Occupy W.C.

June - November 2014, Venice
Architecture Biennale FundamentalsOccupy w.c. exhibition - Daniele CorsaroThe Occupy W.C. installation at the 2014 Architecture Biennale starts from the toilets and extends to the virtual space of the Net. The project proposed the voices of eighteen young architects who, accepting our provocation, accepted the invitation to tell their work and their stories, addressing the theme proposed by Rem Koolhaas: Fundamentals, from their own point of view. Voices of professionals whose energy, passion and concreteness show how Italian architecture is alive today even outside the mega-projects of the archistars.Counterpoint contributions by Luigi Prestinenza Puglisi (President of the Italian Association of Architecture and Criticism) and Luciano Pes (Philosopher). Simona Campus (Art Historian and Curator) offers her thoughts on this project.
Occupy w.c. is a way to establish a lighter, ironic and non-academic relationship with some images that reflect on our time and the physical spaces in which we act out our existence. What prompts this intervention is the conviction that the public toilet is today the freest and most democratic place where people meet. Placing a creative project inside it is a way of appropriating new exhibition spaces, free from system and market constraints.
For young artists these venues can be no less effective communication opportunities than those offered by official art and culture venues. It may be easier for them to get noticed inside a loo than in some paid collective.