A shower curtain that kicks you out after 4 minutes. This is the future.
We all, from time to time, enjoy a leisurely break in the shower. But with water a finite and often scarce (especially in states like California right now) resource, being mindful of how much water we use is crucial. Some recommend showering for just four minutes, which may seem short but actually allows enough time to get nice and clean. So how’s a gal supposed to keep her shower-time in check? Artist and educated Elisabeth Buecher has an idea.
“I looked at the environmental issue of excessive water consumption,” she shares on her website. “I designed a series of water-saving shower curtains which inflate after four minutes spent under the water, taking over the space and discouraging long water-wasting showers.”
Her “Spiky” curtain looks like a nifty shower curtain, with brightly colored tentacles hanging from it. But if you get too comfortable in the shower, and spend more than four minutes soaping up, those tentacles fill with air and turn into (soft) spikes that force you out of the water.
“These curtains are not really for marketing but aim at provoking a debate around water issues,” Buecher told Mochi Magazine. “If you don’t want to get trapped you have to get out before it does and stop damaging the environment.”
But that’s not the only one she designed. She also made Trap, which slowly inflates around you as you shower, trapping you if you stick around too long.
Too bad these curtains aren’t for sale for daily use. They are currently housed in museums and as part of private collections — hey, Buecher is an artist, not a shower curtain manufacturer. But she did invent a brilliant (and hilarious) way of getting us all to think about how much time we’re spending in the shower, and the impact that time has on the environment. That said, I’m glad my shower can’t fight back just yet.
(Images via Bored Panda/Elisabeth Buecher)
Related:
We need to talk about the California drought
Here’s how often we really need to shower, according to science
