This is our first post on leavemepee, and we thought that we would explain to you what this whole project is about. We are executing a creative intervention into the world of...well, the toilet! Here is the concept behind the whole thing:
The bathroom – a space that is supposed to be used for the most private of functions – has become an arena for advertisement, conversation, and cultural expression. Accordingly, there are three main goals of our intervention project: the first is to expose the extent to which a capitalist, money-driven society has penetrated our everyday lives. Everywhere we go, we are bombarded with advertisements telling us what to buy, how to look, and who to be. The bathroom is no exception. When we close the door to the world and expect the privacy to go about our business, the face of capitalism is looking back at us in the form of a Nike ad, or one promoting Plan B.
We began to wonder: has the Man finally succeeded at taking away our privacy? The answer, we concluded, is up to us. The second goal of our project, then, aims to reclaim space that has been corporatized. We believe that bathroom graffiti and its counterparts are proclamations of shared ownership. Therefore, their value cannot be diminished by anti-vandalism laws that serve to protect corporate interests and a system in which money equals power. The voices on bathroom stalls represent a frustrated majority intent on reclaiming the privacy, and simultaneously the sociality, of bathrooms.
This brings us to our third goal. We would like to showcase the social and communicative nature of what we like to call “Bathroom Culture.” We believe that the voices present in bathrooms are just as valuable as the advertisements that are forced onto us
If you have ever had a conversation with a complete stranger in a bathroom, you are a creator of bathroom culture; if you’ve ever scribbled your heart’s desire on the walls of a grungy basement loo, you are a creator of bathroom culture; if you’ve ever taken refuge in the sanctuary of the bathroom, YOU are a creator of bathroom culture .
Here we ask you to celebrate the underground culture that occurs behind closed doors. Reclaim your space, engage in bathroom dialogue, and be a potty-mouth!"
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE PRIVATELY POLITICAL WORLD OF BATHROOMS?
