Rainfall – Chris Welsby

1983
colour, 16mm, horizontal projection installation

“The potential of the installation as a sanctuary of peace binds the landscape to the mind via technology…” Chrissie Iles
The original version of Rainfall was commissioned by the Slow Dancer Film Co-op in 1983. It was a site specific work for a jail cell in an abandoned Liverpool Police Station.

The ceiling mounted projector, showers the space with rain drops. The installation evokes a prisoner’s reverie; an imaginary ceiling fracture, through which light and a shower of cooling rain might fall. It also represents a fracture in the despair and depression of Thatcher’s Britain, an inner vision of freedom from institutional incarceration of all sorts.
The revised version was exhibited in “Signs of the Times” which opened at the Museum of Modern Art Oxford and subsequently toured the UK and France. At that time curator, Chrissie Iles wrote,
“Chris Welsby has produced a substantial body of work in single screen film and installation. Like Hamish Fulton he does not touch the landscape directly; nature is allowed to direct the content of his films. In his installation Rainfall, an artificial timelessness, created by a vertically projected film loop of flowing rain, interrupts the unification of time achieved in the viewing of unedited film of the weather. The potential of the installation as a sanctuary of peace binds the landscape to the mind via technology, the interface between which forms the core of Welsby’s work. The installation’s purity is underlined by the illusion of nature remaining untouched by any theatrical use of physical materials other than film itself.”

Rainfall
Chris Welsby 1983
colour, 16mm, horizontal projection installation
The original medium for this work is film and it is now available both on film or as DVD.

Technical Requirements
• Projector: 8000 Lumens or better; Contrast ratio, 1800:1 or better; Resolution: 1024×768 pixels; Component inputs; Vertical and horizontal keystone correction.; Lens wide angle (1:1.3)
• For the film version substitute Eiki St-mo film projector or similar
• Sound: Good quality amp with EQ control and 4 speakers
• Mirror System: 2’6” x 2’ (5:4) Surface silver mirror mounted on 2mm board. (If unavailable use 2cm rear surfaced mirror.).
• Adjustable ceiling mount for the projector.
• Screen: Approx 10’ x 9’ 2mm MDF painted matt white with matt black edges.
• Plinth: (To raise the screen above floor level.) Approx H1’6” x W3’xL3’ MDF painted black
• Smoke gun.

Space Requirements
The space is quite flexible with a minimum size of about 20ftx20ft. It can even work well in a room with pillars. However the ceiling height is crucial. Depending on the projector lens, the projector needs to be one, to one and a half times higher than the width of the projection screen – as measured from the screen height, not the floor. The optimum size for the projection screen is about 10ft across (minimum 8ft across) Therefore the optimal ceiling height is roughly 18 feet.
The space needs total black out, walls painted black and a reasonable degree of sonic isolation.

Installation Notes
1. Mount projector horizontally, 1’ from the ceiling, on an adjustable ceiling bracket.
2. Mount mirror at 45 degrees on an adjustable ceiling bracket approximately 3’6’ from the projector. The lower edge of the mirror should line up with the bottom of the projector.
3. This size of the screen should be kept more or less proportional to the size of the room. Place the material for the screen horizontally on a supporting plinth. Line it up with the projection frame, mark and cut to correspond to the exact size of the projected image.
4. The measurements given are approximations as they depend on the focal length of the projector lens and the height of the ceiling. The exact measurements need to be determined empirically whilst following the sequence outlined above.
5. Mount the four speakers high up one in each corner of the room. The sound of rain drops should fill the room. NB. The alternative to the mirror system would be to find a projector which can be pointed vertically down without overheating
6. Fire a sufficient amount of smoke to make the projector beam visible.

Projection Notes
The work is really quite minimalist and, as a consequence needs to be installed very carefully. This is particularly true when using a mirror system. It is important that the projected image fits the screen exactly. Any ‘overspill’ onto the floor destroys the spatial illusion completely. (Likewise not filling the screen with the image.) This takes some careful geometry and fine-tuning during the install and needs to be monitored from time to time whilst the piece is running. Positioning of the mirror in relation to the projector and screen is crucial.

The mirror should be surface silvered to avoid double reflections and maintain a sharp image.