The idea was to create a pool over an abyss: a deep cut in the base through which the water disappears. Yet with the water present one can still see the bottom of the pool, which consists of a cement bas-relief of plant forms, such as eucalyptus leaves, fungi, etc.
The dark color of the cement base allows the portico of the museum to be reflected in the water. The slit at the bottom causes the water to disappear and reappear. The water reflects everything taking place around it, the streets that cross the square, the tram, the passers-by who pause to wait for the moment when the water disappears and the bottom is revealed with all its shimmering puddles. Then they notice that the leaves seem to move, and other less obvious things, and they wait for the same thing to happen again,for the water to rise up like an overflowing, from the inside out.
The local people immediately made the fountain their own. It was as if it had always been there, they said. In summer, the children paddle in the small pools left behind when the wayer ebbs away and then wait for the tide to rise again.
