I was in London this week.
Had a couple of exciting meetings and sought out a few exciting "art" opportunities. Because if London's praises can be sung for one thing it's that there is never a shortage of stuff to go and see/do/explore.
On Wednesday I had a very good meeting with Michael Harris and Lauren Storr at Riverside Studio's, Hammersmith to discuss our application for Dr Frankenstein's Travelling Freakshow @ The Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Fringe 2013. So that's one opportunity already rearing it's palpable head.
On Thursday I tripped over to The Barbican to have a meeting with Emma Bettridge from Bristol Old Vic to discuss us working under their wing as part of the Ferment scheme, but the meeting came a cropper and I instead joined an hour-long-cue for Random International's The Rain Room.
What can I tell you about The Rain Room. It was pretty much what it said on the tin. A room in which it rained. It was cool, but I couldn't help feeling a little let down by my own ambitious expectation. For over an hour I cued for The Rain Room. Reading over the booklet I got proper excited when reading statements like...
"An awful lot happens without people being aware. They come to certain
conclusions and even perform actions without ever really, consciously
considering why. This is what forms both the impetus and the investigation
of the studios work. We experiment with this world of barely perceptible behaviour
and it's stimulation to explore human existence."
Random International 2012
I almost regretted reading this after experiencing what I experienced. Which was 5 minutes of not much more than just a bit of fun with some pretty cool technology. The spectacle was a little more grandeur than the actual experience in some way.
Basically the The Rain Room is an installation in which 5-8 people walk around/through/underneath/in. When approaching it all you can see is a wall of heavy rain, then as you approach the tech has sensors that know where you are and the rain parts for you as you step and walk through it dry as a bone. The noise is immense, like a waterfall indoors. When walking up to the rain through the long tall heavy set corridor of The Curve at The Barbican, me and my five random companions looked like we were walking in some sort of post-appocolyptic clearing zone. Lighting was incredible, and it looked like it came from a single source. Overall I felt the impressiveness of this experience, I appreciated how it made people feel. It made people play and smile and explore. I watched one older dude just stand in awe of this thing. I, on the other hand, felt underwhelmed. Maybe it was because I was a bit ill, or maybe it's because I'd built up so much this experience, maybe it was because I was on my own and really I was jealous of the Spanish girls pissing themselves laughing and taking photographs of one another. I don't know! But I'm writing about it, and it's not often I do that these days, and I'm still thinking about it, and it's not often that happens either. So what ever Random International's aim was, it's had some sort of effect on me.
Most of all I've been pondering what this experience would be like in Newport or even just somewhere in Wales. For me having this experience "for free" was very rewarding, but it was placed in quite a middle-class (quaffy) setting. Being a person who visits Art Spaces all the time you'd think I'd be used to it, but even I felt slightly intimidated by The Barbican... I don't know why, in some small part it didn't feel like a space for me. But upon reflection I know what I enjoyed most about the whole experience; The Spectacle.
As I watched the bearded dude stare up in awe at this awesome rain machine, the image was accompanied by the howls of laughter from the Spanish girls who curved, and crawled, and tiptoed and danced about in the cyborg-rain. I wondered, what would it be like for people who've never even imagined the possibility of rain indoors, people who've perhaps never visited an arts space even. What would it be like to watch them walk and play in this amazing-rain-machine? What experience would it harbour from someone who has no lead in blurb, no expectation, no wait in an hour long cue, but just gets thrust (willingly) into this incredible experience... I think it'd be (for want of a better word) profound.
I've decided. That's what I want us to do in Newport, and that's what I want us to do in MFI. An experience for nothing that makes me smile, laugh, dance, play and all that good stuff. The Happiness-Maker. What deeper effect does that have on us? Being aloud to play in public as adults, and as children in some respects.
Overall I think I loved Random International's The Rain Room for reasons I can't quite explain.
Awesome!
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