The video essay is a combination of 12 short films concerning various forms of ”shit”. Furu exemplifies our relation to waste, dirt and shit, from a personal level on the one hand, to a social perspective on the other. The film gives a glimpse into a sewage treatment plant in Oslo, mapping a tomato seed threw the stomach and an astrophysicist tells about space waste. Some other elements of the short films consist of interviews with people having different experiences with their body waste, like having stomia and doing bowl cleaning.

 

12 Studies of Shit is unavoidable dealing with our society’s hysterical relationship to dirt as a non-existing phenomenon. In this way Furu shows our relation to waste, from the personal level to a social perspective.

 

As an important tool archaeologists examines waste to learn about our past cultures. By studying what kind of waste people threw away and what they have eaten the archaeologist obtain an idea about their lives. 12 studies of Shit is taking advantage of the same method by investigating what kind of information different forms of waste says about our culture. This facts comment the large consumption we are witness to and taking part in, and questioning what kind of standards we are building society on.