by Hannes Koch and Florian Ortkrass of Random International
Rain Room allows visitors to the installation to walk through a downpour without getting wet. Motion sensors detect visitors' movements as they navigate through the darkened space, becoming "performers in this intersection of art, technology and nature".
This site-specific sound and light installation uses 2,500 liters of self-cleaning recycled water, controlled through a system of 3D tracking cameras placed around the ceiling. The cameras detect a visitor's movement and signal groups of the water nozzles in the ceiling, stopping the flow of water in a roughly six-foot radius around the person.
I have not experienced this installation, but I think this concept is surreal and brilliant. In daily life, rain is out of people's control. They cannot help but get rained on unless They do not have an umbrella. I reckon this experience gives participants the power to control rain. Moreover, I also think it is many people's wish or fantasy; to walk through the rain without an umbrella. Of course, it is not hard, but it is also not easy to do. Users would feel powerful and free in the Rain Room.