If anyone remembers what was on the site of V&A Dundee before Kengo Kuma’s building broke ground, then a new hand-painted billboard, measuring 10 metres wide by 3.5 metres high, will prompt some happy memories.
The mural has been inspired by the original Olympia swimming pool, which stood here from 1974 until its demolition. It’s now the leisure centre at East Whale Lane.
Memories of coloured bands, the café, and those flumes that took daredevils out over the Tay – and were the largest in Europe – will flood back at the thought of that building.
It was created by the Cobolt Collective, who have also received international recognition for their mural on the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow, inspired by the Booker Prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart.
It’s part of the V&A’s Thinking Out Loud programme, which hopes to include people across the city in the search for what design means to them – and how it can be used to enrich all our lives.
To this end, Cobolt will be working with communities over the summer to co-design a second mural for the plaza outside the museum.
“When discussing potential ideas for this project, the Olympia swimming pool kept coming up in our conversations,” says Kat Loudon of Cobolt.
On a journey with the flume
She adds that the flume has also been used to represent the journey of communication that the Thinking Out Loud project is beginning.
“The woman in the top left corner shouting THINKING OUT LOUD into the flume references iconic constructivist Soviet propaganda posters,” adds Kat. “It also mirrors the action of the woman depicted in the original mural at the Olympia.”
The collective has pored over archive material to get a sense of what the old pool looked and felt like.
“The colour palette is from the bright and lively colours found in the images. The type design links to the use of tiles throughout the pool. We have added some other pool ephemera and a diverse mix of people in the water having fun.”
Grooving and painting
The team of three took five days to paint the billboard and said it was one of their favourite paint jobs to date.
“The architecture of the building is very impressive, with windows looking out to the water. It was warm and dry, which makes a change to our often cold and wet outdoor experiences. The tunes from the ‘Night Fever’ exhibition were a perfect soundtrack for our painting. We can’t wait to come back in the summer.”