At the beginning of this month The Barbican in London opened a new installation; the Rain Room. Currently there is a wait of around two hours to enter, so it has been a great succes. When walking in the Rain Room visitors can control the rain in a way that allows them to walk through a downpoor without getting wet.

Cameras map the movement in the room and make sure the rain encloses, but does not touch the visitor. The Rain Room is more than an art installation though: it actually also functions as a psychological experiment. The makers have collaborated with cognitive scientist Philip Barnard in order to analyze the behavior of visitors as they experience the installation.

If you like this check out this other art project involving rain:

The Waterfall Swing

This project is an intelligent swingset made from mechanical waterjets (solenoids) that create a falling plane of water in the path of the swinger. Just as the swinger is about to reach the rainfall the water parts briefly so he/she does not get wet. Via Colossal.