It may have been nearly 100 years ago that Marcel Duchamp shocked the art world with Fountain (1917), his Readymade sculpture repurposing a urinal, but in El Paso County, Colorado, at least, a toilet is still not accepted as art.

As reported by KRDO news channel 13, a family has been ordered to remove two toilets and a sink hanging from a tree in their yard after their next-door neighbor complained to county Code Enforcement. The toilets were found to be in violation of a rubbish ordinance meant to prevent the accumulation of trash within the county, which “can result in visual blight [and] ‘attractive nuisances.'”

Toilet art ruled rubbish in El Paso Colorado. Photo: courtesy KRDO News Channel 13.

The homeowners, for their part, say that the toilets are art and were going to be used as a bird feeder. While they have agreed to comply with Code Enforcement’s decision, and take the installation down, they hope to come to an agreement with the county that will allow them to keep the commodes somewhere on the property.

Sarah Cascone