Shit Museum

Coordinates: 45°0′0″N 9°33′0″E / 45.00000°N 9.55000°E / 45.00000; 9.55000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Shit Museum
Museo Della Merda
Map
Established5 May 2015 (2015-05-05)
LocationCastelbosco [it], Piacenza, Italy
Coordinates45°0′0″N 9°33′0″E / 45.00000°N 9.55000°E / 45.00000; 9.55000
ArchitectLuca Cipelletti
Websitehttp://www.theshitmuseum.org/

The Shit Museum (

feces.[1][A] The museum opened on 5 May 2015,[3] having been founded by agricultural businessman Gianantonio Locatelli and three associates.[4]

History

The museum, set in a medieval castle in the village of Castelbosco, was created by a local dairy farmer whose herd of 2,500 (some reports say 3,500)

cow manure.[5]

excrement, and a collection of dung beetles.[1][5]

An even broader motif (and goal) is "transformation" in an engineering, philosophical,

scatological, sociological, and practical sense. As the organization's website offers: "The idea for a new museum slowly took shape, emerging from manure to deal with the broader theme of transformation. The museum would be an agent of change which, through educational and research activities, the production of objects of everyday use and the gathering of artefacts and stories concerning excrement in the modern world and throughout history, was to dismantle cultural norms and prejudices."[4]

Transforming the site took more than twenty years. It started with paint. The museum commissioned artists David Tremlett and Anne and Patrick Poirier to transfigure the mechanical digesters "into a sign" mixing allegorical symbols with botany, thereby creating "a work of evolutionary land art".[4][6] Luca Cipelletti was the principal architect.[1]

Within the Gazzola Castelbosco, exhibit spaces are designed to reinforce the themes, beginning with the museum's repeated use of the dung beetle – the Egyptian's considered the

Naturalis Historia) to point out that waste and recycled materials can be the basis for a better civilization.[4]

Part of the mission of the Shit Museum is to make tangible contributions: ideas and exhibits are purposed to lead to objects, innovation and projects. Production is key to the transformation the museum's creators envision. In its inaugural year, the museum invented and patented

Salone del Mobile in 2016, the museum's "primordial products" made their debut. They garnered first prize in the Milano Design Award.[4][9][10][C] Merdacotta is said to have a rugged look that enhances the hand crafting. When glazed and fired at 1,800 degrees,[clarification needed] it can be used to serve food and drink.[8]

Other museums

Sulabh International Museum of Toilets in Delhi, which antedates this museum, opening in 1992.

The

plexiglas.[12] "The museum will feature relics such as freeze-dried poo, poop hanging from the ceiling and poop from various different species such as meerkats, foxes, cows, owls and even human babies."[13] Poop is dried on a specially built machine.[11][14] Viewers can illuminate each preserved exhibit at the touch of a button.[12] It is said that this is "more of an exhibit" than a museum.[12] The "exhibit" is scheduled to go on tour throughout the United Kingdom after its initial run in the spring and summer of 2016 at the Isle of Wight.[11][13]

Another museum, called "Mr. Toilet House" or "a house to relieve one’s concerns" in Korean, a term for restrooms used in temples, is located in Suwon-si, South Korea. It was built in 2007 as a large house designed to mimic a very large commode.[14][15][16]

There is a Japanese Unko Museum within the Himeji Museum of Literature. Among other exhibits, this being a library, it included "Excretory Literature", books on turds and related subjects.[2]

The Pooseum is in Tasmania.[17]

References

Notes

  1. ^ The "Japanese Poop Museum" within the Himeji Museum of Literature goes back to at least 2008. However, it is unclear whether this was an exhibit in a library or a true "museum".[2]
  2. objets d'art are also featured in the museum, and are lighter and sturdier than industrially made terracotta items."[5]
  3. ^ "Merdacotta is “a material which brings together the museum's principles of transformation and sustainability,” they write, to “turn shit into everyday objects and thoughts” and “essential elements of contemporary living.”[8]

Citations

  1. ^ a b c "Italy's museum of faeces smells 'fresh as a daisy'". The Telegraph. 29 April 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Japanese Poop Museum" (in Japanese). Babel Hut. May 9, 2008. Archived from the original on October 14, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  3. Dangerous Minds
    . May 5, 2015. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "The Shit Museum". Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d Anderson, John (August 31, 2016). "The Shit Museum offers a sustainable view on the science and art of dung". Gizmag. New Atlas. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  6. New York Times Style Magazine
  7. ^ Piepenbring, Dan (May 11, 2016). "On the shelf: Shit Is Furniture, and Other News". The Paris Review. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Hohenadel, Kristin (April 13, 2016). "Can You Guess the Main Ingredient in the Building Material "Merdacotta"?". Slate. Slate.com. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  9. ^ "The Shit Evolution by Luca Ciopelletti is the Winner of the Milano Design Award". Shit Museum. Retrieved September 2, 2016.
  10. ^ Flip (April 11, 2016). "The Shit Evolution in Milan presents dung as a "beautiful" material". Dezeen. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  11. ^ a b c "National Poo Museum official website". Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  12. ^ a b c Shoe, Des (July 25, 2016). "Museum Showcases the 'Art' of Animal Excrement: What in the World". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  13. ^ a b Gallucci, Nicole (March 18, 2016). "A National Poo Museum is opening in a British zoo". Mashable. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  14. ^ a b Boroff, David (April 5, 2016). "National Poo Museum opens in Britain, complete with 'special poo drying machine'". New York Daily News. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  15. ^ "Haewoojae Museum (Mr. Toilet House) (해우재)". Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  16. ^ "Mr. Toilet House home page" (in Korean). Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  17. ^ Pooseum

External links

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