Raindrop

Raindrop is based on an experiment at the University of Manchester in the early 1970s performed by C. P. R Saunders and B. S. Wong. This installation, developed from Saunders and Wong’s research paper is positioned as a continuation and development from their original work.

The machine was developed over a two year long process of experimentation, from the moment Saunders gave McClymont a copy of the research paper and the artist subsequently visited the laboratory in Manchester. Raindrop is a unique machine, using the same principle as the original experiment. The installation includes a human who must replace the drop as it evaporates, injecting a new drop into the machine with a syringe.

Each drop exists in free-fall for up to an hour, falling and behaving exactly like a real raindrop. The machine blows air upwards and captures the drop in a vertical wind tunnel, standing beside it you are allowed to witness a singular raindrop falling continuously beside you.

"Raindrop comprises a machine built to allow a drop of water to hover in mid air. Viewing this translucent, jewel-like object instils a very bodily sense of unease. Arrested in free-fall, its form mechanically maintained in a seeming repudiation of basic physics, the stationary raindrop throws us off balance, making us feel as though we were plummeting to the ground in its place."
Tom Morton

• https://www.alistairmcclymont.com/