London Life # 1

The thing I love about living in London is the multitude of things going on. Coming from a small town in the North East coast of Scotland, all my youth was spent craving city life, so off to Glasgow I went in for a degree and lots of fun. 

Internship after internship in PR and Communications led me on to my Communications career path in London, in a job I love. My day is filled with writing and networking with people, two of my favourite hobbies, and my evenings spent making the most of living in central London. Twitter is my ultimate tool in finding out what is going on and without this, my London living experience wouldn't be half as varied as it currently is.

After a quick Twitter scout, I visited the Barbican near my work specifically to visit the Random International: Rain Room exhibition. As a huge fan of installation art, modern art was (ironically) my favourite subject during my History of Art studies. Artists such as Vito Acconci and Matthew Barney captivate me for their sheer madness and ingenuity so I'm always on the look out for any interesting conceptual and installation art exhibitions in London. 

Random International brought us the Rain Room in October of last year and is as the word describes - a rain room. A queue awaits to lead you down into a darkened room beneath the Barbican, anticipation building as to what lies below. Once you get passed the door you're led to what appears to be a soaking wet room. Then, albeit slightly frightened of getting soaking wet, you venture in and find - you don't get wet! This display in fact utilises clever technology to make it seem as if you were controlling the weather. After spending a few minutes in the 'rain' you're then led out as dry as you were when you entered the Barbican - if it wasn't raining already, which London does quite a lot. 

Random International are described by the Barbican website as "...known for their distinctive approach to digital-based contemporary art. Their experimental artworks come alive through audience interaction and staged performance." I found their work to be unique, interesting and very 'of this age'. We control our entire lives through technology so why not the weather?

I loved this display and fully recommend you all take a visit before it closes on 3rd March 2013.

Have you been to the Rain Room and if so did you enjoy it? Are there any other interactive art displays you've visited recently?