Ireland needs to turn its rainy climate into a ‘valuable asset and tourist attraction,’ according to a leading Swedish designer and artist.

Jens Thoms Ivarsson is the Creative Director for the city of Gothenburg in Sweden and has been nicknamed ‘Rain Man’ due to his work with water and a new project he is running in the city.

The Rain Gothenburg project aims to make the city the best in the world to “live in when it is raining.”

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, he said towns and cities across Ireland have an opportunity to follow suit and embrace the rain.

“Most of us think about rain as something that is not very funny or good,” he said.

“Once you really start to dig into it and look at it from a creative perspective you can start seeing all the opportunities it brings also - both for us as humans and from a climate perspective.

“That is what we are doing here in Gothenburg by using art and creative people working together in teams.”

Rain art

He said the challenge for the project is getting people interested in, “something they don’t really like,” such as rain.

“We are working with artists and poets,” he said. “We have poems on manhole covers cast in iron and placed in the city.”

“We work with dancers that have done modern versions of a traditional rain dance. Then we work with fashion designers and artists that have done rain art on the street with this special rain colour that only comes out when it rains.

“All of these things are not very special and not that new in a sense but we are looking to put it all together as a city and really push the city to acknowledge and use the rain.”

City of Gothenburg Creative Director Jens Thoms Ivarsson. Image: CreativeSummit

He said the project aims to reassure visitors that they will have a good time in the city no matter what the weather is like.

“Gothenburg is the same today as most other cites,” he said. “No matter that it is a rainy city, we still have 99.9% sunny pictures on our website for the city because we are trying to sell a dream version of it.”

“So, we are looking at it more from a perspective of, ‘OK this is reality and how can we use that in a creative way?

“This is Gothenburg. If it happens to rain you should also have a great experience – not trying to hide it in a way but also lifting up the qualities.”

Rain Man

He said the strategy could be used in any rainy city around the world.

“For us, it is the mission we have set,” he said. “To be the best city in the world when it rains. It is a bit funny and it kind of cuts through but it is also quite clear.

“People understand that we actually have a high ambition working with rain. So, let’s get all the rainy cities to help each other and do good things for our cities.”

Jens is speaking at Riot: Sligo 2021 later this month – an online conference about reimaging an entire town.

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