The grid: art at the deep end
In For One Solid Time, Wet: The Swimming Pool in the Imagination , an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts Le Locle (MBAL) in Switzerland, the swimming pool becomes a lens through which to examine the relationship between water, urban development, and the environment. Curated by Federica Chiocchetti, the museum’s former director, and writer Lou Stoppard, the exhibition brings together painting, sculpture, photography, and installation to explore the pool as a recurring motif in contemporary art. The presentation responds to Le Locle’s history, where urban expansion led to the disappearance of its namesake lake and the construction of public swimming pools, transforming a local story into a broader reflection on modernity, power, and humanity’s desire to control nature.
Ian Mwesiga’s Man standing by the pool 2 (2025) is on view in the exhibition, contributing to this exploration of the pool’s place in the contemporary imagination. Moving between nostalgia and ecological uncertainty, the show invites visitors to reconsider whether the pool can still embody happiness and escape amid an increasingly precarious environmental future.
