Did you manage to see the Octopi Belfast installation over the walkway from North Street into Writer's Square? If not, there were hundreds of knitted octopodes hanging from the roof, all brightly coloured with beady button eyes; Tommy’s mum actually knitted a few for it! So random, but it looked amazing!
Rainworks were created in Seattle by Peregrin Church. We first saw the ‘Rainwork’ video on Facebook and instantly fell in love with the whole concept. Belfast and Seattle have one thing in common: the rain. It’s one of those things that people love to moan about, but let’s face it; it’s going to rain whether we like it or not, so we may as well use it to our advantage right?!
So what exactly is a Rainwork I hear you cry? It involves using a magical concoction known as a superhydrophobic chemical to spray messages or designs on the ground, which only appear when it rains. The beauty about it is that it’s non-toxic and biodegradable, meaning it’s the perfect eco-friendly medium.
We could see the positive impact that Rainworks had on the people of Seattle, and could see the potential for the citizens of Belfast. We called up Dean and decided to make it happen.
First we had a brain storming session to decide what kind of messages we’d like to portray. We thought that using local Norn Iron slang such as ‘it’s bucketin' so it is’ and ‘get your coat, it’s lashin’ would go down well. We wanted to keep them fairly simple so that each passer-by could understand and relate to them. Check out the video below and see and see how they turned out!
Rainworks BelfastRainworks Belfast Arts & Business NI InkMonkey Belfast Culture Night Belfast
Posted by Visual Waste on Thursday, September 17, 2015
We’d like to say a huge thank you to Arts & Business for part-funding our Rainworks project, and a very special thank you to the wonderful lady from the Harbour Commission who loved our project so much that she wanted to help with the funding too! Without them it just wouldn’t have been possible.
A big thank you also goes to Inkie for keeping us in mind all year and bringing his awesome work to our little shop :)
And finally, a massive thanks to all of you lovely people who came down for a nosey and a natter on Culture Night, for taking our card, and for all of your likes and shares on Facebook. We really appreciate all the support! xx