POOL SWEEP
Proposal for a Polluted River
2004
A kidney-shaped pool rim floats in an eddy of the Housatonic River. The pool has no bottom; the river fills it. Inside this enclosure, an animated buoy chugs about, trailing strings of floats like a jellyfish. This busy creature is an Arneson pool sweep, an automatic swimming pool cleaner popular in the 1980s. Its mysterious and comic activities include chattering, blowing bubbles and changing direction when it bumps the rim. This charming scene of industry amidst leisure is powered by a water hose. The machine diligently cleans its little bailiwick, ignoring the toxic mud beneath. Looking twice, we may notice that the segmented pool rim looks like the boom around an oil spill. Which is cleaner, the pool or the river?
POOL SWEEP
Proposal for a Polluted River
2004
A kidney-shaped pool rim floats in an eddy of the Housatonic River. The pool has no bottom; the river fills it. Inside this enclosure, an animated buoy chugs about, trailing strings of floats like a jellyfish. This busy creature is an Arneson pool sweep, an automatic swimming pool cleaner popular in the 1980s. Its mysterious and comic activities include chattering, blowing bubbles and changing direction when it bumps the rim. This charming scene of industry amidst leisure is powered by a water hose. The machine diligently cleans its little bailiwick, ignoring the toxic mud beneath. Looking twice, we may notice that the segmented pool rim looks like the boom around an oil spill. Which is cleaner, the pool or the river?