Rainbows are fleeting and beautiful illusions - a gift from nature to us. Certain climatic conditions are generally required in the creation of a rainbow -- unless you're artist Michael Jones McKean, who has found a way to shoot rainbows across the sky at will. He's been practicing in parking lots and over his studio building for years now in preparation for a larger installation at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, Nebraska. Next June McKean will produce a rainbow twice a day for 15 minutes using reclaimed rainwater and sunlight.
McKean, a former resident at the Bemis Center and now a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been conducting tests on rainbow creation since 2002. The Bemis Center commissioned McKean to perform this site-specific installation at their facility this summer in hopes of capturing the public’s imagination and engaging the center in wide-ranging conversations with communities throughout Omaha.
The Rainbow Project uses a series of high-powered jet pumps and custom fountain nozzles to spray water into the air, creating the conditions needed for a rainbow to appear. The commercial irrigation equipment is timed in order to create a dense wall of water that mimics a rainstorm, and the sun does the rest of the work.
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The Rainbow Machine…
Oh. My. God. It’s a rainbow machine! And it’s making real rainbows! Artist Michael Jones McKean creates real rainbows – with his awesome solar-powered machine using recycled rainwater! Certain climatic conditions are generally required in the creatio…
This brilliant! A pot of gold at every rainbow! This man made the proverbial money tree!
Pot o’ Gold – 9yrs of NRE – pumping costs = PROFIT!!!!!
Do this on top of a tall building and you will have a circular rainbow!
It’s actually another good idea, just like its been perfecly artistic when human imitiates nature’s beaties throughout history..
Especially in a time urban life transforms itself into nightmares because of the various pollution types, these impressive visual ornaments make urban much bearable, even beautiful!
In conclusion, bravo McKean and others helping him…
It is good.
Those rainbows serve to remind one of the beautiful creation
seen in nature, and they are displayed using both power and
water supplied through natural sources rather than expending
natural resources. Rainbows are remarkable when understood
and when unexplained.
Disgusting!
Of all the talented people with brilliant ideas in need of investment and/or promotion, we now are in need of fake rainbows??? Its not even funny, this is a disgrace.
Get two of these babies and turn them on side by side and prepare for the most intense OMG experience of your life.
Whoah! Can he make a double rainbow?!
What does this mean?