So, here are some progress shots from a project I originally started for the 2011 TINA festival in Newcastle. The festival's funding crisis meant they had to withdraw support for the work but I decided to make it anyway. Womb to Move was made with support from the Arc@Cofa Design Grant.
Womb to Move was inspired by my enduring fascination with public toilets. Plagued by nervousness and claustrophobia in large and noisy crowds at shopping centres, airports and music festivals, I have come to treasure the privacy afforded by the public toilet cubicle. A recent trip to Japan introduced me to the assorted wonders of the modern public toilet; a magic wonderland of floral scents, tinkling music and cleansing water jets catered to the individual's preference for temperature, force and angle.
With these experiences in mind, I began to consider the public toilet's potential to act as a kind of relaxation chamber, a temporary private sanctuary within a bustling public environment. The necessary ritual of a daily bowel movement in such a space could be viewed as a regenerative process in which the toilet occupant privately sheds a part of themselves and then re-enters the public sphere refreshed and emptied of waste. I decided to capture the regenerative power of the public toilet by transforming a Port-A-Loo into a portable womb chamber. I hoped to install this womb chamber in various public places so that passersby suffering from anxiety or feeling run down in body and mind could rejuvenate themselves in a comfortable and private space.
The following photos depict the Port-A-Loo in its original state. It was purchased from a local loo hire company for a steal at $100! Though it arrived in a rather smelly state, a bucket of discount air fresheners solved that problem within a few days.
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