Bathroom at Chiostro Gallery, 2005

The new premises of the Chiostro Arte Contemporanea gallery in Saronno featured an art cafe, which would be open both to those visiting the gallery and to the public of Saronno. I turned the bathroom into a permanent installation by painting not only the walls, but also the tiles, at the Fornace Curti, a ceramics workshop in Milan which has existed since Medieval times. All the tiles are painted by hand, and there are no two identical. There is an elementary school across the street, and the children used to go to see the bathroom to get a thrill, they used to say they went to "visit the scary bathroom". The comments published below are taken from a visitors' book where people could write about their impressions and thoughs after visiting the bathroom. To decorate a toilet may not appear as a very prestigious task. But toilets are small spaces with few distractions, and entering such a space where all surfaces are covered by animals can be quite an experience.