benjamin nordsmark bases NYC urinal on his daily, dirty subway commute

frequent new york city subway rider and artist benjamin nordsmark reveals his latest piece, ‘NYC urinal’. ‘I notice how dirty the trains can be and they even smell like urine sometimes. after pondering the shape of the seats, I quickly associated them to urinals and in combining these observations, the idea of the NYC urinal came to life’.

the piece is influenced by the artist’s daily commute on the NYC subway

being selected for the curated portal art fair, nordsmark intentionally uses seemingly cheap material such as plywood, making the art piece appear as though it is built in plastic. however, a small area underneath the seat is left untreated in order to reveal the true nature of the material used. 

the artist took note of the uncleanliness of the subway seats 

the signed name tag is inspired by marcel duchamp

details of the seat’s flush mechanism

close up of the urinal

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynn chaya | designboom