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'Rain Room' excites senses in downpour

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London-based art collective Random International presents immersive installation
London-based art collective Random International presents immersive installation "Rain Room" for the first time in Korea at the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan through Jan. 27, 2020. Courtesy of MoCA Busan

Random International's immersive installation arrives in Busan

By Kwon Mee-yoo

BUSAN ― When you search #rainroom on photo sharing social networking service Instagram, you will find over 60,000 posts of people standing in the rain. What's surprising is that they do not get wet.

This is "Rain Room," created by Random International, where visitors take steps into a downpour of continuous rain without getting wet.

"Random International: Out of Control" held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Busan (MoCA Busan) brings one of the world's most Instagram-worthy art pieces to Korea for the first time.

Founded in 2005, Random International, which defines itself as a collaborative studio for experimental practice within contemporary art, consists of Hannes Koch and Florian Ortkrass. They are best known for the Rain Room, which delivers their experiment on the "human condition in an increasingly mechanized world through emotional yet physically intense experiences."

Ortkrass, one of the founders of the London-based art collective, visited Busan on the occasion of their first exhibition in Korea.

Known for its photogenic presence, the Rain Room is one of the most popular artworks on Instagram. However, it has more layers of significance beyond its Instgram-worthy experience.

It took years for the art collective to develop the now world-famous installation. Ortkrass said the Rain Room was one of those projects that began with a five-second idea.

"But it took four years to complete the first prototype. I would not have not have done it by myself," Ortkrass said.

Florian Ortkrass of Random International
Florian Ortkrass of Random International

According to Ortkrass, the idea for Rain Room began from dripping materials.

"It started from where we would drop matter from a height to create imagery. In the process of working on this, we thought what if we can actually be part of the process," Ortkrass explained.

As they experimented and made progress on the project, the matter changed from ink or paint to water.

"From then on, what we developed is what Rain Room is now," he said.

The idea began from personal curiosity, but it became an international hit.

"It has been a lot of work, but we had to create the object to see how it feels. It came from something for us. When we finished first set up at Barbican in 2012, we thought maybe it is just interesting for us. We did not expect popularity when the Rain Room debuted," Ortkrass said.

Inside the Rain Room, visitors can control the rain at the same time as rain controls them.

"It is related to how we as humans function. We think of ourselves as rational beings, but end up being emotional. Most of the time, we can convince ourselves that we are in control, but in reality I think we all are out of control," Ortkrass said.

Despite the Rain Room's popularity on Instagram, Ortkrass believes that it shouldn't pull the focus from the experience itself.

"I think it's one thing Instagramming a piece of art, and then I hope that you experience it yourself rather than through a screen. I think if you're somewhere and the only thing you think of is to get the best picture to put on Instagram, then one misses quite a lot," Ortkrass once told the Architectural Digest.

"For us, it is important to ideally for everyone to encounter this without preconceptions. We don't stipulate, but we give space for thinking," Ortkrass said. "In the beginning, it was more about how we get used to an artificial environment and how we change the world around us while the world changes us. If we can start discourse, we have succeeded."

Another work "Algorithmic Swarm Study/1," which simulates the flocking behavior of swarming organisms such as birds and fish, is being exhibited along with Rain Room.

The exhibit runs through Jan. 27, 2020. Advance reservation is required for entry to the Rain Room. For more information, visit www.busan.go.kr/moca.


Kwon Mee-yoo meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr


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