Fake Rain Room Gets Permanent Home
Handbags get knocked off, so why not art installations? A permanent—and unauthorized—installation of falling rain similar to the internationally acclaimed Rain Room created by the design collective Random International is being installed in Shanghai. The fake work opens this month as part of a new $15m attraction called Jiajiale Dream Park, in the city’s north-west. The theme park’s Magic Rain Zone will charge visitors around $6, according to the website ShanghaiWow. The
park will also include an optical illusion room that recalls Yayoi Kusama’s Dots Obsession installation of red-and-white inflatable sculptures, as well as the Japanese artist’s Infinity Rooms and a hall of mirrors depicting Van Gogh’s Starry Night, among other interactive offerings. Since an authentic version of Random International’s Rain Room was displayed at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai in late 2015, imitations have popped up across China. There were two in Shanghai when the real work was first seen in the city and further versions, often linked to property developments, have been displayed in Beijing, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Yinchuan and Xining.
