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The world’s most expensive public toilet, which cost $80,000 to build, was supposed to be a tourism drawcard, but now it’s at the center of a nasty court struggle.
The ‘Cistern Chapel,’ branded the ‘finest public toilet in Australia,’ was presented in Maryborough, Queensland, in May following two years of meticulous construction.
The town’s ‘Cistern Chapel Committee,’ however, is mired in a court struggle with Hungarian artist Akos Juhasz, who believes he has not gotten proper credit for his work, just weeks after it was opened.
Mr Juhasz, who painted the artworks that adorn the walls of the men’s and women’s areas, was left furious after he failed to feature in any TV interviews done by the media.
The ‘astonishing’ interest in the revamped toilet blocks included one piece done by the ABC, where the artist tasked with finishing the project stood in front of a piece from Mr Juhasz.
Despite the artist ‘making it clear’ he was not the person who painted it, that part was ‘edited out’, the committee said.
After seeing the ABC piece, Mr Juhasz and his wife took to Facebook to vent their frustrations.
‘My husband hadn’t even been invited to talk. He was not even mentioned. As if he would not exist. He just was the several artists from the community. No name, no face,’ Mr Juhasz’s wife Katalin wrote.
The Cistern Chapel Committee’s president Nancy Bates also took a starring role in much of the media coverage, doing interviews with Sunrise on Channel 7 and the ABC, speaking about her ‘vision’ to salvage the 120-year-old toilet.
Mr Juhasz is in the process of seeking legal advice to find out if there had been ‘an infringement of his moral rights’, The Guardian reported.
Mr Juhasz also claims he came up with the ‘entire universe’ of the toilet, an assertion that is disputed by the Cistern Chapel Committee and Ms Bates.
In a statement, the committee said it ‘regrets’ the response of Mr Juhasz and described his Facebook posts as ‘disturbing’.
‘All allegations of lies, robbery, violation of copyright, abuse, breaking of contract and corruption are baseless and defamatory of respected citizens of Maryborough who have worked voluntarily for two years to bring a unique and powerful tourist attraction to our city,’ it said.
‘Mr Juhasz did the artwork in the men’s and women’s areas of the precinct but he did not “create the universe of the Cistern Chapel alone”.
‘Many creative ideas, art and special effects came from the Maryborough community.’
The committee said its relationship with Mr Juhasz ‘became fractious’ and he had advised the town it would take him six months at most to paint the entire toilet block.
‘Long delays and increased costings ensued. The committee paid him above the original contracted price despite the parenting room not being done,’ it said.
Due to the delay in getting the toilets open, the committee said it was ‘under pressure’ to get them up and running and it did so ‘before promotional material, signage, rostering and other work was complete’.
Mr Juhasz is credited extensively in the promotional material that’s now gone out.
The Fraser Coast hopes to ‘reap millions of dollars’ from the revamped toilet block and the committee said it was ‘sad’ Mr Juhasz had not chosen to portray ‘himself positively’.
‘Promotion of the Cistern Chapel has only just begun,’ the committee said.
Mr Juhasz has lived in Australia for nine years after walking away from a ‘very wealthy family’ in Budapest.
‘I am not a street artist, I am a fine artist,’ he told The Guardian.
‘I do fine art as public art, and that means my artwork has always got a message, meanings and history.’