Now on view at the Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, is the Aleksandra Wasilkowska curated, "Shadow Architecture: Lavatories and Bazaars". This mind expanding exhibit looks at the structures, facilities and items that have essentially been displaced from the public view or psyche. These are the elements that people look past, don't care about or simply don't notice. However, their place within society should not be understated. These are perhaps some of the most indicative marks of the state of their respective governments, socioeconomic landscapes and cultural status. 

From the museum: 

This exhibition and the book which accompanies it are an opportunity to devise a script for the future in which sacrum mixes with profanum, and that which is filthy, illegal and taboo returns, elevated in honor and glory. The exhibition will be accompanied by the second volume of the book Shadow Architecture, edited by Aleksandra Wasilkowska, the exhibition’s curator and architect. It will feature texts by Zofia Krawiec and Slavs and Tatars, poetry by Andrzej Szpindler, comics by Maciej Sieńczyka, Anna Kaplińska’s interviews with vendors and lavatory attendants, and documentation created by vendors, artists and architects of Bazaristan. 

I love the thesis of this exhibition and shining a spot light on anything in society that is overlooked is always a good thing. Further, connecting the shape of a toilet bowl with the state of a country's politics may seem odd at first, but actually makes a whole lot of sense when you get down to it. The book is something I will definitely check out and those luckily enough to be in or around eastern Europe should check out this great museum. 

For more information visit the museum's website. 

-JRS 

Pictured from top: 

Alexander Wasilkowska - Różyckiego Bazaar (conceptual mockup)

A poster for the Warsaw Museum of Modern Art's "Shadow Architecture: Lavatories and Bazaars" exhibit, on view from December 12, 2014 - February 1, 2015. 

Alex Schweder - "BiBardon"

Alexander Wasilkowska - "Peak"

Olaf Brzeski - "Bazaristan. Inscription weed"