Make It Rain
MAKE IT RAIN
2014
aluminized Mylar sailcloth, steel, plywood, steam fittings and temperature gauge, inflatables, LED lighting, insulation
27 x 2.5 x 2.5 feet
Vancouver, BC, Canada
I am invisible, understand, simply because people re- fuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see some- times in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination — indeed, everything and anything except me. — Ralph Ellison. Invisible Man. Random House, 1952.
The site is the volume of air above the base of Vancouver’s Gastown steam clock. At the time of our installation, the clock was only 37 years old, a fact belied by its Victorian appearance. This tourist spot trades on a narrow view of history: on the hour, people revel in fabricated mythologies of heritage, origin, and ownership of place.
While the clock was away for repairs, we placed a new figure in this ground. The obelisk is a vulnerable body of seemingly immaterial parts: steam, a perforated aluminized Mylar skin, and an inflated pudgy interior. Commissioned by local business owners, the triple meaning of its title references “Raincouver’s” climate, the billowing steam emanating from its skin, and the income generated by sites capitalizing on these histories. Smoke and mirrors cast long shadows here.
by
Jennifer Newsom and Tom Carruthers
with
Engineering: Clayton Binkley of ARUP Seattle
Steam fitting: Shane Blackmon of BC Mechanical
Steam supplier: Creative Energy
Fabrication and installation: Elia Kirby of Great Northern Way Scene Shop
Fabrication: Dan Elliott of Feathercraft, Jason Fanjoy of Evolution Sails, Tom Davis of North Sails
Photography: Andrew Latreille
Film: Jevan Crittenden & Nate Slaco of Odette Visual