The Weather Project

Posted by: Eric Schaible

When viewing this installation piece in class, I couldn't help to understand the true meaning of it. From the outside, I just saw a big yellow ball that looked like the sun in the middle of the room. When I finally sat down to actually examine it and attempt to figure out its meaning, I realized that it was much more than that. From reading about the actual installation, I found out that there is actually a mist injected into the room at random points during the day to resemble fog and the environment and then disappears to the top of the room where the is a hole in the ceiling. Upon looking up, an observer sees a mirrored image of the floor. The picture above is actually looking down on the "sun". Observers are able to view the bulbs behind the circle if they stand directly below it.

Once I read a little more into the piece, I found that he was actually trying to mimic the world around us by creating another type of environment. He went to great lengths to not advertise this piece as a normal artist would for a gallery, but instead posed questions on taxis and flyers regarding the weather. It is said that one of the first discussions that people have is in regards to the weather, so he wanted to use these questions as his basis for marketing. I found this piece to be quite interesting once I was able to get a better understanding of the artist's perspective. I thought that by creating this new environment, one of the first reactions from visitors would be about the weather inside of it, and thus, completing what he set out to accomplish.