A freshwater swimming pool in the middle of a central London construction site is the latest, and most ambitious, temporary work to be unveiled as part of the King’s Cross public arts programme. Conceived by the Slovenian artist and architect Marjetica Potrč and the Rotterdam-based design duo Ooze, Eva Pfannes and Sylvain Hartenberg, Of Soil and Water: King’s Cross Pond Club is due to open to visitors and swimmers on 22 May and remain in place for the next two years.
But numbers will be limited to ensure the survival of the delicate ecosystem in the chemical-free pool, which is cleaned by a system of aquatic plants and water filters. The work aims to “move from an abstract notion of sustainability to a way of experiencing the cycle of nature with our own bodies,” Pfannes says. Meanwhile, the raised elevation will allow swimmers to “see the city in becoming”—rubble, cranes and all. The installation follows several other environmental and community-based interventions by Potrč and Ooze, including a wind-powered lift at the Folkestone Triennial (The Wind Lift, 2014) and a swamp constructed in a polluted Brussels wasteland (Source de Friche, 2012).
The London pool is the last work in Relay, a three-year series commissioned by the independent curators Michael Pinsky and Stéphanie Delcroix to reflect the on-going regeneration of King’s Cross. The King's Cross Central Limited Partnership is due to announce the curators appointed to the second phase of the public arts programme later this year.