TOTEN. A lighting installation, an ode to rain

Abstract: In a society where people are always making plans and running in-between places, uncontrollable scenarios, such as rain, can be read as mere obstacles to the much acclaimed ‘routine’. With a strong appreciation for unexpected events, I instead want to propose a solution to make people approach rain in a more curious way, building for it a celebrative setting. A path of analysis, research, and experimental testing led to the design of a possible transformation of a rainwater harvesting system into a lighting installation. Considering the current climate change conditions, and the severe drought situations in some areas, rain has to be interpreted today not just as a poetic phenomenon, but also as a necessary and primary resource.  In TOTEN, daylight and artificial light are combined in a dynamic storyline, with the goal to emphasize the presence or the lack of rain and to make people gain insight about the rainfall trend. While an optical illusion and colors are asked to achieve a communicative and attractive condition, the structure wants to be clean and easily affordable. Reminiscent of a totemic sculpture, TOTEN appears, in the results, as a symbolic place where light and water use their liquid shapes to tell stories.