Artists build house where it rains inside

Australian art/design collective The Glue Society built a house where it rains inside. Continuously. It reminds me of San Francisco's kitsch equivalent, The Tonga Room tiki bar in which there are regularly-scheduled rainstorms over the artificial lagoon. More photos over at Hi-Fructose. The Glue Society's "I Wish You Hadn't Asked"

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Antinous / Moderator

It reminds me of most of the places that I lived in SF. At least water from the ceiling is better than raccoon pee.
dculberson

Man, change the context and people get all pissy and moany about the stupidest stuff. If the exact same materials and resources were put into a non-house-shaped piece of art, would you be complaining the same? Then don’t complain about this. Sigh.
- Gulliver
  
  Man, change the context and people get all pissy and moany about the stupidest stuff.
  
  They’re just concern trolling, probably blowing off steam so they don’t go postal at work. Best not to feed them. Remember, if their misery colonizes you, they’re memetic disease wins.
- Slightly Askew
  
  Current estimate for the cost of the marble to carve Michaelangelo’s David is in excess of $30,000. That doesn’t even take into account the number of useful tools he could have carved in the amount of time take to create this waste of time and material.
Lilah

Possible inspiration?
http://www.viruscomix.com/page400.html
Bastard Sheep

Pfft, Sydney busses have been raining on the inside for years. I’ve had at least half a dozen bus trips where I’ve resorted to putting up my umbrella inside. Yes, seriously.
- halfacre
  
  At one time, there were some New York commuter trains that rained on the inside. A few inches of water would accumulate inside the train and slosh around on the floor, so you had to wait for the train to go around a corner (thus tilting and clearing the aisle of water) to walk to/from your seat. Once there you would put your feet up to stay dry.
  
  Now, THAT would be art.
Anonymous

The whole exhibition is great to see. It’s the Australian “Sculptures by the Sea” that you can only see in Sidney, Australia and Aarhus, Denmark.

If you are close to Denmark, it’s definitely worth a trip: http://www.sculpturebythesea.dk/en.aspx
romulusnr

Do they serve Raintinis at the Tonga room?

I wonder if they built houses like these in Seattle, would it upset the time-space continuum sufficiently such that it would STOP raining OUTSIDE?
kekko

Andrei Tarkovsky would’ve been very proud.
bjacques

I used to have a house like that.

I’ll get my coat.
Cory Doctorow

My oh my, I do miss the Tonga Room!
- forgeweld
  
  Amen. Any place where the drinks come in giant bowls with community straws is a treasure.
Anonymous

They could’ve just rented my apt. in Brooklyn. I’m moving out because it rains inside.
Anonymous

If I wanted it to rain inside all I’d have to do is let my dad near the stove.
Anonymous

Itâ€™s clever because it usually rains on the OUTSIDE, get it?
BookGuy

In college, we just called it home.

Although in our case, the rain paradoxically came in on the second floor, but not the third. But then again, the dead, frozen raccoon carcass also fell out from between the second and third floors, so it sort of all makes sense.
- Slightly Askew
  
  Any numbered tennis balls or rope with ribbon tied to it?
GardenPheenix

They built a house, to let it rot. Because yanno, it wouldn’t have benefited some homeless person. I’m all for art but waste doesn’t sit well.
Antinous / Moderator

For another positive rainy experience in SF, go to the tea house in the Japanese Tea Garden when it’s pouring. You’ll be the only customer, and you can sit and drink tea and watch the rain. Also great for sketching.
Chevan

Fuck yeah! I love mold!
bcsizemo

Nah you wouldn’t get much mold. At least not in areas where it’s continually getting wet.

Depending on what they made it out of it’ll probably last the month, but either way you are going to have to destroy it.

-I wonder if it has water reclaim capabilities? That seems even more wasteful.
codesuidae

Next up, a house that is always too cold or too hot, a house infested with malaria-laden mosquitoes, and a house containing numerous hungry carnivorous predators.

An interesting art project would be an opulent mansion where each room is an excellent example of indoor living, save one ever-present and overwhelming example of an outdoor element that is a reason we create indoor spaces.

An icy room, a sweltering room, a room full of thorns and burrs, a room of snakes, spiders and rodents, etc.
InsertFingerHere

Up North on our Native reserves, this is nothing new. In fact, in some houses, you can actually take a dump in the corner and no one minds.

Not joking, 4 solid walls and a sheet of plastic is a far, far better deal than what they’ve got now.
IronEdithKidd

The pic of the TP roll begs to differ with you. The inside of the furniture, the underside upholstered furniture and the bottom of the rugs will be absolute havens of nasty. I’m most flabbergasted that people are walking through this place *without* shoes.

*shivers with moldy heebie jeebies*
boo

Sorry, I just have to blow my nose.

Ain’t the pine trees wonderful?!
victorvodka

that’s about as useful and artistic as cosmetically-applied whiteheads (but who knows where body alteration will go with the youth of tomorrow)
Jupiter12

I used to own an old home that had a stone foundation and an unfinished basement. I frequently got stressed-out at the site of dampness in the corners of the basement after several days of heavy rain (even though it is common for old houses like that). The photos of the rain house got my heart beating a little faster, just like old times.
Anonymous

Mold.

Mildew.

Repeat.
Lobster

Rainstorm in your confused young child’s bedroom = Art.