Weather and Art: Rain Room

Have you ever wanted to control the weather?  Rain Room, a large-scale interactive art installation at MoMA/PS1 in New York City, is offering a simulated experience.

Created by Random International, a London-based team of artists, Rain Room allows visitors to walk through an indoor downpour without getting wet.  The secret to staying dry is a combination of multiple 3-D sensors installed around the room and the motion of museum visitors themselves.  When the sensors detect the presence of a human body, they pause the precipitation in precise locations giving people the feeling that they control the rain.

The Rain Room is part of Expo1: New York, a multi-venue exhibition that explores challenging environmental issues.  According to MoMA’s website, Rain Room “invites visitors to explore the roles that science, technology, and human ingenuity can play in stabilizing our environment.”

Rain Room runs through July 28th.

rain-room-at-moma-2Image Credit: MoMA/Random International