Interactive Art Research: Rain Room

‘Rain Room’ by Random International featured in the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2013. It makes use of a 100 square meter room full of falling water simulating rain, and 3D tracking cameras to capture the motion of the visitors passing through the room. By doing so would stop the ‘rain’ fall above that peticular area and create a pathway for them to cross.

The work replicates the sound and the smell of the rain, creating a sort of white noise that encompasses you along with the rain. It sort of reflects this relationship between human and nature, which is subsequently getting regulated with technology. How contrary it is that people would stand and simply contemplate in this artifical downpour vs fleeing the actual downpour.

What I find particularly interesting about this project is the artist statement of creating this room. They said that they had created the room with no preconceived idea of what kind of reaction they would draw from the audience experiencing their work. In a sense that unredictability of reaction itself becomes part of the artwork.

“DON’T RUN!” exclaimed a Museum of Modern Art press rep, as a young woman who had entered the field of falling water in Rain Room, 2012, began to take flight and was promptly soaked.

As quoted from artforum.com’s review of the work, after a guest had out ran the motion sensors, temporarily glitching the system and got drenched from the work not stopping the rain for her. It is amazing how this ‘carefully chereographed downpour’ still had the ability to instill that same instincts humans have in the faces of an actual downpour in some, however bring out a contemplative peace in others.

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