The doors closed today (4 January) on the Rain Room at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai, with around 200,000 visitors enjoying the immersive art experience by the design collective Random International. The drip-dry installation, sponsored in Shanghai by Volkswagen Group China, allows you to walk into a downpour without getting wet, thanks to motion sensors in the ceiling. Shanghai has been gripped by Rain Room fever. A day before it made its Asia debut at the museum on 29 August, a gaudy knock-off “Rain Show” opened in a downtown luxury mall. Meanwhile, this behemoth shows no sign of slowing down: the sopping wet phenomenon is also resonating with visitors at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (until 6 March). And an edition of the Rain Room is to go on permanent display in Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates. A 3,300 sq. ft building for the installation is under construction and is expected to open in autumn 2017.
