Random International’s Rain Room
Have you ever wished you could control the weather?
Random International, a multimedia artist collective studio in London, is known for their sensational participatory works. As in many of their past projects,Rain Room relies on audience participation and serves as a platform to explore and research the behaviours of its viewers.
In this ambitious project, installed now at the Barbican Centre in London, viewers progress through a one hundred square metre of falling water, and in the process attempt to avoid being drenched. The project is a meticulously choreographed downpour that responds to the movements of the viewer, making it entirely possible to control the rain.
Rain Room therefore not only encourages its audience to become participants, but also invites them to contemplate how technology alters our environment, ultimately questioning the role humans play in its alteration. It provides an instance where the forces beyond human control (i.e.: the weather) are manipulated by human activity.
For more information about Rain Room and Random International, please visit the Barbican Centre’s website.
