toilennale, through September 23. And you can read more about the art festival on Hyperallergic.
photo by photographer min
photos by photographer min
photo by photographer min
photos by photographer min
photo by photographer min
