This bus was converted into a public swimming pool in France
Most broken-down vehicles end up in a junkyard — not this retro French bus.
It’s getting a second life as a quirky swimming pool.
Artist Benedetto Bufalino, whose work often involves turning vehicles into whimsical water installations, gutted an old charter bus, removing the seats, flooring and side panels. Tipped on its side, the bus was fitted with a custom liner so that the basin could hold water. The finished pool measures almost 30 feet long and 8 feet wide, with the capacity for 10 swimmers at a time.
The surreal installation, located in Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin, A UNESCO World Heritage site, is part of a local arts program called “Odyssée Euralens,” which the town hopes will attract tourists to the area.
The pool, which opened in August, will be moved to three more sites before it finds a permanent home.
Bufalino’s water-themed art has appeared all over Europe: For the Tate Modern, he filled an iconic British red telephone booth with water to create a real aquarium, and gave the same treatment to the operator cab of a small Caterpillar excavator, filled with dozens of colorful fish, for the Aquarium de Paris Cinéaqua.
He installed a pizza oven inside a car in Normandy, France, last year, set up a fry station inside of a Fiat Coupé and converted a cement truck into a giant mobile disco ball. He’s also created tubs out of a mobile home and Spanish mini-car, the Seat Ibiza.
In an interview with DW Euromaxx last year, Bufalino said, “Society is completely controlled by rules. Everyone works from morning to evening, takes the subway or drives. Everything is regulated. I love to question these things and see what I can reinvent.”