Pentagonal Pool

The last two decades have been Interesting Times for British universities. In the 1960s and 70s pressure for change came from below, from students, which the universities more or less absorbed. Since the 1980s, however, pressure for change has come from above, from government, and has resulted in permanent revolution. Inevitably, the very nature and purpose of higher education have come under scrutiny (some would say under threat), and this climate of turbulence and self-examination formed the background to my solitary lunchtime walks along a neglected stream running through the heart of one British university campus. Against this constant flow of change the Pentagonal Pool has served as a personal still point and scrying pool. I have tried to make use of the limited, repetitive visual repertoire of elements offered by the pool to produce a patterned series of variations, exploring and reinforcing the layered “same differences” that only long familiarity with a single place can reveal.