I chose to use this site for my artwork because it was such a generic representation of an 'empty site', so I felt I could work with the contextual assumptions of this site to my advantage.
I considered the element of negative space that the empty pool represented - perhaps filling the pool would be enough to change the site considerably, but with what?
Also, how does the empty pool interact with the environment around it. Does it 'fit' better in the vacant block in it's empty state?
I set out to alter the pool's surroundings in order to give the pool the centre stage and highlight it's 'emptiness'.
By replacing the land surrounding the pool with water, it becomes instantly unrecognisable as a pool. Because, to us, a pool is either filled with water, or awaiting it's filling (as is seen in the original image), the water which surrounds the empty pool is more obvious than the 'intended' water which is represented by the empty volume, creating confusion as well as interest in the observer.
I then decided to further strengthen this this role-reversal between the empty pool and it's surroundings.
By filling the pool with 'land', it loses all identity as a pool - the land becomes pool, and the pool becomes land.
So, in order to retain some of the pool's original 'pool-ness' I included a diving board and ladder, items which with we associate together as a singular entity (a pool) rather than considering them each as individual objects, although they obviously are individual objects.
An anti-pool.
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