4 men charged in theft of satirical golden toilet titled ‘America,’ at Churchill’s birthplace

News@lemmy.world – 165 points – 11 months ago

4 men charged in theft of satirical golden toilet titled 'America,' at Churchill's birthplace

LONDON (AP) — Four men were charged Monday over the theft of an 18-carat gold toilet from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born.

I like how the headline mentions the toilet is "satirical" as if they were worried people might think they had a non-ironic 18k solid golden toilet. I'm sure the thieves were only stealing the toilet as a parody of crime.

You know someone somewhere got their feathers ruffled when they heard about a ~~good~~ gold toilet named America

Edit-dang swipe to text. :(

good toilet named America

A good toilet in America, now that would be ironic 😉

I recognize that toilet! No joke, I pooped in it when it was installed in the NYC Guggenheim (where this article’s photo was taken).

I, too, saw that toilet at the Guggenheim. However, I don’t remember it being available to use—how were you so chosen?

Not sure about the Guggenheim but in London the article says:

The golden toilet was fully functioning, and prior to the theft, visitors to the exhibition could book a three-minute appointment to use it.

how can you know when you're gonna poop in advance with that amount of precision

If you don’t prepare to poop, you poop to fail

Some time ago there was a post on lemmy with a question how to not poop for 3 days. OP was adamant on not saying what do they need it for. The post is now deleted but I think it might be a clue... ;D

Coffee helps

by knowing thyself inside

I go at the exact same time every month.

Lots of coffee?

Yeah I was gonna say, have a cup of cold brew and you’ll have no trouble

It definitely works for me

You could just have a cheeky wank instead.

3 minutes? You're a speed demon.

A high fiber diet does wonders

How does a high fiber diet help having "a cheeky wank?"

If you have to ask, you'll never know

I feel completely left out.

Coffee and Taco Bell and the gold will not be seen at the bottom.

When I was there, there was a short line to use it, so after I learned it was a special toilet, I just got in line. I try not to poop in public toilets as a rule, but this seemed like the ideal exception to make.

E: also, it’s a real shame that you weren’t allowed to use it, as use was the primary intention of the artist. I googled it to make sure I wasn’t misremembering…

From the Guggenheim’s website:

Its participatory nature, in which viewers are invited to make use of the fixture individually and privately, allows for an experience of unprecedented intimacy with a work of art.

I think I must have seen it when there was no line. Nobody expressly told me I couldn't use it, but it was obviously an exhibit, and I don’t make a habit of taking risky poops in art.

If I had only known…

I think what we've shared here is a teaching moment. Everyone: Poop in Art. They probably want you to!

If there isn’t a sign saying you can’t do something, then that means you probably should. Got it.

I can completely understand that conclusion. It’s the first and last piece of art that I’ve literally shit on, and it felt weird doing it. It also made me contemplate why toilet seats are the only item in the world that we are ok touching with our skin after many strangers’ bare asses have touched it.

It’s because, ideally, only the legs and outer cheeks are touching the seat. If a person with short shorts sits in a chair, nobody thinks twice about sitting in the same chair. One anus brushes a seat, and everyone loses their minds.

I was never assuming any anus touched a seat. I was only talking about cheeks.

I thought it was customary to rub your anus all over the seat to mark your territory?

Where does it say you aren't allowed to use it? That quote says you can.

Yes, my point was that you can use it. I know because I did use it, and the quote was there to back up my experience.

Oh, "you" referred to that individual instance, I read it as the general.

This is why more people should adopt the second person plural "y'all".

Haha. I’m with you on the “y’all” usage. Ambiguity is annoying.

Or we can go back to using the singular thy and reserve you for plural like in romance languages.

This is why more people should adopt the second person plural “y’all”.

Oh, heavens, no! I wouldn't be heard uttering such vulgar language.

"Me and that shitter go way back."

Marcel Duchamp sends his regards. Gotta make sure he's the toilet king of the art world.

Fountain is a readymade sculpture by Marcel Duchamp in 1917, consisting of a porcelain urinal signed "R. Mutt". In April 1917, an ordinary piece of plumbing chosen by Duchamp was submitted for an exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, the inaugural exhibition by the Society to be staged at the Grand Central Palace in New York. When explaining the purpose of his readymade sculpture, Duchamp stated they are "everyday objects raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist's act of choice."