When we think of public art, we usually picture monumental sculptures, expansive murals and digital projections but what rarely comes to mind are public restrooms. Enter Hungarian designer and visual artist Miklós Kiss, a.k.a. kissmiklos, whose latest project, POP&ROLL Art Toilet, transforms the mundane experience of a public restroom into an immersive, phantasmagorical encounter. Located in the heart of Budapest, the Art Toilet fuses functionality with art and design, featuring 20 distinctive toilets that serve as a canvas for more than 100 of kissmiklos’ artworks.
Inspired by the interiors of Budapest’s Eastern European spas and swimming pools, and the gaming world of the 80s and 90s, the Art Toilet is whimsically designed down to the smallest detail in the artist’s signature Neo-pop aesthetic which kissmiklos describes as a “Gesamtkunstwerk”, a total work of art. Swathed in vibrant candy hues and populated by a posse of cheeky figures, from pooping unicorns, rainbow-farting flying pigs, and peeing Teletubbies to the artist’s signature “emograms” (smiley faces made up of jumbled letters that spell a word expressing an emotion, thought or concept), the space begs to be shared on IG stories and Tik Tok videos all the while poking fun at our social media-obsessed culture of curated perfection and instant gratification. Along with the adjoining Art Shop and Art Gallery, kissmiklos’ POP&ROLL project demonstrates that contemporary art can be insightful as much as fun.