'World's most expensive toilet' opens for use and it's 18-karat solid gold - and you can try it

The work of art by Maurizio Cattelan is flushed with success as visitors line up to sit down on the bling bowl

13:27, 22 Sep 2016Updated 13:28, 22 Sep 2016

Is this the world's most expensive toilet?

Spending a penny just got much more expensive thanks to the unveiling of an 18-karat solid gold toilet.

The unusual throne is a work of art by Maurizio Cattelan, but the Italian has taken the unusual step of allowing viewers not only to witness the bowl - but also try it out for themselves.

The Guggenheim museum in New York is inviting visitors to the toilet entitled 'America', replacing a toilet in one of the museums public bathrooms on the fifth floor with a fully functional replica cast in solid gold.

Cattelan is often described as the art worlds resident prankster and provocateur.

The new work makes available to the public an extravagant luxury product seemingly intended for the wealthy one percent.

[18-karat gold toilet]

The 18karat gold toilet has been opened to the public at New York's Guggenheim Museum(Image: AP)

Its participatory nature, in which viewers are invited to make use of the fixture individually and privately, allows for an experience of unprecedented intimacy with an artwork.

[A fully functioning solid gold toilet]

The fully-functionining throne is a nod to Fountain by Marcel Duchamp(Image: Getty)

[A fully functioning solid gold toilet]

Visitors to the museum can use the loo on the fifth floor(Image: Getty)

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[A woman looks at a piece of work entitled 'Fountain' by Marcel Duchamp]

The 1917 piece of work entitled 'Fountain' by Marcel Duchamp(Image: Getty Images)

Cattelans toilet offers a wink to the excesses of the art market, and recalls Marcel Duchamp's famous work , 'Fountain', a 1917 sculpture of a urinal.

The artist also references Donald Trump with the artwork , adding that the Trump connection - bringing in the gilded excess of Trumps real-estate ventures and private residences - is another layer, but it shouldnt be the only one.

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