Walker Art Center

Walker Art Center

Minneapolis, MN

Reviewed June 5th, 2005

Bits & Pieces Put Together to Present a Semblance of a Whole. The mantra of this world class art center is a suitable blueprint for any restroom creator but falls short perhaps in it's lack of wholehearted ambition. If the purpose of art is to seek to engage the viewer through form, movement, color or concept - it is not set apart at all from the aspirations of a perfect restroom (save for the inclusion of function and the exclusion of gassy smells).

Heading downstairs from the main entrance, there is nothing but a wide hallway with shallow slightly rounded stairs. Cartoonish pink eyeball wallpaper covers the walls. Small sans-serif wall signage points to the restrooms and coatroom. In contrast to the expansive open galleries, patrons are channelled through a narrow passageway where they are given the choice of a MEN'S, WOMEN'S or FAMILY restroom. This is the fork in the road. Choose your own adventure if you will. This choice enpowers the patron. Even though they exist in a very controlled environment governed by the morés of society, the illusion of control is liberating. It is, in fact, not an illusion at all. I, as a offspring-less male, could've easily chose the FAMILY door with little or no consequence. Go through the WOMEN'S door... not as easily. But I did have that choice.

Inside were rows of pristine uniform urinals and sinks. In the small easy-to-miss foyer containing a drinking fountain, a long black vacuum cleaner attachment rested on the floor. Maybe this was part of an art installation, but I'm guessing the janitor just misplaced it. Six mirrors. Six soap dispensers. Six sinks. Two hand dryers. Wait a minute here. Elementary math is not my specialty but something doesn't add up here. Add to that the fact that the dryers were slightly underpowered and this restroom becomes significantly less efficient in handling crowds. However, everything was in excellent shape, well-stocked and easy to use and even a steady stream of the artsy-fartsy (pun intended) did not leave me waiting long.

With the 2005 Expansion, sleek black restrooms await near the new McGuire Theater. With floor-to-ceiling stall doors of sleek white, the stalls are reminiscent of a first-generation iPod, behind which you can cavort, pass wind in privacy, or snort oh-so-artsy coke. The floors have good grip: rubber? And the lighting is, as it should be in a good rest room, dim enough as to not see too many details - a unique counterbalance to the bright, stark galleries. While accessibility in the stalls may be a problem for the wheelchair bound, parents needing to assist kids, or the excessively round, the aesthetic is all Apple-meets-World Dryer Corp. Herzog and de Meuron couldn't have designed a better crapper.

RESTROOM RATING: 9
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