Stephan Zirwes Focusing on the Privatisation of Public Pools

Pools is a series of photos that clearly illustrates the structure it calls its name, and draws attention to water wastage in the context of private and public pools, where lines, forms and patterns are emphasized.

When I saw the aerial photographs of pools at first time, thought that they are look like very well rendered plans. Maybe, it is not surprising for an architect to think like this, but these are photographs which are the result of both physical and intellectual efforts.

Stephan Zirwes started to work on Pools in 2015 and took pictures by helicopter a hundred of meters above the ground because privacy was important for him and he didn’t want to disturb people.

The main and strong idea of this work is related to waste of water. Zirwes realized increasing of private pools in US and South Africa. One of its reason was commercial exploitation and water was wasted as an entertainment tool. He emphasized the importance of water and instead of this kind of privatizations, defensed the public pools as a part of socio-cultural life.

During post production, he copied the pool tiles and put them to the background to create a frame and an atmosphere. After editing, these clear forms and aesthetic images apperead in two dimensionality.