An impressive new installation has opened at London's Barbican arts center, allowing visitors to walk straight through a simulated rain storm without getting wet.  Created by the art studio Random International, the piece — titled Rain Room — uses a set of 3D cameras to detect people's positions, turning each of its individual rain streams on or off accordingly.  Covering an area of more than 1,000 square feet, it uses almost 220 gallons of water every minute, with the total supply being quickly filtered and re-circulated. 

Random International has a history of creating interactive projects — a piece called Audience in 2008 involved a set of dozens of mirrors which turned to follow visitors as they moved.  Speaking to the Press Association, artist Stuart Wood describes Rain Room as a "social experiment," and the collective has been known to work with neuroscientists to interpret the results of their creations, studying how audiences engage with the art.  Rain Room will run at the Barbican until March 4th, with special events involving music and performance taking place on November 18th, December 2nd, January 20th, and February 24th.