Following the announcement that the swimming pool?"one of Australia?s greatest cultural symbols?will form the foundation of the Australian Exhibition at the 2016 Venice Biennale, more information has been revealed about what will be presented.

Clovelly Bay enclosure, Clovelly, New South Wales. Image © Abdul Moeez

Following the announcement that the swimming pool?"one of Australia?s greatest cultural symbols?will form the foundation of the Australian Exhibition at the 2016 Venice Biennale, more information has been revealed about what will be presented.According to the organisers, "eight prominent cultural leaders from various fields have been selected to share their personal stories, using the device of the pool as a platform to explore the relationship between architecture and Australian cultural identity." These include Olympic swimmers Ian Thorpe and Shane Gould, environmentalist Tim Flannery, fashion designers Romance was Born, authors Christos Tsiolkas and Anna Funder, Indigenous art curator Hetti Perkins and musician Paul Kelly.
Bronte Pool, Bronte, New South Wales. Image © Jenna Rowe

"Each narrative", they continue, "touches on a different scale the scale of the body to the scale of the continent and together all reveal the myriad meanings and impacts of the pool on Australian society; as a means to enable survival in an unforgivi...