Sh*t Happens!
Our toilets dump bodily waste out of sight and out of mind. Rather than flushing it, could we use it? Our sewer system is at breaking point due to rising floods and heavy rainfall caused by climate change. Advances in composting practices and microbial materials, combined with improved infrastructure, could enable us to use human waste as a resource.
A looped audio work presented in the gallery’s male and female public toilets features conversations from a growing archive. Speakers include King’s researcher Randa Kachef, exploring perceptions of human waste, the challenges of the sewer system, and ideas for making it more sustainable. Cut-outs from the accompanying zine are framed on toilet doors.
Audio content is organised into eight chapters: The Basics, Composting Waste, Waste Separation, Reusing Household Waste, Pathogens in Poo, Doo It Yourself Energy, Energising Waste and Cleaning as an Act of Care.
In the Living Library, the zine can be found in two additional formats: as a large single sheet and cut into segments and packaged as compostable 'toilet paper'. The zine is made from recycled waste-paper and screen-printed using hand-made plant-based inks. Through her choice of materials and subject matter, the artist invites readers to reimagine our relationship with waste.
A transcript of the audio work is available here.
BSL interpretation for this artwork is available via this link
Louise Mackenzie, PhD, is an artist and researcher based in Newcastle, UK. She is a Director of ASCUS Art and Science, Edinburgh, lecturer in Contemporary Art Practice at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee and artist researcher at both Newcastle and Northumbria Universities in the UK. Working across mediums and often engaging with fields outside of the cultural sector, her interdisciplinary practice focuses on art's relationship with the environment, articulated through process, chance, appropriation and translation. With an interest in experimental and experiential practices, sound and new/found media play an important role in her work.