Daniella Fernandez

Potty Talk

Cultural taboos and stigmas surrounding bodily functions and the interest of questioning certain postures society have related to toilets and human waste, drove the investigation to delve on people’s relationship with this necessary but yet unexplored space by designers — The Toilet.  

The modern world is constructed with careful consideration of form, function, and purpose. Among the architectural tapestry, one room stands out, a nexus of functionality and intimacy- The most psychosexually charged room in a building. Far more than just a facility, the toilet is an embodiment of technology, a space where the concealed interiors of the body meet the hidden recesses of the building.  

“Potty Talk”, a fist artistic- Interactive installation, was created with the intention to push people to discover their relationship to their own body, intimacy, repulsion, and the restrains related to poop.   

“Sometimes to incite learning, we need to focus on taboos”. Exploring our intricate relationship with excrement, the world’s most underrated but yet, boundless resource.  Through this installation we seek to confront those taboos and encourage people to take off their masks and talk about it. Let's talk about poop! Let's talk about what happens in this vulnerable moment. Thus, perhaps, we will be able to understand more thoroughly what the needs are within this space, limited today by a simple predetermined template, where many things beyond simple design happen. What is private? What is not? What can we do with our waste? 

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“Paris throws five million a year into the sea… There is no guano comparable in fertility to the detritus of a capital. A great city is the most powerful of dung producers. To employ the city to enrich the plain would be a sure success. If our gold is manure, on the other, our manure is gold. What is done with this gold, manure? It is swept into the abyss.”  

Victor Hugo — “Les Misérables”