Pootopia!

Kaz celebratiing with our hundredth contributor.

Design for the installation by Kim Williams

The Yours and Owls Green Team visit the VIPoo

Punters having fun queuing up to contribute their humanure

Cameron shows off the ShitCoin currency designed by John Causley

Participant trying out our luxury hand washing sink

Economist Amir Arjomandi with the Pootopia! manifesto at Yours and Owls festival

Economist Alfredo Paloyo discussing our incentive scheme with a participant

Visit the Pootopia! website.

Read about Pootopia! on the University of Wollongong website (October 2023).

Follow Pootopia! on instagram.

About the project:

Pootopia! brings together artists, engineers, economists and scientists to change public perceptions around human waste - from a problem to a resource - by exploring the benefits of using human excrement as fertiliser for sustainable food growth through art.

Pootopia! is a joint venture between artists Dr Lucas Ihlein and Dr Kim Williams, with fellow UOW researchers, including pathogen scientist Dr Bethany Hoye, engineer Professor Faisal Hai and economists Associate Professor Amir Arjomandi and Associate Professor Alfredo Paloyo. They are joined by art students Cameron Barnes and Kaz Zouain, and performance artist and UOW graduate Amber Jones.

Our first public event was the creation of a VIPoo - a bespoke composting toilet system for the Yours and Owls Festival in Wollongong, October 2023.

Our second event was the launch of the TURDIS - our hot pink portable composting toilet - at the Botanic Gardens in Wollongong - November 2024.

Here is a short video about our intervention at the festival:

Here is a short video about the launch of the TURDIS at the Wollongong Botanic Gardens:

(Video production by WayWard Films)