![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/d66s2c55/production/5700fc81f3324fba86f2d74eaca83017c8ffa119-3000x2000.jpg?w=3000&h=2000&auto=format)
Raindrop
2013
Raindrop is based on an experiment at the University of Manchester in the early 1970s performed by C. P. R Saunders and B. S. Wong. This installation, developed from Saunders and Wong’s research paper is positioned as a continuation and development from their original work.
The machine was developed over a two year long process of experimentation, from the moment Saunders gave McClymont a copy of the research paper and the artist subsequently visited the laboratory in Manchester. Raindrop is a unique machine, using the same principle as the original experiment. The installation includes a human who must replace the drop as it evaporates, injecting a new drop into the machine with a syringe.
Each drop exists in free-fall for up to an hour, falling and behaving exactly like a real raindrop. The machine blows air upwards and captures the drop in a vertical wind tunnel, standing beside it you are allowed to witness a singular raindrop falling continuously beside you.
"Raindrop comprises a machine built to allow a drop of water to hover in mid air. Viewing this translucent, jewel-like object instils a very bodily sense of unease. Arrested in free-fall, its form mechanically maintained in a seeming repudiation of basic physics, the stationary raindrop throws us off balance, making us feel as though we were plummeting to the ground in its place."
Tom Morton
![Raindrop installation at CAM Raleigh, USA](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/d66s2c55/production/b8d6ea0b7feb760b6ec340457683024a9f13dee0-1280x1238.jpg?w=1280&h=1238&auto=format)
![Raindrop installation detail](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/d66s2c55/production/8f56ef726f1b89d055ca5010f734c6bd9ad3184c-1280x853.jpg?w=1280&h=853&auto=format)
![Raindrop, installation detail](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/d66s2c55/production/29f04b64f14dac6b6ed2fb7b9272c590fcd739dc-2928x2000.jpg?w=2928&h=2000&auto=format)
![Raindrop installation detail](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/d66s2c55/production/148532df96524533de5dfd9601b93deeb816db3c-2892x2000.jpg?w=2892&h=2000&auto=format)
![water drop within the Raindrop installation](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/d66s2c55/production/c34040f2333d7468ba19234dd2dfe9deb711a6b0-1280x853.jpg?w=1280&h=853&auto=format)
![water drop within the Raindrop installation](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/d66s2c55/production/9efbf127ba0c697f6f29fe56d6ff6e4374fdacf0-1280x853.jpg?w=1280&h=853&auto=format)