diana shpungin / nicole engelmann

bathroom, 2001
stills from video
continuous loop dvd
dimensions variable

_____________________________________

The set of Bathroom consists of two toilets positioned side by side against a tiled wall with one toilet paper dispenser. The toilets’ positioning functions to invade the user’s privacy.

The first scene consists of two women carefully lining one another’s seat with toilet paper. The scene ends with a fade to gray as the women lift up their skirts. In the following scene the women sit waiting on the toilets. One collects paper from the roll to pass to the other and the action begins to fade as they proceed to wipe. The first two segments go from what may become an extremely intimate act to fade outs to gray. This references classic Hollywood film making by censoring what may be traditionally considered inappropriate material. In the final scene the characters take turns blocking one another from the view of the camera. Contrary to the two preceding scenes, the body rather than an editing technique is used as a censoring device.

Bathroom plays upon peculiar myths of what women really do in the washroom together. The women share a sense of camaraderie by protecting each other’s vulnerabilities from the viewer. Bathroom explores the revealing and concealing of secrets becoming intertwined; both everything and nothing have been witnessed. There is absolutely no discrepancy between what is actually seen and what the viewer invents.