by artist buff diss
a community amenity uplift and public art project delivered in conjunction with the city of port phillip council
Media Gerome Villarete
The Cummings Reserve Public Toilets (or Cowderoy Street toilets) in West St Kilda are located in the wide nature strip on Beaconsfield Parade at the northwest end of Catani Gardens, accessible via the crosswalk from Pier Road on the southwest, and the crosswalk from Cowderoy Street on the northeast. Their location is in a prime entertainment, sports, leisure and residential area in one of Melbourne’s treasured beachside locations.
Highlighting the acute lack of amenable public toilets in the area as more and more people took to walking during the Melbourne lockdowns, the WSKRA Committee worked with Port Phillip Council, first to improve the maintenance and upkeep of the facilities (see Our Issues), then to make the derelict-looking toilet block more appealing.
the brief
The toilet block is highly visible from all sides and viewed by thousands of motorists, cyclists and pedestrians daily. The artist should strongly take into consideration all aspects of the site, including those aspects that are specific to the site’s surrounding environment (i.e. vegetation) as well as those that are relative to the movement of pedestrians, cyclists and motorists at different hours of the day.
The artist should approach the project site as a whole and create a cohesive artwork that leverages or plays upon the location and environment of the site, and the specificity of the surface.
Due to the unique exposure of the site, the artist should propose a concept that is playful, optimistic and inspiring – a serious fun piece that would inevitably bring a smile to people of all ages and walks of life.