A media art exhibition “BOT-ON” is being held at Ueno Ameyoko Plaza for a week from 3/11 (Sat) to 3/19 (Sun). , Passers-by stop involuntarily
The same exhibition using a vacant store in Ueno Ameyoko Plaza. The illuminated restrooms create a strange atmosphere among apparel stores and restaurants. It faces the main street of Ameyoko, and passers-by seem to stop involuntarily. There are also foreign tourists who take photos out of curiosity. (*The toilet uses unused items, so there is no hygiene problem.)
The exhibition is by the “Mischief Creative Group URO” (*hereinafter referred to as URO), which is composed of people who graduated from or related to Digital Hollywood University. A live performance of “printing shit on toilet paper and flushing it with water” will be performed, and the exhibition will be live-streamed 24 hours a day on a special website. In addition, in consideration of the environment, which has become more conscious in recent years, efforts are being made to reprocess toilet paper (recycled pulp) into fuel and reuse it as a sustainable resource.
Let’s take a closer look at the toilet!
Tweets are output from the printer installed next to the toilet and flow into the toilet one after another. A self-made fan is attached to the plate so that the soft toilet paper will flow smoothly. (It seems that using toilet paper as paper was an extremely difficult task…)
When the paper accumulates to a certain extent, a performance of actually flushing the toilet is performed.
Paper dissolved in water flows into the backyard, where it is filtered and reprocessed into blocks of fuel. The block-shaped paper is said to be used as firewood for bonfires and other fires. The blocks made in this exhibition will be used in the next exhibition.
Participatory exhibition
The tweets flushed down the toilet during the exhibition were solicited by URO on Twitter. If you tweet with the hashtag “#goboton”, they will wash it away. Although the tweet recruitment period has already ended, it is a participatory exhibition event where anyone can participate in the exhibition by posting a tweet.
In addition, since the tweets will be streamed live 24 hours a day on the special site, you can also check how your own tweets flow.
author interview
Mischief creative group URO
Formed in April 2021 when all members became members of society. Six people with different backgrounds and specialties
A creative group made up of generation Z. The “worldly world” that most people do not pay attention to
Artwork is set up like a prank in the “gap”. The members are from Digital Hollywood University, or
are concerned.
―Please tell us how the work was created for this exhibition.
This time, I was asked if I would like to participate in the project of live streaming “*FLOW DHU”, which supports concentration time such as creative work and studying for exams, and started thinking about the work.
We usually work on the theme of “mischief”, and we often create interactive works that visitors can experience. At first, we were considering live streaming where people could feel the presence of people and 360-degree live streaming, but we decided that it wouldn’t be URO-like, so we decided to plan on two axes: “live streaming” and “live performance”. I went.
*FLOW DHU: 24-hour live streaming provided by Digital Hollywood University on its YouTube channel. Academic products that support concentration time such as creative work and studying for exams.
―Why Twitter and toilets?
All of the members use Twitter a lot, but I wondered if we could do something about the culture of Twitter and its dark history of “fucking”.
When I say shit, it’s the toilet, so I thought I’d just print the shit out of my own hands and flush it down the toilet. Since the value provided by FLOW DHU is “immersion”, BOT-ON was born by multiplying bot (printing at will) and botton restroom.
―Why did you choose Ueno/Ameyoko as the venue?
Honestly, it’s the warmth and chaos of people (laughs). Our production bases were Ochanomizu and Akihabara, and we often visited Ueno. When we were discussing that we would like to hold an exhibition in our neighborhood, Ueno immediately became a candidate.
Also, from this year, I would like to create works that are not only limited to Japan, but also overseas. I thought it was the best. Then, various connections overlapped, and this is how I was able to exhibit in Ueno.
―Please tell us about your future prospects as a team.
World domination.
It’s a lie, but I want to make works from Akihabara and Ochanomizu aiming for the world, and I want to do mischief that surprises more people.
URO was formed at the timing when all members became members of society, and started activities with a strong desire to “do not want to be swallowed by society even if they become members of society” and “want to express things that cannot be done at work”.
None of the members have a particular area of expertise, and even so, the team is made up of only the weird guys who were in the class when they were in junior high school. And everyone likes pranks. And when I’m working on it, I laugh so much it hurts my stomach.
It’s too bumpy, but I think we can aim for the world because of this member.
It’s just a personal
