On the Go - National Outhouse Museum

I recently acquired one and a half historic, Cape Cod outhouses, saving then from demolition - one only has two walls. I’m expecting two more this year. This collection will be the core of the new museum, On the Go - The National Outhouse Museum.

I propose to refurbish them, put them on wheels for easy transport, and create the Traveling Outhouse Galleries. They would be adaptable for exhibitions, performances and installations, and programmed site-sensitively for: parades, bazaars, shopping centers, and historic and contemporary galleries and museums.

Septic tanks, sewers, tunnels and the underground have always fascinated me: creating a Septic Theater in the Ground in my backyard septic tank; recording a CD in the Boston’s Big Dig before it opened; and proposing an Historic Septic District in Provincetown.

These sandwiched between projects in Argentina (using surgical masks to counter the hysteria about SARS, etc), Columbia (GLOBAL YAWNING for a small planet - a new day is yawning, video project), Rhode Island (mummifying a 1965 Chevy Impala in an abandoned mousoleum in North Burial Ground), and North Truro, MA (The Beige Motel - a sand-encrusted, iconic, 1955 roadside attraction [since demolished]).

On the Go - National Outhouse Museum, like many of my projects, will be collaborative - working with artists, artisans, volunteers, community and cultural organizations and municipal authorities.

Composting is a time-honored process that returns nutrients to the soil, conserving precious water, whereas municipal sewer systems require huge capital outlays, lots of water and costly treatment plants.

Composting our own waste reminds us of our connection to the earth and the need to treat it with respect.

NOTE: The URL line did not work, here’s my website: www.jaycritchley.com

Financiado pelo capítulo Boston, MA (July 2011)