Light Rain
Islamic Arts Festival, Sharjah United Arab Emirates 2015
Light Rain is an immersive viewing experience combining light and sound to explore the visual potential of the plastic water bottle.
The ubiquitous water bottle made magical through the simple intervention of focussed light onto desert sand. This installation was created as a gift from a land of rain to a land of sun.
Light Rain evolved in response to Sharjah Art Foundation’s invitation to make a work especially for the Islamic Arts Festival 2015. Wood set out to use everyday materials that would speak to shared and different environmental experiences.
The large blue water bottles were sourced from supermarkets in Sharjah, the green bottles came from the UK. The small amount of water in each bottle intensifies and focuses the light from the integrated lighting. The sand was sourced direct from the desert on the outskirts of the urban city of Sharjah. An added element to the installation was the sound of an english rain shower gently fading in and out, created for the project by sound designer Simon Keep, UK.
As viewers entered and explored the space their movement caused the bottles to very gently sway creating slight ripples in the water contained within each bottle which then shimmered in the projected pattern image on the sand.
