Random International installs torrential rain in Barbican gallery
Latest work by young experimental practice invites brave visitors to enter downpour, without getting the slightest bit wet
Ever wondered how Moses felt as he divided the waters of the Red Sea?
Well, wonder no longer, as you too can now control the elements and part a deluge of torrential rain in the Barbican's Curve gallery. The latest work by a young experimental practice, Random International, Rain Room invites brave visitors to enter a hundred-square-metre downpour, without getting in the slightest bit wet.
Set on a raised plinth at the end of the dark, curving corridor space, powerfully backlit by a glaring spotlight, the perfectly rectangular chunk of rain appears transposed from a parallel place, with the precision of a carefully staged experiment.
As visitors step up on to the stage, these identical vertical lines of driving rain begin to be repelled, as if each body is giving off a kind of invisible magnetic field. As you step further in, the rain closes around you, enveloping each silhouetted figure in a perfect cylindrical void. It is a startlingly surreal experience.
The apparently simple trick is the result of a lengthy period of development, which came out of playing with large-format printing.
"We started three years ago, testing temporary 'printing' with water, spraying droplets from above, like a long-distance ink-jet printer," says Florian Ortkrass, who founded Random International with fellow Royal College of Art design graduates Stuart Wood and Hannes Koch in 2005.
"But we became much more interested in how people would react to the piece," he explains. "It's the same with all of our work: it doesn't make sense without anyone there."
Their first piece involving participation was Audience (2008), a disconcerting field of mirrors that eerily turned to follow visitors as they walked between them, making the viewer both the active agent and subject of the piece. Two years later, their Swarm installation translated the collective behaviour of a flock of birds into moving light. The sound of visitors stimulated the "collective consciousness" of a network of suspended LEDs, causing dynamic waves of light to ripple through the space.
The group treats each project as part of an ongoing process of research into the relationship between people and new intelligent technologies, and has been working with the cognitive scientist Philip Barnard to analyse people's behaviour.
"The best bit is watching what people do," says Ortkrass. "It's either totally crazy, or utterly banal, but never what we're expecting."
Behind the magic of each piece is a highly refined piece of technology. The Rain Room is controlled by a series of cameras that 3D-map the location of bodies on the plinth, translating this to a pixelated grid of 25cm x 25cm panels, each of which controls nine outlets – and a total of 2,500 litres of water, falling at a rate of 1,000 litres per minute, which is filtered, treated and recycled.
The piece will play host to performances choreographed by Wayne McGregor, with music scored by Max Richter, to be premiered during the Frieze Art Fair.
Well, wonder no longer, as you too can now control the elements and part a deluge of torrential rain in the Barbican's Curve gallery. The latest work by a young experimental practice, Random International, Rain Room invites brave visitors to enter a hundred-square-metre downpour, without getting in the slightest bit wet.
Set on a raised plinth at the end of the dark, curving corridor space, powerfully backlit by a glaring spotlight, the perfectly rectangular chunk of rain appears transposed from a parallel place, with the precision of a carefully staged experiment.
As visitors step up on to the stage, these identical vertical lines of driving rain begin to be repelled, as if each body is giving off a kind of invisible magnetic field. As you step further in, the rain closes around you, enveloping each silhouetted figure in a perfect cylindrical void. It is a startlingly surreal experience.
The apparently simple trick is the result of a lengthy period of development, which came out of playing with large-format printing.
"We started three years ago, testing temporary 'printing' with water, spraying droplets from above, like a long-distance ink-jet printer," says Florian Ortkrass, who founded Random International with fellow Royal College of Art design graduates Stuart Wood and Hannes Koch in 2005.
"But we became much more interested in how people would react to the piece," he explains. "It's the same with all of our work: it doesn't make sense without anyone there."
Their first piece involving participation was Audience (2008), a disconcerting field of mirrors that eerily turned to follow visitors as they walked between them, making the viewer both the active agent and subject of the piece. Two years later, their Swarm installation translated the collective behaviour of a flock of birds into moving light. The sound of visitors stimulated the "collective consciousness" of a network of suspended LEDs, causing dynamic waves of light to ripple through the space.
The group treats each project as part of an ongoing process of research into the relationship between people and new intelligent technologies, and has been working with the cognitive scientist Philip Barnard to analyse people's behaviour.
"The best bit is watching what people do," says Ortkrass. "It's either totally crazy, or utterly banal, but never what we're expecting."
Behind the magic of each piece is a highly refined piece of technology. The Rain Room is controlled by a series of cameras that 3D-map the location of bodies on the plinth, translating this to a pixelated grid of 25cm x 25cm panels, each of which controls nine outlets – and a total of 2,500 litres of water, falling at a rate of 1,000 litres per minute, which is filtered, treated and recycled.
The piece will play host to performances choreographed by Wayne McGregor, with music scored by Max Richter, to be premiered during the Frieze Art Fair.
國際中心／綜合報導
走在大雨中卻能不被淋濕，這違反常理、像夢境般的情境竟然真實上演；英國倫敦一個位於巴比肯藝術中心(barbican’s curve)的實境展覽，展出由《rAndom》公司所設計的「不會被淋濕」的室內人工造雨空間，長長隧道中嘩啦嘩啦下著傾盆大雨，但當參觀者走進時，卻 好像瞬間有隱形防護罩般能不被淋濕，相當神奇。
▲走在雨中卻能不被淋濕，令參觀者感到相當驚奇。(圖／取自designboom)
《rAndom》是一個專門研究人工造雨的機構，據了解，這個有趣的情境名為「下雨的房間」，大約30坪的空間經過相當精密的計算，在每個點線面都安裝了感應器，能夠偵測人體的移動範圍而控制雨水不要降下，隨著的行經路線而自動避開，讓參觀者能有相當驚奇的感受。
此外，這個實驗展覽也相當環保，房間內所使用的人造雨水，落下後的雨水會經由設計的回收管道回流，重複使用。策展人奧克瑞斯(Oak‧Reese) 表示，看人們對此的反應覺得相當有趣。這個展覽4日開展，直到2013年3月3日都會在倫敦巴比肯藝術中心(barbican’s curve)展出。
▲展中落下後的雨水會經由設計的回收管道回流重複使用(圖／取自designboom)
走在大雨中卻能不被淋濕，這違反常理、像夢境般的情境竟然真實上演；英國倫敦一個位於巴比肯藝術中心(barbican’s curve)的實境展覽，展出由《rAndom》公司所設計的「不會被淋濕」的室內人工造雨空間，長長隧道中嘩啦嘩啦下著傾盆大雨，但當參觀者走進時，卻 好像瞬間有隱形防護罩般能不被淋濕，相當神奇。
▲走在雨中卻能不被淋濕，令參觀者感到相當驚奇。(圖／取自designboom)
《rAndom》是一個專門研究人工造雨的機構，據了解，這個有趣的情境名為「下雨的房間」，大約30坪的空間經過相當精密的計算，在每個點線面都安裝了感應器，能夠偵測人體的移動範圍而控制雨水不要降下，隨著的行經路線而自動避開，讓參觀者能有相當驚奇的感受。
此外，這個實驗展覽也相當環保，房間內所使用的人造雨水，落下後的雨水會經由設計的回收管道回流，重複使用。策展人奧克瑞斯(Oak‧Reese) 表示，看人們對此的反應覺得相當有趣。這個展覽4日開展，直到2013年3月3日都會在倫敦巴比肯藝術中心(barbican’s curve)展出。
▲展中落下後的雨水會經由設計的回收管道回流重複使用(圖／取自designboom)
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