It looks like something that might be found in Donald Trump’s penthouse. But this solid gold toilet is located in a public restroom, and it’s waiting for you to come in and give it a go.
The working public toilet, which is a new exhibit called “America” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.
“Cattelan intends visitors to use the toilet just as they would any other facility in the building,” the Guggenheim said on its blog.
“In a gallery environment where visitors are constantly being told, ‘don’t touch,’ this is an extraordinary opportunity to spend time completely alone with a work of art by a leading contemporary artist,” the blog noted.
The gold throne is located behind a nondescript bathroom door, and is surrounded by the usual accoutrements of a public toilet, including matching steel toilet paper cover and seat cover dispenser:
The only question now is: Do you actually use that paper cover or move past your mysophobia and let your cheeks feel the cold touch of gold?
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The value of the work was not given, but Gothamist crunched the numbers and found that if the gold toilet weighed as much as a typical commode, it would be between 70 and 120 pounds ― or worth between $1,474,592 and $2,527,872, given the current value of gold.
The gold toilet is open for business starting today.
