CIRCULAR FLOWS

The contribution CIRCULAR FLOWS: The Toilet Revolution! funded by the Federal Chancellery and commissioned by the MAK, convinced even among contributions from 22 countries. The Austrian contribution received the Silver Black Bee Award. EOOS convinced the jury with a direct reference to this year’s Triennale motto Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, which was achieved in the Austrian pavilion.

It is one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time and yet largely unknown: The pollution of our waters by nitrogen. The renowned Viennese design studio EOOS has developed the revolutionary prototype of a toilet for urine separation (urine trap), which offers a systemic design solution to fight the global nitrogen problem.

The official Austrian contribution to the XXII. Triennale di Milano 2019 Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival (triennale.org, brokennature.org, 1 March – 1 September 2019) presents the urine trap in a flush toilet developed together with the Swiss ceramics manufacturer LAUFEN, and embedded in a multimedia installation (by Process Studio, Vienna, with a light display by Zumtobel) that illustrates the ecological interaction of coastal waters, sewage systems and agriculture. The EOOS exhibition shows the contribution the urine separation toilet can make to the repair of the nitrogen cycle and thus to the preservation of the ecological boundaries of our planet.

The project is based on research by Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and EOOS is responsible for the design of the urine trap. As an internationally active design studio working for brands such as Adidas, Armani, bulthaup, Walter Knoll, LAUFEN, Herman Miller, Zumtobel, i.a., EOOS has been dedicated to projects in social and sustainable design since several years - most recently at the International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia 2016 or the VIENNA BIENNALE 2017. The official Austrian contribution to the XXII. Triennale di Milano 2019 was commissioned by MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna and financed by the Federal Chancellery of Austria.

More information on the XXII. Triennale di Milano 2019: triennale.org, brokennature.org


urinetrap.com
eoos.com

Commissioner
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, General Director and Artistic Director, MAK
 
Curator
Marlies Wirth, Curator Digital Culture and Design Collection, MAK 
 
Concept, Design, and Installation
EOOS
 
Animation and Graphic Design
Process Studio
 
Urine Trap Toilet
LAUFEN
 
Light Display
Zumtobel
 
 
Funding
Federal Chancellery of Austria
MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna
 
 
Support
Tove Larsen (Eawag – Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology)
Austrian Cultural Forum Milan
LAUFEN
Zumtobel