Public Toilet: Sang Woo Kim


Fun installation at Fondemanta Sant’Anna 992/a in Venice by British-Korean artist Sang Woo Kim and organised by Venice Arts Projects. 

We found this a couple of doors from where we were staying in Venice. From the outside it looked like a rather odd, out of place trendy shop but then we realised it was an installation. It’s fun that it was unmanned so you just wander in and experience it without other people being there.

The show was puns on toilets and reimagines works by renowned artists such as Duchamp (obviously) Jeff Koons and Sarah Lucas. I’m not sure I got all the references as I was finding it too much fun and laughing out loud in places. The amusement was heightened by the recent theft of the gold toilet from Blenheim Palace. Like that piece, this installation had one working toilet, which it dared you to use. I didn’t!

Reading the press release the show is about appropriation of art and authorship and I loved the line that when viewers enter the space “they evolve into the agents of the creative process”. Not sure I realised that’s what I was doing but I did enjoy it.

Closes 24 November 2019

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