Random International Turn 30,000 Liters Of Water Into A Monumental Tower

Most people will be familiar with rAndom international's work from their Rain Room installation, which pulled in massive, eager crowds in both New York and London. With that installation the idea was to avoid getting wet while walking through a downpour, but a new piece from the trio is all about letting the water soak you right through.

Called Tower: Instant Structure for Schacht XII it was built for the German art and music festival Ruhrtriennale 2013. The monumental piece is a giant water tower that unleashes a torrent of water periodically so the droplets form an ephemeral liquid sculpture when they fall. Random international control the water, shaping it into a tower that people can run under to get soaked or steer well clear of if they want to remain dry.

The way it's built and controlled means the tower can appear and disappear in an instant, with the sudden arrival of the crashing water, and the fierce sound that comes with it, being part of the performance. It's built on a former industrial coal mine, Zollverein, now a World Heritage site which has millions of cubic meters of water pumped out of it to maintain the structural integrity of the region. The 30,000 liters of water cycled per minute in Tower: Instant Structure for Schacht XII is from the mines and turns the transparent liquid into a momentary structure, giving a "structural purpose" to an "otherwise chaotic element."

As rAndom International note:

Through the senses, Tower explores possibilities for engagement with, and access to, an historic, industrial space on a scale that had not originally been intended for human / social use. In sharp contrast to the solid and static architecture of Zeche Zollverein, the ‘simulated structure’ of Tower is transient, its watery presence a temporary spectre.

Photos: rAndom International

For more on rAndom International, watch our documentary on Rain Room below…

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