Piss, Prague

Piss is a kinetic fountain: a pair of male figures sends streams into a shallow basin shaped like the Czech Republic. David Černý created the sculpture in 2004, and it stands in the courtyard outside the Franz Kafka Museum, in the former Hergetova brickworks. Each figure is 210 centimetres tall and faces its counterpart across the water.

Look at the engraved map beneath the surface: the basin follows the country’s outline, making the water itself part of the artwork. A mechanism moves the figures’ hips and raises their bronze anatomy so the streams form letters on the surface. The usual messages draw on nearby surroundings, but visitors can interrupt them by sending an SMS; the figures then reproduce that text in the water. The result is deliberately playful and startling: a working fountain that turns bodily movement into writing.