DRIFT brings three new large-scale light installations to Manar Abu Dhabi, transforming Jubail Island into an illuminated landscape of shifting wind, data, and memory. Part of the outdoor festival’s second edition, running until January 4th, 2026, the works are staged within mangroves, tidal waterways, and open sky, allowing technology and environment to operate as a single system.

Across Jubail Island, the three installations introduce different modes of engagement. Whispers unfolds at ground level within the grassland, Unfold operates as an interactive AI-driven environment responding to visitors’ heartbeats, and Wind of Change expands into the sky through a 2,000-drone performance. Together, they span landscape, body, and atmosphere, using light, movement, and real-time data to examine how human presence intersects with the natural setting of the island.

all images by Arjen van Eijk, Xinix Films

whispers, unfold & wind of change explore ground, body, and sky

The Dutch duo’s contribution includes three distinct encounters. Whispers (2025) places 500 illuminated elements among wild Guinea grass, echoing its proportions and its instinctive ability to bend with the wind. Instead of towering over the landscape, each glowing tip aligns with the height of the viewer, collapsing hierarchies between artwork, environment, and human presence. As breezes move through the installation, the field responds with a rippling light pattern that feels both orchestrated and accidental, a reminder that adaptation is nature’s quiet superpower.

Unfold (2025) turns biometric data into a fleeting digital sculpture. Visitors’ heartbeats are measured in real time and translated into a shifting audio-visual display that blossoms like a character-driven flower. Every pattern, rhythm, and chromatic decision stems from the body’s internal tempo, making the artwork less a spectacle and more a moment of self-recognition. 

The most expansive work, Wind of Change (2025), animates the sky with 2,000 coordinated drones. Their flight traces invisible natural forces, wind currents, oceanic movement, and the gradual sculpting of dunes. The shapes in the sky move from abstraction toward a collective symbol, the falcon, emblem of Abu Dhabi, crossing the night before dissolving into a vortex that releases drifting seeds. The narrative lands on renewal rather than finale, imagining the city as something continuously forming rather than fixed.

DRIFT brings three new large-scale light installations to Manar Abu Dhabi

an illuminated landscape of shifting wind, data, and memory

Whispers unfolds at ground level within the grassland

each glowing tip aligns with the height of the viewer

allowing technology and environment to operate as a single system

Wind of Change expands into the sky through a 2,000-drone performance

tracing natural forces, wind currents, oceanic movement, and the gradual sculpting of dunes

the shapes in the sky move from abstraction toward a collective symbol

a vortex that releases drifting seeds

Unfold (2025) turns biometric data into a fleeting digital sculpture

Visitors’ heartbeats are measured in real time

a shifting audio-visual display that blossoms like a character-driven flower

every pattern, rhythm, and chromatic decision stems from the body’s internal tempo

a moment of self-recognition

project info:

name: Whispers (2025), Unfold (2025), Wind of Change (2025)

artist: DRIFT | @studio.drift (Lonneke Gordijn & Ralph Nauta)

location: Jubail Island, Abu Dhabi, UAE

festival: Manar Abu Dhabi 2025 | @publicartabudhabi

theme: The Light Compass

dates: November 15th, 2025 – January 4th, 2026

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At the core of Amsterdam’s 25,000-square-meter redevelopment of the Van Gendt Hallen stands the DRIFT Museum, a purpose-built cultural space dedicated to the Dutch art duo DRIFT. Designed by architecture firm zU-studio, the project transforms five monumental 19th-century factory halls into a dynamic destination where art, architecture, and sustainability converge. This extensive adaptive reuse initiative not only preserves a significant piece of Dutch industrial heritage but reimagines it as a future-proof, energy-neutral landmark for contemporary culture.

Van Gendthallen, outside view. Rendering by Céline Laurand.

A dialogue between art and architecture

The DRIFT Museum occupies 8,000 square meters within the historic complex, representing the culmination of 18 years of work by artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta. Conceived as more than a display space, the museum translates DRIFT’s artistic language into architecture, creating an environment that resonates with their vision at the intersection of art, technology, and nature. Architect Javier Zubiria, founder of Amsterdam-based firm zU-studio, describes the museum as ‘a dialogue between art and architecture’, emphasizing that the building itself becomes part of the experience.

The design approach draws inspiration from DRIFT’s Materialism series, resulting in a volumetric composition of materials where every surface and spatial gesture reflects conceptual clarity. Spaces contract and expand to accommodate different works, while maintaining a neutral and serene atmosphere that allows art to remain the protagonist. Fluid sequences of rooms, punctuated by dynamic visual connections, invite visitors to experience art as a continuous journey rather than isolated moments.

Van Gendt Hallen Central Avenue, main hall with Tree of Teneré by DRIFT. Architecture by zU studio. Rendering Céline Laurand.

Reviving the Van Gendt Hallen

The Van Gendt Hallen — an industrial complex built between 1898 and 1905 for train and engine production — had faced possible demolition before entrepreneur Eduard Zanen initiated its preservation. Today, the five interconnected halls are being reimagined as a multifunctional cultural and social hub featuring office spaces, apartments, a restaurant, event venues, and the DRIFT Museum. The redevelopment integrates energy-neutral strategies and innovative restoration techniques, positioning the complex as a national monument for the future.

A central avenue runs through the entire site, creating a connective spine for the various programs. Among the standout additions is the BOK pavilion, the only external projection from the original façade. Designed by Braaksma & Roos Architects, the structure offers a unique waterfront entry point, while zU-studio’s interior concept introduces a transformative circular furniture element that shifts from communal seating by day to a sculptural chandelier by night.

Van Gendt Hallen Central Avenue, main hall with Tree of Teneré by DRIFT. Architecture by zU studio. Rendering Céline Laurand.

Experiential spaces: museum shop and restaurant

The museum shop extends the conceptual language of the exhibition areas, with modular display blocks and brushed stainless steel finishes that echo DRIFT’s design sensibility. Similarly, the restaurant, located adjacent to the hall showcasing DRIFT’s Tree of Teneré, embraces a light and transparent architecture, referencing the studio’s iconic Fragile Future series in its organic flow and detailing.

Beyond static exhibitions, the museum architecture supports flexible activation for performances and large-scale events, underscoring its role as a living cultural institution rather than a fixed container for art.

BOK Cafeteria & Event space. Architecture by zU-studio. Rendering by Céline Laurand.

BOK Cafeteria & Event space. Architecture by zU-studio. Rendering by Céline Laurand.

BOK Cafeteria & Event space. Architecture by zU-studio. Rendering by Céline Laurand.

DRIFT Museum, Reception desk and main entry. Architecture by zU studio. Rendering by Céline Laurand.

DRIFT Museum, Art space for Drifters. Architecture by zU studio. Rendering by Céline Laurand.

DRIFT Museum, Art space for Drifters. Architecture by zU studio. Rendering by Céline Laurand.

project info: 

name: Van Gendt Hallen & DRIFT Museum 
architects: zU-studio | @zustudioarchitecture

location: Eastern Amsterdam, the Netherlands

size: 25,000 sqm

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Returning to Milan Design Week after ten years, Dutch artist duo Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta of DRIFT once more redefine how movement, environment, and technology intersect. In collaboration with Audi, their latest installation, Drift Us, unfolds in the peaceful courtyard of the Portrait Milano Hotel. The work forms an immersive robotic landscape where kinetic bulbs sway in response to visitors’ movements, mimicking wind in a field of grass. Like much of DRIFT’s work, this luminous project is grounded in natural phenomena, yet engineered through complex design systems where organic and synthetic experiences meet.

While each softly glowing ‘bulb’ may evoke the image of an onion or seed, their design is informed by functional necessity. ‘Inside the bulbs on the floor, there are three weights,’ Gordijn tells designboom during a visit to the Audi House of Progress during Milan Design Week 2025. ‘These weights move in and out of balance. It’s how the installation moves — with a physical imbalance.’ The entire structure is powered by custom motors, sensors, and software designed in-house by DRIFT, underscoring their hands-on approach to fabrication. As Nauta notes, ‘Everything you see is custom — from the PCB to the hardware to the robotics. Even the weights are cast by us.’ The result is a field of ethereally swaying forms, each individually responsive but united in rhythm. It’s a choreography of imbalance engineered to feel entirely natural.

images courtesy of Studio DRIFT | all photos by Ronald Smits, unless stated otherwise; video © designboom

a choreography of sensory rhythms

Rather than just mimicking natural behavior at the Audi House of Progress during Milan Design Week 2025, Drift Us becomes a site where nature is re-enacted through computation and material innovation. Each bulb, sheathed in a specially woven nylon textile developed over two years by DRIFT in collaboration with the Textile Museum in Tilburg, responds to invisible currents of human presence. ‘People that move through the installation affect the bulbs as if they were the wind,’ Gordijn explains. ‘We want people to feel that they are a force of nature moving through this environment.’

The artists‘ spatial strategy is innately architectural in how the installation builds a physical language through light, motion, and emotion. The field of bulbs orchestrates a sensory flow that connects one body to another. ‘When you gather in a space like this, you start moving with the piece,’ says Nauta. ‘Then automatically, your heartbeat almost adjusts to that rhythm.’

DRIFT’s vision taps into the innate rhythms that connect us. ‘Calm is our normal state of mind,’ Gordijn reflects. ‘We use these environments to evoke a physical response in people. It happens automatically.’ That ethos will soon find a permanent home: later this year, DRIFT will open their long-anticipated museum in Amsterdam. The largest single-artist museum in Europe, it is set to extend the artists’ inquiry into how technology, nature, and collective rhythm can shape both built environments and shared emotional landscapes.

the installation, Drift Us, unfolds in the peaceful courtyard of the Portrait Milano Hotel

a dialogue with drift during milan design week 2025

designboom (DB): It’s so nice to be here with you at this immersive installation — it’s very interactive as well. The first thing that I noticed is the shape. I’m wondering where you got the design inspiration because when I first saw it, it reminded me of an onion!

Ralph Nauta (RN): We get that a lot!

Lonneke Gordijn (LG): It does look like onion, it’s true. We focused on the wind in the grass, and we needed a way to move the grass. The first idea was just slim poles with strings. But the way this moves is all about balance and imbalance. Inside the bulbs on the floor, there are three weights These weights move in and out of balance. It’s how the installation moves — with a physical imbalance, and we needed a way to contain that. It’s shaped as some kind of seed, although it’s not literally one thing that we mimic. Our inspiration is always nature.

the work forms an immersive robotic landscape

RN: Its shape is informed by its function. This outcome is created from the need for the space for the weights to move, and trying to find the most aesthetically logical shape. The ‘tail,’ as we call it, goes over the bowl in a very elegant way.

LG: We choose the materials for their translucency because we work with lights inside.

RN: And the material is created by us. It’s not something that you can buy.

LG: We developed it over about two years, together with the Textiel Museum in the Dutch city, Tilburg. It’s one piece of woven nylon fabric that is applied over the bulb. Toward the top it’s pleated and less translucent. Towards the bottom of the bulb, it branches out and has more transparency. This is how we drift through a process and how we find the form and the result.

kinetic bulbs sway in response to visitors’ movements

DB: Can you speak about the materials and how these bulbs were built?

RN: Everything you see is custom — from the printed circuit board (PCB), the hardware, the software, and the robotics. Even the weights that are moving within the piece are cast by us. It sets us apart from most artists. We really develop everything from scratch.

LG: And besides the physical objects, we have developed a software whereby we actually play with the wind. And so people that move through the installation affect the bulbs as if they were the wind. We want people to feel that they are a force of nature moving through this environment. We want to transport people to a different place and have, in that sense, a different experience of an environment.

the movement mimics wind in a field of grass

DB: One of your signatures, design-wise, is your use of light. We can see it here in this installation. I see that the color of the bulbs’ lights is different from those of the ‘tails.’ Is there an intentional decision behind these two types of light?

LG: Yes! We often work with color, but always in a very soft and deliberate way. We chose only colors that blend together elegantly and softly.

DB: How do these weights work? How the bulbs are powered?

LG: There are three motors inside each bulb — every weight has a motor, and these are powered by a wired connection. The communication, meanwhile, is wireless.

RN: It’s the physical displacement of weight that creates movement. That was also the main challenge of creating this. We could have installed it on a spindle that could pivot and rotate, but then you’re just mimicking natural behavior. This is actual natural behavior. We also have to calculate the counterbalance, because if you go in one direction, it will automatically have a feedback on the other side. But if you want to counterbalance to the other way, it needs to move in a specific order to stop in the right position. So we had to solve it as a mathematical problem.

LG: The bulb’s movement reacts to imbalances of the three weights. If one weight moves outward, that side of the bulb actually becomes more heavy and the balance shifts. But once another side becomes more heavy, the bulb turns accordingly. And if two weights move out, the bulb moves in another direction. So with these weights moving in and out, we can create smaller and larger movements in all different directions.

Drift Us, Audi House of Progress, Milan Design Week 2025 | image © designboom

DB: How are the weights coordinated?

LG: They communicate with our system. So when people walk among the installation, they interact with sensors throughout the system. And as you activate it, it is read as different types of ‘wind.’ It creates a choreography that is very calming. But some movements might trigger more of a ‘storm,’ where the colors become more vibrant, the ‘wind’ is more intense, and the bulbs moves faster. It mimics gusts of wind moving through the space. So the bulbs do not move all at once. They each move a split-second apart from each other, and together it’s like a soft wave.

DB: Ralph was discussing how he perceives movement, and how he was influenced by the winds of the Netherlands. What is your perception of movement in general?

RN: Movement is very important in our work in general — it’s a translation of energy. You can bring people into a certain state of mind by surrounding them with a specific movement. It can be stressful, or it can bring us in tune with each other.We’re experimenting with that a lot. Even the museum that we’re building now in Amsterdam — it will be the largest single art museum in Europe — it’s only about that.

Drift Us, Audi House of Progress, Milan Design Week 2025 | image © designboom

RN (continued): It’s about bringing each other in a certain rhythm, a natural flow that can connect us and bind us together. When you gather in a space like this, you start moving with the piece. Then automatically, your heartbeat almost adjusts to that rhythm. Your whole personality becomes part of that rhythm. That’s how you can actually start communicating with the people next to you because you’re all in sync.

LG: Our bodies naturally respond to an environment. If someone is very high-energy, you can also get very high-energy — or you step away. You respond. So we use this environment to evoke a physical response in people. It goes automatically. We deliberately use very calming rhythms because naturally, our bodies want to move towards calmness. Calm is our normal state of mind. Constantly, all day long, we’re seeking to be in our natural state of mind.

There are all sorts of forces that drive up the energy. But ultimately what we need is this constant calm. What Ralph said about these movements, they trigger something in us and lead us to a different state. But if it happens to me, it happens to you. We are getting on the same wavelength, and suddenly we can communicate much easier. And we discovered that through making these artworks.

Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn | image © designboom

project info:

name: Drift Us at Audi House of Progress

artist: DRIFT | @studio.drift

collaborator: Audi | @audi

event: Milan Design Week 2025

location: Portrait Milano Hotel, Corso Venezia 11 (main entrance) or via S. Andrea, 10 (side entrance)
on view: April 7th to 13th, 2025

photography: © Ronald Smits, © designboom

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Artist duo DRIFT transforms Windhover Hall at the Milwaukee Art Museum into an upside-down landscape with Meadow, a luminous kinetic installation crafted from aluminum, stainless steel, and vibrant fabric. Presented as part of the Museum’s Winter Series, the piece will be on view and free to the public until April 13, 2025.

Suspended beneath the soaring wings of Santiago Calatrava’s iconic Quadracci Pavilion, Meadow features choreographed flowers that gently open and close in a mesmerizing dance. Developed with custom software by DRIFT’s Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, the kinetic artwork draws inspiration from the patterns and movements of wildflowers. Meadow’s colors and choreography are uniquely tailored to the Milwaukee setting, offering an experience aware of its surroundings.

all images of Winter Series: Meadow by Front Room Studios courtesy of the Milwaukee Art Museum

the installation is part of Milwaukee Art Museum’s winter series

For the Dutch duo, Gordijn and Nauta, the opportunity to exhibit in Calatrava’s architecture was particularly meaningful. ‘It was a dream to design this artwork specifically to fit Windhover Hall,’ the duo shared. ‘We worked with the perspective to draw the eye into the height of the open atrium to make visitors wander through the space vertically.’

‘DRIFT has long worked at the intersection of nature and technology, and I’m excited to present their work within the context of the Quadracci Pavilion, a biophilic space designed by Calatrava,’ comments Shoshana Resnikoff, Demmer Curator of 20th- and 21st-Century Design. 

The Winter Series, inaugurated in 2024 with Larry Bell’s Iceberg (2020), invites artists to reflect on the natural world within the expansive setting of Windhover Hall. Through Meadow, the Museum extends the series’ mission of bringing joy and inspiration to the darker months. ‘The first Winter Series presentation was a remarkable success, and I’m delighted to continue the series with an installation that transforms this iconic space into a garden-like setting for everyone who enters the Museum,’ notes Elizabeth Siegel, Chief of Curatorial Affairs at the Milwaukee Art Museum. ‘Meadow will leave visitors wonderstruck.’

DRIFT’s upside-down landscape transforms Windhover Hall at the Milwaukee Art Museum

the flowers are crafted from aluminum, stainless steel, and vibrant fabric

presented as part of the Museum’s Winter Series

suspended beneath the soaring wings of Santiago Calatrava’s iconic Quadracci Pavilion

Meadow features choreographed flowers that gently open and close in a mesmerizing dance

developed with custom software by DRIFT’s Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta

the kinetic artwork draws inspiration from the patterns and movements of wildflowers

Meadow’s colors and choreography are uniquely tailored to the Milwaukee setting

for the Dutch duo the opportunity to exhibit in Calatrava’s architecture was particularly meaningful

project info:

name: Meadow

artist: DRIFT | @studio.drift

location: Milwaukee Art Museum | @milwaukeeart, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

dates: January 18–April 13, 2025

photographer: Front Room Studios | @front_room_studios

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Dutch art duo DRIFT presents Shy Society, a large-scale, site-specific installation in the historic courtyard of Florence‘s Palazzo Strozzi. Part of the Palazzo Strozzi Future Art program, this public art project is realized in partnership with the Fondazione Hillary Merkus Recordati and Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi. Known for its innovative work at the intersection of art and technology, DRIFT brings an engaging new perspective to the soaring courtyard of the Renaissance architecture.

Shy Society is imagined as a dialogue between traditional installation art, sculpture, and performance to transform the courtyard into an interactive stage. Seven large-scale, mobile elements float in the open courtyard space, rhythmically moving in a choreographed sequence. Each element’s movement is enhanced by a contemplative soundtrack created by American composer RZA, which adds a sensory depth to the installation to create ‘an atmosphere of contemplation and strong sensory engagement.’ The luminous work will be on view from October 23rd, 2024, to January 26th, 2025.

DRIFT, Shy Society, Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze, 2024. photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO studio

floral Inspiration blooms at palazzo strozzi

Within Florence’s Palazzo Strozzi, Shy Society is controlled by custom software designed by studio DRIFT to replicate the organic, unpredictable movements of flowers. Each element in the courtyard expands and contracts in a lifelike manner, mirroring the fluidity and complexity of natural forms. The software adjusts in response to real-time weather changes, integrating elements of the outdoor environment into the performance and underscoring DRIFT’s focus on the relationship between nature and artificial control.

DRIFT notes that Shy Society takes inspiration from nyctinasty, a phenomenon where certain flowers close at night and reopen at dawn. This natural cycle of protection and resource conservation resonates throughout the installation, encouraging viewers to reflect on adaptation in both natural and human contexts. Like flowers adjusting to their environments, the installation is said to symbolize the broader necessity for adaptability in human life, emphasizing the idea of transformation as vital to survival.

DRIFT presents Shy Society at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence as part of the Future Art Program

drift’s Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

DRIFT’s approach combines artistic vision with technical expertise, bringing together software engineers, programmers, and choreographers to develop this complex work at Palazzo Strozzi. The collaboration continues the spirit of the studio, which creates art that bridges nature and technology, blending intuitive beauty with scientific precision. Through these intersections, Shy Society opens a dialogue on contrasting themes such as control versus spontaneity, and nature versus artificiality.

The installation redefines the historical Palazzo Strozzi courtyard as a space for immersive, interactive exploration. Shy Society invites each visitor to become an active participant in this multi-sensory experience, challenging us to rethink our relationship with the natural world and the architectural spaces we inhabit. In the heart of Florence, DRIFT’s work becomes a powerful reminder of our connection to nature and the importance of adaptability in a changing world.

Shy Society transforms the historic courtyard with a luminous and dynamic installation

seven large, suspended floral-inspired elements move in a synchronized dance

a soundtrack by composer RZA enhances the atmosphere of the installation

custom software animates each element, mimicking the movements of flowers in nature

the installation responds to real-time weather changes, highlighting DRIFTS’s focus on nature and technology

project info:

project title: Shy Society

artist: DRIFT | @studio.drift

location: Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy

on view: October 23rd, 2024 — January 26th, 2025

photography: © Ela Bialkowska, OKNO studio | @okno.studio

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Earlier this summer, the opening of the Living Landscape exhibition at LUMA Arles revealed Murmuring Minds – a new performative and interactive installation by DRIFT. On view until September 29th, 2024, the artwork explores the intricate patterns governing movement and process. Within a designated space, sixty autonomously-moving rectangular blocks act as a swarm executing specific behaviors. ‘We developed the interactive dynamics into four types that we have observed in both nature and human society: The Leader, The Hunter, The Vortex, The Machine. The installation is an experiment and a question. On how we generate choices, what our decisions are, and how these affect larger structures. How do we define leadership and control in a contemporary context’ shares the studio. 

Murmuring Minds by DRIFT | image © Finn Bech

witnessing human-machine interaction at luma arles

During the performance, the audience witnesses participants engaging with their positions and roles amid the blocks. DRIFT seeks to instill awareness that each situation necessitates a distinct approach. Each movement and each decision have a visible effect on the composition and reaction of the blocks. Sometimes collectively, or at other times individually, the blocks coexist in a landscape of events negotiated by the human-machine interaction. As argued by the studio, the nature of decision-making processes, what we consider natural and what we see as artificial are complexified in the performative installation. The computational code that allows movement becomes part of the relationship and the interface. In Murmuring Minds, participants and technology enact beyond the conventional idea of passive contemplation, creating an environment that extends the boundaries between observation and participation.

image © Finn Bech

recreating a swarm behavior

Drawing inspiration from swarming behaviors observed in different species and using the intelligence of birds, fish, and bees as a starting point, Murmuring Minds at LUMA campus creates a space of sociability, study, and play. Within this immersive setting, participants grasp the significance of their actions and responses to the environment as a fundamental survival mechanism and as part of a system. Different choices can create chaos, while certain movements or actions can elicit synchronized responses from the blocks. ‘An element of surprise, excitement and anticipation is prevalent in an installation where the fusion of technology and human interaction form the crux of the experience,’ concludes DRIFT. 

image: video still, Murmuring Minds – DRIFT at LUMA, Arles | courtesy the studio

image: video still, Murmuring Minds – DRIFT at LUMA, Arles | courtesy the studio

image: video still, Murmuring Minds – DRIFT at LUMA, Arles | courtesy the studio

image: video still, Murmuring Minds – DRIFT at LUMA, Arles | courtesy the studio

image: video still, Murmuring Minds – DRIFT at LUMA, Arles | courtesy the studio

project info:

name: Murmuring Minds

artist: DRIFT | @studio.drift

location: LUMA Arles, France | @luma_arles

on view until: September 29, 2024

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DRIFT presents Living Landscape, an exhibition of two immersive and interactive artworks, at LUMA Arles. To mark the opening of the exhibition, the contemporary artist duo staged a drone performance above the museum’s Frank Gehry-designed tower, tracing the movement in Van Gogh’s paintings using their swarming algorithm against the night sky. Titled Electric Sky, the performance is conceived as an extension to the recently-opened group show at the Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles, Van Gogh and the Stars, which celebrates the return of the Dutch artist’s Starry Night painting to Arles for the first time in 136 years. 

Living Landscape brings together two installations, Murmuring Minds and Coded Nature, that explore swarming behavior to reveal the visible and invisible aspects of nature around us. ‘Our interest in forming patterns and our fascination with the sacrifice of our freedom to live inside the social structure—that’s basically what it’s all about,’ Ralph Nauta, co-founder and artist of DRIFT, tells designboom during the opening. ‘Also, our position within these forms, how we react to them, and what they mean to us.’ 

Murmuring Minds installation | image © Finn Bech

‘murmuring minds’ explore swarming behavior at LUMA arles

The two DRIFT installations at LUMA Arles explore relationality and movement. These themes were also central to Van Gogh’s artistic experiments and are vividly depicted in his paintings. The Dutch artist duo aims to reveal nature’s structures and patterns, offering audiences an interactive experience. DRIFT’s exhibition also serves as an extension to Fondation Vincent van Gogh Arles show, Van Gogh and the Stars. This dual commission by LUMA Arles highlights the transformative nature of Van Gogh’s work and how he paved new artistic paths for future generations.

One of the two works presented at the French museum, Murmuring Minds, is a new interactive performance installation that examines the intricate patterns governing natural movements and processes. Within a designated space, 60 autonomously moving rectangular blocks act as a swarm, reacting to participants’ interactions. The piece blurs the line between the natural and artificial, emphasizing the complex nature of decision-making. The computational code driving the blocks’ movement becomes an integral part of the interaction, creating an environment that transcends passive observation and encourages active participation.

‘There are swarming patterns where you’re forced to create a certain movement, or they follow you around. So you’re hunting them, or they’re following you. It’s more like an experiment about how you feel within this structure. I mean, we are all in it every day all of our lives but this is just a way to show it more directly,’ Ralph Nauta tells designboom. The choice of blocks symbolizes the restricted mindset of today’s humanity. ‘We should stop living in square houses. It creates boundaries already.’

within a designated space, 60 autonomously moving rectangular blocks act as a swarm | image © Finn Bech

coded nature and the illusion of freedom

Also on view is Coded Nature, an interactive installation featuring real-time digital starling swarm software projected on a large screen. The work explores the relationship between humans, nature, and technology. An autonomously flying swarm responds to audience movements, symbolizing the continuous flow of creation and change in nature. The piece illustrates how humans navigate societal rules and conventions, challenging the concept of freedom. It suggests that complete individual freedom leads to chaos, highlighting the balance between individuality and societal alignment.

‘We’re looking at these forms, we think we’re looking at a very free natural movement, but it’s all been done by rules. There’s no freedom at all,’ Nauta shares with designboom.‘It’s the same for us in our society. We forget that. We think we’re living free, but in the meantime, we’re wearing clothes, we have all these social constructs, and we have to say the right thing. Everything is rules, rules, rules, rules. It’s an illusion of freedom.’ 

generative projection artwork Coded Nature | image © Finn Bech

Alongside DRIFT’s Living Landscape, LUMA Arles also celebrated the opening of A Lot Of People by Thai contemporary artist Rirkrit Tiravanija, Practical Effects by American artist Diana Thater, and the Van Gogh and the Stars exhibition. Presented by Fondation Van Gogh, the exhibition highlights the arrival of Starry Night to Arles and sheds new light on both the sources the artist drew on to create it and its enormous influence to contemporary artists. 

the piece features real-time digital starling swarm software projected on a large screen | image © Finn Bech

an autonomously flying swarm responds to audience movements | image © designboom

Coded Nature explores the relationship between humans, nature, and technology | image © designboom

in Murmuring Minds, the choice of blocks symbolizes the restricted mindset of today’s humanity | image © designboom

the piece blurs the line between the natural and artificial | image © designboom

image courtesy of DRIFT

project info: 

exhibition name: Living Landscape

performance name: Electric Sky
artist: DRIFT | @studio.drift
location: LUMA Arles | @luma_arles

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ICD Brookfield Place Arts in Dubai presents Chiaroscuro, a new exhibition of twenty artists and designers curated by the fashion icon Michèle Lamy, jointly with Carpenters Workshop Gallery. From Rick Owens, Nacho Carbonell, Studio Drift, and leading regional voices such as Latifa Saeed and Omar Al Gurg, the participants come together to explore the dichotomy of light and dark. Running at the same time as the Art Dubai fair, the exhibition finds inspiration in the city’s starkly contrasting landscape as it shifts from day to night, as well as in the charm of ICD Brookfield Place. ‘Light and dark was more of a feeling that was related to the architecture of this place, which is entirely open to the world with its windows. The essence was knowing that we had captured the local spirit and could do things with what we had and make it simple with a few pieces that symbolize night and day,’ Michèle Lamy tells designboom. 

installation view of Chiaroscuro at ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai | courtesy ICD Brookfield Place Arts & Carpenters Workshop Gallery | image © Ismail Noor | @ismailnoor 

michèle lamy’s curatorial trace, from dark to light

Michèle Lamy (see more here) and ICD Brookfield Place‘s Malak Abu-Qaoud divide the show in Dubai into these two states, beginning with ‘The Darkness’ and inviting viewers into a mysterious space where beguiling forms take shape in the depths. This section is rooted primarily in work by fashion designer Rick Owens. The tigré pattern of his Gallic Chair evokes alternating shadows that ground the artist’s practice in the rich materials of stone and wood. Many works in this section incorporate the rich brown hues of bronze, with imposing forms catching subdued light in Wendell Castle‘s The Light of Darkness, while Atelier Van Lieshout‘s Blast Furnace Cabinet and Mammal Lamp use an industrial aesthetic to imagine a synthesis of man and machine. Kendell Geers then unsettles and challenges the viewer with the muted masked works of Flesh of the Spirit, which merge bronze with old broken materials to question our perception of African art.

The Light of Darkness (2012), Wendell Castle, Castle 12 | stained ash, oil finish

From here, ‘The Light’ at Chiaroscuro becomes an evocation of fire and is celebrated as ‘nature’s sculptor.’’ This part of the exhibition explores the power of light and its ability to bend materials on various scales – from the glass and metals used to build the city of Dubai to intricate objects of astounding beauty crafted by true masters. The exhibition attempts to redefine materiality through the various objects on display, pushing the material boundary through its medium, colour and finishing. For example, as in the smooth, artfully curved concrete of Rick Owens’ Pedaló chair and rare marble of Curial White Marble, as well as Vincenzo de Cotiis’ reimagined Renaissance arches, and the malleability of stone and glass in David/Nicolas’ table Constellation C020.

installation view of Chiaroscuro at ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai | courtesy ICD Brookfield Place Arts & Carpenters Workshop Gallery | image © Ismail Noor

Similarly, Khaled Zaki’s marble sculpture Serene continues his recent work representing human and animal subjects in abstract, geometric forms. Inspired by the traditional hair braiding practices of the women in the United Arab Emirates, Latifa Saeed additionally presents a special edition of her Braided series created in collaboration with studio MĒRU. As for conceptual Artist Zeinab Alhashemi, her experiments with various materials positions the viewer over the intangible boundary between the natural and artificial. While her work is reminiscent of the traditional landscape due to color and textures, such familiarity is quickly disturbed by the striking contrast from industrial materials such as steel – suddenly reminding of human interference.

Michèle Lamy at the opening night of Chiaroscuro in Dubai | image © designboom

Other works use light as an essential part of their composition. Studio Drift’s Fragile Futures sits at the intersection of nature and technology, using hundreds of dandelion heads fixed to a copper lattice. Meanwhile, the Verhoeven Twins create valleys and voids that invite viewers to explore shape and light through their floating glass bubble sculptures. Lamy then considers the influx of color illuminated by light through vivid works inspired by the Pop Art movement, namely Maarten Baas’s Children’s Clocks, the Campana Brothers’ Dolphins and Sharks Banquete Chair, Jose Davila’s Lichtenstein-inspired prints, Martin Laforêt’s concrete Variations seats, and Studio Job’s cartoon-like sculptures. Similarly characterized by pure gestures of color, Roger Herman’s ceramic vases present a differing neo-expressionist approach.

Verhoeven Twins, CA’ D’ORO #6, 2019 | borosilicate glass, iridescent oil, fixing parts

Lastly, two contrasting works by Nacho Carbonell illustrate the polarities of Chiaroscuro by Michèle Lamy. Bathed in light, the polychromatic canopy of Combi Cocoon 2 shines with a warmth reminiscent of the Spanish artist’s homeland, while the brooding glow lights punctuate the voluminous black shades of Inside a Forest. Also straddling both light and dark, Omar Al Gurg exhibits his uniquely interactive, fun and playful style in his customisable Spike sculptures. Populating the central atrium of ICD Brookfield Place with innovative pieces by the most exciting global art and design talent of today, Chiaroscuro by Michèle Lamy demonstrates the importance of both day and night in moulding our understanding of the world: without one, the other cannot exist. 

installation view of Chiaroscuro at ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai | courtesy ICD Brookfield Place Arts & Carpenters Workshop Gallery | image © Ismail Noor

a pool of regional and international artists

Participants at the exhibition are as follows: Omar Al Gurg, Zeinab Alhashemi, Talal Al Najjar, Maarten Baas, Aldo Bakker, Campana Brothers, Nacho Carbonell, Wendell Castle, Jose Davila, Vincenzo De Cotiis, Studio Drift, Kendell Geers, Roger Herman, Studio Job, Martin Laforêt, David/Nicolas, Rick Owens, Latifa Saeed, Isaac Sullivan, Verhoeven Twins, Atelier Van Lieshout and Khaled Zaki. When asked about the pool of creatives, Michèle Lamy explains that ‘it was important to continue the dialogue we established with the local artists. […]’There is something noble here, and I hope that what we show in the exhibition is noble too, with the same spirit.’ 

installation view of Chiaroscuro at ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai | image courtesy ICD Brookfield Place Arts & Carpenters Workshop Gallery | image © Ismail Noor

Adding to Lamy’s words, Malak Abu Qaoud reflects on her role as head of Arts and Events at ICD Brookfield Place: ‘I like to look at artists who are serious practitioners, who spend a lot of time in the studio, who have a specific style that they’re working on, and it’s really easy to spot […] We like to show accessible art, which means that everyone can really understand it, regardless of background. We’re not constrained to a certain type of art — where we can, we’re so flexible. […] Also, in the beginning, it was really difficult to try to get an arts program in a very corporate financial setting. I think a lot of people didn’t really understand it. But right now, four years into the program, I think we’ve finally established our place.’ Chiaroscuro is presented by ICD Brookfield Place Arts  in collaboration with Carpenters Workshop Gallery, 27 February – 15 March 2024, icdbrookfieldplace.com. 

installation view of Chiaroscuro at ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai | courtesy ICD Brookfield Place Arts & Carpenters Workshop Gallery | image © Ismail Noor

image © designboom

Inside a Forest Cloud (113/2019), Nacho Carbonell | metal mesh with paverpol and pigments, metal welded branch, silicone cable, light fittings

V1LC20Yellow (2022), Martin Laflorêt | colored concrete

installation view of Chiaroscuro at ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai | image courtesy ICD Brookfield Place Arts & Carpenters Workshop Gallery | image © Ismail Noor

installation view of Chiaroscuro at ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai | courtesy ICD Brookfield Place Arts & Carpenters Workshop Gallery | image © Ismail Noor

Untitled 43 (2022), Vincenzo De Cotiis | hand-painted recycled fiberglass, rhodonite

Serene (2023), Khalid Zaki | white Carrara marble | image courtesy the artist

project info:

name: Chiaroscuro 

location: ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai, UAE | @icdbookfieldplace

curator: Michèle Lamy | @lalamichmich

collaborator: Carpenters Workshop Gallery | @carpentersworkshopgallery

viewing dates: 27 February – 18 March 2024

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Dutch studio DRIFT is bringing an immersive museum to the heart of Amsterdam in 2025. Initiators are the artists and founders of DRIFT, Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, and the owner of the renovated national monument Van Gendt Hallen, Eduard Zanen. Famed for its large-scale, tech-infused, and performative artworks, DRIFT will showcase its work to maximum effect in Van Gendt Hallen, signed by architecture firm Braaksma & Roos. The studio’s vision of a museum space blossomed after the overwhelming success of their solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in 2018, pushing Gordijn and Nauta to unveil their creations to the widest possible audience. Contrary to many existing museum infrastructures where DRIFT had exhibited, the grandeur, robustness, and industrial character of the Van Gendt Hallen will incomparably elevate the studio’s space-filling artworks and kinetic installations.

renovated Van Gendt Hallen building in Amsterdam | image courtesy DRIFT Museum

‘the outcome of everything we have been working towards’

Having worked at the intersection of art and technology since 2007, DRFIT founders Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta believe this upcoming museum at Amsterdam’s Van Gendt Hallen ‘is the outcome of everything we have been working towards for the past 17 years. We hope it will be a place that generates wonder and emotional responses from our visitors and where they feel more connected to our planet and nature.’ DRIFT’s work has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Biennale di Venezia (2015, 2022); Pace Gallery New York (2021); Victoria & Albert Museum (2009, 2015) and the Stedelijk Museum in 2018. This successful solo exhibition attracted around 275,000 visitors in four months at 
the Stedelijk Museum. Recently, DRIFT hit the world press with the drone performance of their artwork Franchise Freedom over New York Central Park (October 2023).

rendering © Celine Laurand

Shy Synchrony by DRIFT | image © Ossip van Duivenbode

museum founders portrait: Ralph Nauta, Lonneke Gordijn, and Eduard Zanen | image © Valentina Vos

Tree of Tenere | rendering © Celine Laurand

Amplitude by DRIFT | image © Juuke Schoorl

inside Van Gendt Hallen | image courtesy DRIFT museum

Van Gendt Hallen exterior view | image courtesy DRIFT museum

project info:

name: DRIFT Museum (here) | @drift.museum

location: Van Gendt Hallen | @van_gendthallen, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

founders: Lonneke Gordijn, Ralph Nauta | @studio.drift, Eduard Zanen

opening year: 2025 

The post DRIFT’s immersive, genre-defying museum is landing in amsterdam in 2025 appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

On Saturday, October 21st, Dutch studio DRIFT released one thousand drones into the heart of New York City‘s Central Park. The ambitious light art installation, titled Franchise Freedom, shrouded the park in an ethereal ‘kinetic aerial sculpture’ akin to a silent fireworks display. Studio founders Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta took inspiration by the hypnotic sight of bird murmurations, where vast flocks of starlings twirl and dive in synchronized harmony across the skies. 

As Franchise Freedom was open to the public, visitors in Central Park gathered to view the spectacle during three scheduled performances during the evening, with each show lasting a duration of ten minutes.

image © Arjen van Eijk, banner video courtesy DRIFT

a fresh vision of the natural world by drift

DRIFT‘s aerial installation of drones in Central Park was created together with Drone Stories founder Lucas van Oostrum, and was supported by Therme US, a wellness company whose president was co-founder of the High Line. The team hoped that the aerial show would offer New Yorkers a chance to reconnect with the natural world in the heart of the city. It’s a sentiment shared by Frederick Law Olmsted himself, who led the planning of Central Park with its picturesque landscape during the 19th century for city dwellers of all classes to have access to trees and woodlands. This time, rather than recreating an untouched wilderness and memories of antiquity, the artists at DRIFT replicate the natural world in a way that is futuristic, fresh, and carefully choreographed.

Franchise Freedom is now the most extensive public art project in Central Park since Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s ‘The Gates’ (2005).

image © Arjen van Eijk

project info:

installation title: Franchise Freedom

studio: DRIFT | @studio.drift

location: The Lake at Central Park, New York, NY

co-creator: Drone Stories | @dronestories.show

sponsor: Therme US | @thermegroup

date: October 21st, 2023

photography: Arjen van Eijk | @arjenvaneijk, courtesy DRIFT

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