Review: Rain Room St Kilda

The Rain Room by Random Interactive is an expansive interactive art piece that combines art, technology, and nature.

This immersive experience, first introduced to Australia in August 2019 as part of Jackalope Hotel’s art collection, features a 100 square meter continuous rainfall where visitors can interact with and move through the rain.

I’ve wanted to visit the installation, having missed out on the first two seasons it was in Melbourne. I went with an 11 year old and a 17 year old as a summer school holiday outing.

Positioned in a specially designed pavilion in St Kilda, Rain Room has gained global acclaim, previously exhibited in renowned institutions such as The Barbican in London, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the LACMA in Los Angeles. To date, more than 750,000 people worldwide have experienced this unique installation.

The experience is by timed entry. You wait your turn to enter what is a black room with a light at one end. The tiled floors contain sensors that will direct the rainfall from above. It is possible to walk through the whole thing without getting wet. But if you move too quickly, you’ll get caught in the “rain”.

As an art installation, it’s quite impressive. But as far as an immersive experience goes, I don’t think it was value money as a family outing – especially in the current cost of living crisis. A family ticket for 2 adults and 2 kids will set you back $90, and then you’ll be in and out in around 10 minutes.

Prepare to be sorely disappointed if you think your phone camera will capture some of the amazing shots of this you see on insta.I failed to capture anything remotely useful on my camera – it was a blur of low-light, mopey teens who were wet and unhappy and other people ambling into my shot in the background.

Good to see, but definitely a “I’ve done this once and don’t need to do it again” kind of deal. We made the most of the Black Star Pastry collaboration (there’s a bakery outside the pavilion) while we were there and had some of the limited edition “rain cake” which for me was the highlight of the outing.