DRIFT

Dutch artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta founded studio DRIFT in 2007. With a multidisciplinary team of 64, they work on experiential sculptures, installations, and performances. DRIFT manifests the phenomena and hidden properties of nature with the use of technology in order to learn from the earth’s underlying mechanisms and to re-establish our connection to it. With both depth and simplicity, DRIFT’s works of art illuminate parallels between man-made and natural structures through deconstructive, interactive, and innovative processes. The artists raise fundamental questions about what life is and explore a positive scenario for the future.

One of DRIFT’s most notable projects, Franchise Freedom, is a performative installation consisting of hundreds of autonomously flying drones that simulate a flock of starlings. The work explores the relationship between man, nature, and technology, and questions the human concept of freedom and social constructs. Franchise Freedom has flown across the globe, from Amsterdam’s IJ waterfront to the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11.

DRIFT’s work is featured in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. DRIFT has realized numerous exhibitions and projects around the world. Their work has been exhibited at Victoria and Albert Museum (2009, 2015); Met Museum (2010); Stedelijk Museum (2018); UTA Artist Space (2019); Garage Museum (2019); Mint Museum (2019); Biennale di Venezia (2015); Pace Gallery (2017), amongst others. Their work is held in the permanent collections of the LACMA; Rijksmuseum; SFMOMA; Stedelijk Museum; and Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2014, DRIFT was awarded the Arte Laguna Prize, Venice.