WCCV is a project of the Dutch artist duo Pronk van der Meijden.  The main subject of the project WCCV is the toilet or “WC” as it is called in the Netherlands. Pronk van der Meijden contemplates the WC in a public space (such as a communal building) intriguing because it’s a crossover in-between the public and a – literally – intimate atmosphere with interesting possibilities for reflection and contemplation. In reality we find even in public buildings with a clear cultural purpose, the WC’s reflect a sobering experience.

In an effort to improve this predicament Pronk van der Meijden has begun the WCCV project. The objective of the project is to provide an extended field-study that documents the current state of affairs concerning WC’s in buildings with a cultural function used by the general public in society. The WC’s will be mapped and will be recorded by a series of photographs.

The goal is to spark an interest and a rediscovery of the WC and to bring it out of its obscurity. The project is an attempt to give these spaces a new purpose as a private public area where society can find peace and the serenity to reflect and absorb the art that is so obviously around them.

The other goal of the project is to expose the value of the artists, via their CV. As we all know the value of artists nowadays is generally based on their CV’s and not on their actual art work.
In order to achieve both goals, every WC visited in a cultural public space will be turned into an (temporary) exhibition in which a photograph of the last WC visited will be shown. Then a photograph of the WC including the exhibit will be taken to be shown in the next WC.  On the website the stream of visited WC’s will be published.

In conclusion, we hope our juxtaposed exhibition space will spark interest in the role of the WC in a public environment and will therefore add personal value to the WC; second, as the project unfolds we hope it will gain more value itself (generally the larger the project, the larger the value) and third, we hope because the CV of the artists will be expanded, their market-value will grow as well.

Archive of the first phase (2002) of the project – in dutch only