Happenings

So There’s a ‘Rain Room’ Exhibit Coming to LACMA and it Looks Totally Rad

July 11, 2015 by Brian Champlin

Need a new reason to visit the L.A. County Museum of Art this fall?

Well, here’s something that’s sure to create a splash.

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The “Rain Room” is the work of London-based art collective Random International and, more or less, allows exhibit goers to walk through a rain storm and experience all of the effects but without getting wet.

According to the creators, “The work was created to heighten awareness of people’s own presence in space.”

This heighted awareness is enabled by creating a, “…field of falling water through which it is possible to walk, trusting that a path can be navigated, without being drenched in the process. As you progress through the space the sound of water and a suggestion of moisture fill the air, before you are confronted by this carefully choreographed downpour that responds to your movements and presence.”

The installation at LACMA will have an area of about 2,500 square feet, allowing 20 to 22 people to visit at a time for 15-minute intervals. Five to seven people can walk through the simulated rain at once. Special sensors within the display detect your movements and ensure that water doesn’t fall within your area as you move through the space.

Heres’s a promo video via the Random International Vimeo channel (from a 2012 exhibition in London) and I must say, it looks pretty spectacular:

Rain Room has previously been on display at The Museum of Modern Art in New York and London’s Barbican Centre. Word from the LAist is that rain seekers in New York were willing to wait up to 8 hours to check out the installation.

So, yeah, expect some lines.

Rain Room will be on display at LACMA from November 1 until March 6. The cost will be a $15 upgrade from the museum’s standard admission price. Members and visitors 17 will be charged $10 with a general admission ticket in order to see the installation.

More info on tickets here.

And rest assured, drought-aware Angelenos, that the museum has made assurances to the public that the the water will be recycled through a “closed-loop system with minimal evaporation and replenishment.”

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036.

Enjoy!

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