The Pool Show

An often-repeated claim is that swimming pools are democratic spaces in Australia — places where everyone can cool off and connect. But in Penrith, which in January 2020 was officially the hottest place on Earth, access to water is far from simple. The Pool Show dives into the local swimming pool in our art and collective imagination — not just as a site of leisure, but as one where social and cultural politics ripple beneath the surface. Who swims, who doesn’t, and how we behave in these spaces reveals much about who we are. Responding to the cultural, climatic and social realities of Western Sydney,

The Pool Show brings together new and existing artworks exploring Australia’s enduring fascination with swimming pools — from municipal aquatic centres to wild rivers and rock pools carved into the coast. Featuring artists such as Harold Cazneaux, David Hockney, Tracey Moffatt, Robert Campbell Jnr and Dennis Golding, the exhibition invites us to reconsider the mythology of the pool and imagine new meanings of “swimability” in the hottest part of Australia’s biggest city. The Pool Show is presented in collaboration with the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and with the generous support of TLE Electricals.

With: Ian Abdulla, Katerina Asistin, Marian Abboud & The Forked Tongue Storytellers Collective, Liam Benson, Robert Campbell Jnr, Mervyn Bishop, Harold Cazneaux, Max Dupain, Rennie Ellis, Ian Fairweather, Dennis Golding, Ludwig Hirschfield-Mack, David Hockney, Tracey Moffatt, David Capra, Ingeborg Tyssen, Jd Reforma and Wendy Sharpe.