electric rainfall

2022

Format 1: 132 x 202 cm / 52 x 79.5 in, edition of 6 + 2 AP
Format 2: 67 x 102 cm / 26.3 in x 40.2, edition of 6 + 2 AP
Hybrid photography, archival pigment print, aludibond, diasec, custom-made wood/ aluminium frame

The extreme effects of climate change are now evident across the planet. Rising temperatures, heat waves, water scarcity. The desert regions of the United Arab Emirates are particularly threatened, especially in the summer months when they have to cope with great heat and enormous humidity. Temperatures between 40 and 50 degrees are now the norm, water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource, only about 70 liters of rainwater fall in Dubai per year and per square meter. To combat the heat waves, which are becoming ever stronger as a result of climate change, the Emirates, in cooperation with the University of Reading in England, have now developed a new "rain enhancement" technology to generate artificial rain using drones. These are catapulted into the air in search of clouds of the right temperature and humidity, and then emit an electric shock, a type of laser flash. The electrical charging of clouds results in cloud condensation or small water droplets being compressed into larger droplets. Once these are dense and heavy enough, they fall to earth as rain. In July 2021, the desert area in and around Dubai was hit by massive rain showers for the first time, apparently resulting from manipulated clouds.

The work "electric rainfall" visualizes the creation of artificial rain using electrical drone impulses. The 3-part composition consists of an extensive desert landscape, an urban skyline and dramatic cloud formations. The viewer's gaze glides over a sandy desert landscape whose undulating dunes are reminiscent of sea waves. The skyline of Dubai stretches out on the horizon, an artificial metropolis made of concrete, glass and steel. At the center of the composition is the 828 m high Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The pointed architecture draws the eye up into the cloudy sky. Shiny, small spherical objects fly through the gray clouds, which seem unnaturally compressed. The dramatic intensity of the cloud composition, from which a two-forked lightning bolt flashes in the middle, gives the viewer a premonition that it’s going to rain over the desert. All over the world, innovative solutions to the extreme effects of climate change are now being researched.
It remains open, however, as to what the later consequences of the manipulation of natural processes on earth could be.

Imprint

Personally liable:
Michael Najjar

Design concept & coding: Matthias Hübner, possible.is
with support by Marco Land

Disclaimer
Accountability for content
The contents of our pages have been created with the utmost care. However, we cannot guarantee the contents' accuracy, completeness or topicality. According to statutory provisions, we are furthermore responsible for our own content on these web pages. In this context, please note that we are accordingly not obliged to monitor merely the transmitted or saved information of third parties, or investigate circumstances pointing to illegal activity. Our obligations to remove or block the use of information under generally applicable laws remain unaffected by this as per §§ 8 to 10 of the Telemedia Act (TMG).

Accountability for links
Responsibility for the content of external links (to web pages of third parties) lies solely with the operators of the linked pages. No violations were evident to us at the time of linking. Should any legal infringement become known to us, we will remove the respective link immediately.

Copyright
Our web pages and their contents are subject to German copyright law. Unless expressly permitted by law (§ 44a et seq. of the copyright law), every form of utilizing, reproducing or processing works subject to copyright protection on our web pages requires the prior consent of the respective owner of the rights. Unauthorized utilization of copyrighted works is punishable (§ 106 of the copyright law).

Our newsletter

With our newsletter we inform you about us and our offers and events, art fair participations and exhibitions in galleries, museums and art institutions. If you register for our newsletter, we will save your e-mail address, first name(s) and last name, as well as any information you choose to provide on a purely voluntary basis. If you do not wish to consent to this, you can unsubscribe by using the link at the end of every newsletter.

You can revoke your consent to the storage of your data, e-mail address and the use of your data to send the newsletter at any time. This revocation can be effected by notifying us: studio@michaelnajjar.com

In the course of the further development of our website, changes to this privacy policy may become necessary. We therefore recommend that you reread this data protection statement from time to time.