With the rains descending upon the Pacific Northwest and everyone settling in for the darker, wetter months of the year, I couldn’t help but recall an installation I saw at the Tate Modern in London almost exactly a year ago, on Halloween to be exact. The installation titled TH.2058 by Dominique Gonzales-Foerster explores a time 50 years in the future when the rains never stop in London and the people are forced to take shelter in the Turbine Hall of the art museum.

When approaching the entrance, the sound of heavy rain is heard and large text above explains the installation before moving through hanging strips of plastic and emerging in a room that feels anything but comfortable. The text explains:

“It has been raining for years now, not a day, not an hour without rain. This continual watering has had a strange effect on urban sculptures. They have started to grow like giant tropical plants, and becomes even more monumental. To stop this growth it has been decided to store them inside, among the hundreds of bunk beds which, night and day, receive refugees from the rain…Turbine Hall / 2058 / London”

Upon entering the room, the sounds of rain could be heard from the other side. At first there seem to be no sounds inside but then, venturing further in, a song can be heard playing from a casette player that lays on one of the bunks. The song is a bossa nova medley titled The 1958 Song by Art Lindsay. People moved about slowly and the sounds of creeking beds could be heard as people sat down and stood up, occasionally picking up the books that were scattered about the bunks. The books included such titles as Dead Cities, Fahrenheit 451, The Ware of the Worlds and The Drowned World to name but a few.

On the far wall, a huge screen played The Last Film, an assemblage of clips from several films of science fiction, experimental works and urban expectations with visuals flickering and flashing with an eerie Clockwork Orange feeling, but without the sounds of Ludwig van. Scenes were taken from such movies as, to name but a few, Zabriskie Point, Fahrenheit 451, Soylent Green, Repulsion and The Last Wave.

images (c) Lisa Town

The most dominating figures in the room are of course the oversized sculptures which, like the people, are also said to have taken shelter from the rain. The sculptures had grown to large versions of the themselves from the rain as if they were alive. They themselves seem to feel like shelter although unsettling. Lights frequently pierce the room and strange LED’s are found in a somewhat random pattern around the walls. The eerie feeling is enhanced by this odd sense of surveillance. As a viewer wandering through the installation, one can’t help but feel small and helpless in the strange world with no sense of what the future might hold.

Below is a video from Art Review that speaks with the artist regarding this installtion…

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