Rain of Lead

Valencia, 1999


Lead and copper wire.
Variable sizes. 
200 units.
DKV Collection
This installation consists of 200 drops of molten lead. It represents a poem by Guillaume Apollinaire, "Il pleut" (1916), in which he speaks of the rain during the war through the image of a rain of lead. Each drop is hanging from a copper wire. The rain seems to have stopped in its motion, weightless, becoming almost invisible.






Il pleut

Il pleut des voix de femmes comme si elles étaient mortes même dans le souvenir
c’est vous aussi qu’il pleut merveilleuses rencontres de ma vie ô gouttelettes
et ces nuages cabrés se prennent à hennir tout un univers de villes auriculaires
écoute s’il pleut tandis que le regret et le dédain pleurent une ancienne musique
écoute tomber les liens qui te retiennent en haut et en bas


Guillaume Apollinaire
It’s Raining

It’s raining women’s voices as if they had died even in memory
And it’s raining you as well marvelous encounters of my life O little drops
Those rearing clouds begin to neigh a whole universe of auricular cities
Listen if it rains while regret and disdain weep to an ancient music
Listen to the bonds fall off which hold you above and below

Guillaume Apollinaire