Random International
Open-knowledge reference entry
Random International is a London-based art collective and collaborative studio, founded in 2005. The group shot to prominence with its interactive Rain Room art installation. Its work includes sculpture, performance and large-scale architectural installations. Two of its exhibition pieces have now become permanent installations, the first of which was the critically acclaimed and popular Rain Room, now permanently housed in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The group was founded in 2005 by German artists Hannes Koch and Florian Ortkrass. Ortkrass graduated from the Royal College of Art in London in 2005, while Koch graduated in 2004. Its experimentation with digital technologies has led to collaborations with Harvard roboticists on creating 'point studies' that reduce representation of the human form in motion into 15 light points, as well as with architects to create large scale public displays that include covering a German train station with LED lights.
Rain Room
Rain Room, now installed in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, was the first installation of a Random International project in a purpose-built, permanent structure. The work was previously shown at the Barbican, London (2012); MoMA, New York (2013); Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2015) and LACMA, Los Angeles (2015–2017). Rain Room allows visitors to the installation to walk through a downpour without getting wet.
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