The past 3 years I’ve been working on a book about the Amsterdam pee curl called ‘Taking A Piss In Amsterdam‘. In the weekend of August 31st I will exhibit my work. Various photos of the urinal can be seen on the five pee curls in the Red Light District. Read more about the Amsterdam urinal and the exhibition.

Exhibition TAKING A PISS IN AMSTERDAM

The pee curl is a canal green urinal that can be found in and around Amsterdam since 1880. But the curl is slowly disappearing from the city street. With my book and exhibition I want to take the pee curl out of anonymity and show that the pee curl is more than a stinking urinal.

Various photos from the book will be on display during the open air exhibition in the Red Light District in the weekend of August 31st. There are no less than 5 curls on the Red Light District. You can find the photos there. Hopefully the photos will be on display the entire weekend, but the municipality may choose to remove them early. So don’t be late and come and have a look!

 

More than a stinky urinal

The pee curl was introduced in 1880 to prevent nuisance caused by wild urination. Working men urinated wherever and whenever they wanted, much to people’s annoyance. To this day, the pee curl has an important function.

But the pee curl stinks and that gives the urinal a negative image. Unjustified, I think. The pee curl has a history and a beautiful design. It is designed in the shape of the golden ratio, contains beautiful ornaments and the perforation at the top consists of clovers. While you urinate in the pee curl, you have a beautiful view of the streets of Amsterdam. The elegant floor with yellow tiles and a border of bricks completes it.

The pee curl was also an important part of the gay community. The curl was a popular location for cruising: seeking sexual contacts in the open air. Until the end of the 1980s, this was a thing. The removal of a pee curl was accompanied by a lot of protest from the gay community.

Buy the book, surprise your friends and family!

Three years of photography and research have resulted in the book Taking A Piss In Amsterdam. The book is full of photos that show the integration into the city streets and the interaction with different people. In addition to beautiful photography, the book contains fascinating information about the pee curl. History, design, sanitary sexism, cruising: it is all discussed. With the book I hope to change the negative image into a positive one. Instead of ‘geez, how dirty!’ I hope that we will soon say: ‘how nice, a pee curl’!

Don’t buy lame souvenirs! Buy the book full of urinals; the true Amsterdam experience. The book can be ordered via our shop, together with a set of postcards, calendar or bag.