Porcelain, 89 cm x 45 cm, (2019)

From the catalogue of “Flashing and Flashing!” at MAXXI museum:

Mutlu (“happy” in Turkish) is a so-called Turkish toilet displayed as a sculpture on a pedestal. On the surface a title is provided, a reference to the “R. Mutt” signature of Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain. Filth, annoyance and discomfort – the characteristics that the collective imagination associates with a urinal – are transitively thrust at this nationality, giving the lavatory its name. When installed on the ground, the artwork represents an unexpected obstacle, a metaphorical image of how, in Europe, Middle Eastern immigrants are increasingly seen as an unwelcome presence.