Object (ionable) Fictions: Part I

 

Object: The Urinal, Pissoir, La Fontaine de Duchamp

 

Typical Use: receptacle for efficient disposal of urine, typically used in male public restrooms, development uncertain but linked to usage in France from the 1830s, first patented in US by Andrew Rankin following the Civil War who introduced an upright flushing mechanism

 

Emotional aspects: Issues may regard privacy, personal space, public space, gender bias, ecological concerns (e.g. water preservation, sanitation), misuse, appropriation for other purposes (see Marcel Duchamp)

 

An alternative system of use:

 

Under the familiar system, when people want to unpack or “dispose of” unproductive emotional and psychological states, many consult psychologists, therapists, and psychiatrists. In an alternative system, the urinal was patented for just such public and private use. Similar to HAL 9000 of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the urinal is a “Heuristically Programmed Algorithmic Computer.” It also doubles as a massive Electronic Garbage Disintegration System (EGADS) as it is able to effectively chemically pulverize human manufacturing byproducts and transform them into raw materials for construction. For this latter use, there is no known analogous object. In the familiar system, we struggle to find ways to dispose of manufactured material (see Edward Burtynsky’s Manufactured Landscapes (2007).