Gregor Jahner

the toilet design of Queering Bathrooms presents a counter-proposal to the normative standard of white sanitary ceramics. It provocatively sticks its tongue out at the viewer—both as an invitation and a provocation—and serves as a subversive statement against the rising tide of right-wing conservatism and its accompanying anti-queer sentiment.

Communal toilets are often understood as neutral and functional infrastructures. However, they are fluid and contested spaces that serve as a prime example of current debates surrounding queer inclusion. The commonly accepted and standardized design norms within a binary spatial policy appear unchangeable and additionally presuppose unequally privileged gender roles. These norms reinforce and reproduce outdated gender concepts while excluding "other" gender identities. In this debate, both opponents and proponents of gender-neutral toilets argue for greater safety within these architectures. As a result, changes and redesigns of such spaces often prove difficult or even impossible, with debates typically ending in emotionally charged confrontations or even hostility.

The Queering Bathrooms project deepens the conversation about queer life and its marginalized position—particularly in light of the increasing hostility against LGBTQIA+ people from the political right—and examines the "bathroom problematic" from a design-theoretical and creative perspective. The pink toilet, with its outstretched tongue, serves as an irrational counter-response to the heated discourse. Through self-irony and aesthetic intervention, seemingly self-evident conventions are humorously broken down, aiming to signal a radical shift in power in favor of queer individuals.

The project invites a shift in perspective and puts Queering Design as a strategy up for discussion: Is it ultimately an aesthetic style that seeks to wrap things in an artificial, inflated pink-plush shell, similar to a Yassification face filter? Or does Queering Design, with its rebellious and campy nature, aim to highlight the exclusion and stigmatization of marginalized individuals, as it fundamentally expresses a materialized desire for belonging and recognition?

The insight gained from Queering Bathrooms—that the design of toilet spaces is culturally and historically relative—challenges our prejudices and encourages new ways of thinking. With this knowledge, we can strive not to approach the debate with one-dimensional solutions. Holistic and multi-perspective approaches are needed to recognize the bathroom problem as a structural issue, which must be sensitively addressed by both designers and users alike.

Fluid Sanitary presents a counter-proposal to the normative standard of white sanitary ceramics. It provocatively sticks its tongue out at the viewer—both as an invitation and a provocation—and serves as a subversive statement against the rising tide of right-wing conservatism and its accompanying anti-queer sentiment.