In 2015, artist Patty Chang (1972) followed the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the longest aqueduct in the world, which brings water from southern to northern China. While walking, she collected her urine in plastic bottles, drinking their contents before refilling them, in turn drawing a connection between the large-scale infrastructural attempt to control the flow of water and the uncontrollable flows of her own body. Once back in Boston, Chang began making a series of portable urinary devices from discarded plastic bottles, which were then hand-blown in New York by glass-blower Amy Lemaire.

Designed by Sabo Day, this indexical publication is the first book dedicated to depicting the series of sixty-four sculptures in its entirety. It was published on the occasion of Patty Chang’s exhibition at A Tale of A Tub, which ran from September 14–November 3, 2024.

Produced on the occasion of Patty Chang: Glass Urinary Devices at A Tale of A Tub, Rotterdam, 14 September – 3 November, 2024. In 2015, American artist Patty Chang followed the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the longest aqueduct in the world, which brings water from southern to northern China. While walking, she collected her urine in discarded plastic bottles found along the way, drawing a connection between the large-scale infrastructural attempt to control the flow of water and the uncontrollable flows of her own body. Once back in Boston, Chang made a series of hand-blown glass sculptures modelled on the plastic bottles that she utilised during her journey. For Chang’s exhibition at A Tale of A Tub, a collection of these prosthetic-like sculptures will be presented on the ground floor, reflecting on the flow of water that once passed through the former washhouse alongside Chang’s own ruminations on water as a metaphorical point of departure for geopolitics, human excess and waste.