NOT JUST A BOX OF RAIN
Walking through rain can be a pain, or, if it’s gentle enough, it can be a beautiful, transformative experience. I can go “walking in the rain with the one I love” or shrug off the fact that “raindrops keep falling on my head.” Or I might want to “see you laughing in the purple rain.” I can really get into it sometimes. So, when “Rain Room” opened recently at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), it called to me.
Photo: Zennia
“Rain Room,” an environmental installation by rAndom International, gives you an entirely new experience with rain. Rain becomes art. And you become the artist. As you walk through this dark box of rain, you determine where it falls, as this ingenious digitally controlled downpour responds to the way you move. It keeps the rain falling all around you, but keeps you dry wherever you stroll. At the beginning of your path, you hear the sound of water, you feel the moisture hanging in the air, you sense that you are about to sense a dream.
Photo: Aimee Jingles
If you look at the list of materials used in making this experiential sculpture, you won’t find the typical citations of stone, wood, or metal. Instead, “Rain Room” is a 100 square meter construction made of: water, injection moulded tiles, solenoid valves, pressure regulators, custom software, 3D tracking cameras, steel beams, water management system, and grated floor. It doesn’t sound beautiful, but it truly is. rAndom International creates glory out of industrial materials combined with artificial intelligence, as their artworks and installations explore human interactions, often using light and movement. They are obsessed with creating complete immersion in unique environments. rAndom’s studio, located in a Chelsea, London warehouse, was founded by Stuart Wood, Florian Ortkrass, and Hannes Koch, in 2005.
Photo: Courtesy of Barbican Art Gallery
“Rain Room‘s conception was swift. We were coming up with ideas for dropping an image from
above, so each individual pixel would fall into place, using water on water-reactive ground.
Considering the structure that would need to be created for this to happen, we refined the idea
into something more immediate: making monumental rain through which you can walk without
getting wet,” as posted by rAndom in MOMA’s blog.
The Grateful Dead is in my head and their song won’t leave me now. “And it's just a box of rain, I don't know who put it there, Believe it if you need it, or leave it if you dare. And it's just a box of rain, or a ribbon for your hair; Such a long long time to be gone, and a short time to be there.”
Rain Room is on exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art from May 12 to July 28, 2013.
Rain Room at the Barbican, 2012 from rAndom International on Vimeo.
Box of Rain
Lyrics by Robert Hunter, Music by Phil Lesh
Look out of any window, any morning, any evening, any day.
Maybe the sun is shining, birds are singing,
No rain is falling from a heavy sky.
What do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?
For this is all a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago.
Walk out of any doorway, feel your way, feel your way like the day before.
Maybe you'll find direction,
Around some corner where it's been waiting to meet you.
What do you want me to do, to watch for you while you are sleeping?
The please don't be surprised when you find me dreaming too.
Look into any eyes you find by you, you can see clear to another day,
Maybe been seen before, through other eyes on other days while going home.
What do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?
It's all a dream we dreamed one afternoon, long ago.
Walk into splintered sunlight,
Inch your way through dead dreams to another land.
Maybe you're tired and broken,
Your tongue is twisted with words half spoken and thoughts unclear
What do you want me to do, to do for you to see you through?
A box of rain will ease the pain, and love will see you through.
Just a box of rain, wind and water
Believe it if you need it, if you don't, just pass it on
Sun and shower, wind and rain
In and out the window like a moth before a flame
And it's just a box of rain, I don't know who put it there,
Believe it if you need it, or leave it if you dare.
And it's just a box of rain, or a ribbon for your hair;
Such a long long time to be gone, and a short time to be there.
