Thursday Salute to Originals – The Thunderstorm Experience, No Umbrella Required

With all the rain and thunderstorms we’ve had here in Cleveland this summer, we’re all getting pretty tired of the soggy weather. But when our office came across this fascinating installation by modern artist Leigh Sachwitz that embodies the sensation of a thunderstorm sans the clouds and rain, we decided that perhaps we could weather just one more storm.

INSIDEOUT is an interactive exhibit that engages a viewer through enthralling visuals, and intense audible and spatial ques.  The exhibit, which takes place in a “house,” recreates the experience of sitting through a thunderstorm – the gentile beginning droplets, the wind blowing and intensifying, the climax of the storm’s fury, and the eventual passing and reemergence of the sun.  The house is representative of a “safe haven” that provides complete protection, but also allows the viewer to experience the storm as if they were sitting in an open field.

But words truly don’t do this installation justice; watch the clip below to see for yourself.

INSIDE OUT from flora&faunavisions on Vimeo.

Through the multitude of intense sensory activators, the viewer is fully enveloped in this faux storm.  For capturing the beauty and power at the heart of a squall in a wildly interactive forum, we salute Sachwitz and her distinctive interpretation of a storm. Let just say that if all the rainy days in Cleveland we’re like this exhibit, we might not mind keeping our umbrellas around a little while longer!