Anonymous Collective Installs Golden Toilet Sculpture Near Lincoln Memorial as Political Satire

An anonymous artist collective called The Secret Handshake installed a large golden toilet sculpture titled 'A Throne Fit for a King' near the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The three-meter-tall functional toilet appeared this week as a political statement targeting former President Donald Trump. The work references Trump's renovation of the bathroom adjacent to the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House, where he replaced Art Deco green tiles with sterile marble and added gold finishes to fixtures during a government shutdown. The collective, previously known for a sculpture depicting Trump with Jeffrey Epstein called 'Best Friends Forever,' described the installation as highlighting misplaced priorities amid national crises. The sculpture will remain on display for only a few days. The piece also references Maurizio Cattelan's 2016 work 'America,' a functional 18-karat gold toilet that attracted 100,000 visitors at New York's Guggenheim Museum. In 2017, when the Trump administration requested to borrow a van Gogh painting from the Guggenheim, the museum declined but offered to send Cattelan's toilet instead. This historical context adds layers to the Washington installation, transforming it into both satire and a mobile monument. The collective's statement ironically notes that the work serves as 'a bold reminder that the president isn't just a businessman—he's taking care of business.'