leisurely disappointment

maybe the new york city art world has a weakness for work that utilizes the latest technology. you know, those cool installations that everyone talks about and wait in line for hours to see because only a few people are allowed at a time. the media and general word of mouth tend to fuel the hype. for example, doug wheeler's "immersive light environment" at david zwirner last year was given to me as an option for a review assignment. i already knew there would be a long wait, but i went anyway. seeing the line for myself, i said fuck it, i won't buy into this hype. when christian marclay's the clock premiered in chelsea for the first time, i went on one of the first few days of its opening, and there was little hype and no line. i enjoyed a few hours in a relatively empty room. i actually thought the work sort of interesting. then i heard about the long lines later, about its return to moma and the ridiculous wait there, and started to not like it so much.

but maybe by placing judgment on the work purely based on the hype and limited capacity, i miss out on some good ones.

so i decided to go see the rain room at moma by random international. i had a strong feeling this was going to be the kind of hype that i hate: all "cool" but little else. luckily for me, i had member privileges so i did not have to wait in line for very long, considering it was also a monday afternoon. very lucky, because i hated it.

i understand why people would find it worth their time to visit the room. the technology, at least theoretically, is very cool. heavy rain drops fall from a large square close to the ceiling but the water makes way for you when you enter. like moses.

don't we all imagine that happening? as a joke we might say, i wish that rain would not fall on me during a heavy storm. kind of like that cloud in a cartoon perpetually hovering over a depressed person, except an umbrella version of it.

how fitting for a narcissitic generation. the inconvenience of natural discomforts will not effect ME. 

how fitting for a generation obsessed with new technologies to enhance the comfort of our lifestyle so that we can focus on more important things. automatically flushing toilets, for example, spare us the trouble of having to push down on a lever, which may make our hands even more disgusting. voice commands on our mobile phones spare us the trouble of having to use our hands to write with a pen on paper. automatic doors spare us excessive physical exertion. you get the idea.

now rain that parts without our telling it to do so? how satisfying. probably even more so because the drops are so heavy.

it also helps that it's summer in nyc, when the heat can get suffocating just from the concrete. it also helps that, to help visitors shield themselves from the sun while waiting in line outside, they offer very black moma umbrellas to absorb even more heat. once you get into the room, of course it's refreshing. it's even better that the technology actually DOESN'T work very well so you do get rained on. hard.

i wore shitty sneakers, just in case i got wet, but wore a watch that may or may not be waterproof and a dryclean-only dress. well, i was very annoyed when i got poured on. it was safest to go where others were already standing, but the sensors are not sensitive or fast enough to keep you completely dry. to experience the "cool" effects, you have to get wet first, wait, then walk very very slowly. otherwise, good luck with your watch and cellphone.

aside from the refreshing and "cool" technological aspect of the room, the installation looks cool. there is an oppressively bright light at the back of the room, aiming straight toward the entrance where visitors must still wait their turns and watch others "have fun." the backlight effect makes those "experiencing" the work look holy, in a sense. you can only see silhouettes moving through the space with very long shadows stretching toward those watching in line. the splatter from the water hitting the ground also creates a mysterious mist / fog with the light, so the whole scene appears dream-like or otherworldly.

once inside the rain, the sight is infinitely disappointing and even vulgar. standing close to and facing away from the bright light, you get to see everything: the lame rain fall ("why the hell would i pay to stand in rain??") and a clear view of every visage in the room. the experience is kind of like conjuring fantasies of a handsome man you meet in a darkly lit bar, then seeing a very plain or ugly face outside under a streetlamp. or better yet, meeting him for an actual date next day when it's bright out, and you can't even recognize him.

maybe that is the point? the antithetical nature of such "new technology" installations and the hype that surrounds them. but i have the feeling that the work is not intentionally self-reflexive. the writing surrounding it seems to emphasize "experience" and the only experience i had was a feeling of annoyance from the "cool" technology not working properly.

moma seemed to have been experiencing problems with people staying way over their desginated limit of 10 minutes. i gladly gathered my things after 10. eager to leave the wet room, i approached the exit. when the guard opened the door for me, it was pouring outside too.

the weather forecast did not warn me about rain, so i had no umbrella. even more annoyed by my visit, for a second, i was convinced that the rain room brought actual rain. 

oh well. this might prevent me from going to another "cool" and limited capacity "immersive environment" for a long time.

but if anyone is still interested in visiting after reading this, the work is on view until july 28th at the museum of modern art.