Studio Drift

Dutch art collective

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Studio Drift

Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, founders Studio Drift

Formation| 2007; 18 years ago (2007)[1]
Founders| Ralph Nauta, Lonneke Gordijn[2]
Type| Artist collective
Location|

* Amsterdam[2]

Website| studiodrift.com

Studio Drift is an Amsterdam-based artist duo founded by Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn in 2007. It specializes in choreographed sculptures and kinetic installations.

## History

[edit]

Fragile Future, by Studio Drift. 31st São Paulo Biennale, Brazil, 2014 Flylight, by Studio Drift. Glasstress 2015 Gotika, Venice Biennale Photo: by Juuke Schoorl Shylight, by Studio Drift at Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (NL) 2014 Photo: by Hesmerg

Studio Drift was founded in 2007 by Design Academy Eindhoven graduates Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn.[3] They first collaborated on Gordijn's graduation project, Fragile Future, a number of ball-shaped LED lamps with real dandelion seeds glued onto them, giving the bulbs a flowerlike appearance.[3] Designers also created a miniature lamp Dandelight, following the same concept.[4]

Fragile Future won Light of the Future award from the German Design Council (Rat für Formgebung [de]) in 2008[5] and later different versions of this art work were included into permanent collections of Stedelijk Museum and Victoria and Albert museum.[6][7] It was displayed in many cities globally including New York (2010),[8][9] Jeruzalem (2011),[10] Abu Dhabi (2013),[11] São Paulo, (2014)[12] London (2015).[13][14] and in Venice during the Art Biennale (2019)

Studio Drift's first commercial project was a series of outdoor benches made in 2007 for the Amsterdam Botanical Gardens named the Water Web Bench.[5][15][16] In 2008, artists presented their Ghost Chair at the Milan Furniture Fair.[17][15]

In 2010, the duo was invited to New York to make Fragile Future installation for the Dead or Alive exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design.[8][9]

In 2011, studio showed their kinetic art project Flylight during the Salone del Mobile and later in 2012 at the Venice Biennale of Architecture.[18][19][20] The computer-controlled installation, that draws inspiration from the flock of birds, is composed of as many as 180 hand-blown glass tubes suspended from cables and outfitted with halogen lamps.[19] It was commissioned for several private residential projects.[21][18]

In 2013, artistic duo presented first prototypes of Nola lighting system during the Dutch Design Week.[22] In 2014, the studio presented a standing mirror named The Obsidian Mirror made out of the toxic waste during Salone del Mobile.[23] In October 2015, a second piece from this collection, a hanging wall mirror, was shown at Thing Nothing exhibition at Van Abbemuseum.[24] In late October 2014, when Philips Wing of Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam opened after the 11-year renovation it featured studio's Shylight chandeliers.[25][26]

In 2015, artists installed a grand-scale kinetic sculpture named In 20 Steps at Berengo Foundation's Centre for Contemporary Art and Glass during Art Biennale in Venice.[27] This art object was re-created in 2018 for the Abu Dhabi Edition hotel.[28]

In 2017, Studio Drift presented two projects in the US: in March they displayed a giant levitating concrete cube during the Armory Show in New York[29][30][31] and in December launched 300 drones to form a flying light sculpture named Franchise Freedom during Art Basel Miami with sister company Drone Stories.[2][3][32] Franchise Freedom was an evolution of their earlier Flylight project.[33] This project won THE DESIGN PRIZE (established by Designboom and Abitare magazine) and was nominated for the Beazley Designs of the Year 2018 award.[34][35]

In April 2018, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam hosted the first solo exhibition of Studio Drift projects.[36][37] In 2019, newly opened art museum Amos Rex hosted their second solo exhibition and their works were shown during the Venice Art Biennale in the exhibition Dysfunctional.

In 2019, DRIFT won the Dezeen Awards for ‘Designer of the Year’ and ‘Lighting design of the year’ with the artwork Franchise Freedom.[38]

Later during the year, DRIFT had their operatic debut. DRIFT artist Lonneke Gordijn - together with director Monique Wagemakers and Choreographer Nanine Linning - deconstructs the traditional codes of opera through the creation of Ego.[39][40][41] Ego is a time-based kinetic sculpture in the signature block form of the art studio. Initially, the sculpture was created to materialize the internal turmoil of Orfeo, the protagonist of the famous opera, on the stage. In March 2020, Ego had its debut off-stage at PACE Gallery in New York.[42]

On 5 May 2020, during the Liberation Day in the Netherlands, a special performance of Franchise Freedom flew over the city of Rotterdam.[43][44] The artist duo prepared the special custom show to celebrate freedom during the coronavirus crisis.

In 2023, Drift Studio announced opening a museum in Amsterdam in 2025, in the Van Gendt Hallen, a project that reflects "the outcome of everything we have been working towards for the past 17 years" according to its founders.[45]

## Works

[edit]

* Fragile Future (2006)[3]
* Dandelight (2007)[46][4]
* Water Web Bench (2007)[5][15][16]
* Ghost Collection (2008)[47][15]
* Fragile Future III (2009)
* Shylight (2010)[25][48]
* Flylight (2011)[21]
* Nola (2013)[22]
* The Particle Plan (2014)[20]
* The Obsidian Project (2014)[23]
* In 20 Steps (2015)[27]
* Semblance (2016)
* Amplitude (2017)[1]
* Concrete Storm (2017)[49][50]
* In 20 Little Steps (2017)
* Meadow (2017)[32][51]
* Drifter (2017)[29][30][31]
* Franchise Freedom (2017)[2][3][32][52]
* Materialism (2018) [53]
* Ego (2020)[39][40][42]

## Works at museums

[edit]

Year  | Museum / Collection  | City  | Object

|
|
|

2012  | Stedelijk Museum | Amsterdam | Fragile Future Chandelier[6][54]
2014  | Rijksmuseum | Amsterdam | Shylight[32][25]
2015  | Victoria and Albert museum[7] | London | Fragile Future Concrete Chandelier (2011)[14]
2015  | San Francisco Museum of Modern Art | San Francisco | Ghost chair[55]

## Exhibitions and fairs

[edit]

Year  | Type of event  | Name  | Place  | City

|
|
|
|

2008  | Fair  | Milan Furniture Fair[17] | NHow hotel | Milan
2010  | Exhibition  | Dead or Alive  | Museum of Arts and Design[8][9] | New York
2011  | Fair  | Milan Furniture Fair[18] | Ventura Lambrate | Milan
2011  | Exhibition  | Curious Minds: New Approaches in Design[10] | The Israel Museum | Jeruzalem
2012  | Fair  | Design Days Dubai[56] |  | Dubai
2012  | Exhibition  | Nieuwe energie in design en kunst  | Museum Boijmans van Beuningen[57] | Rotterdam
2013  | Fair  | Abu Dhabi Art[11] |  | Abu Dhabi
2014  | Installation  | Made by... Feito por Brasileiros[12] | Cidade Matarazzo | São Paulo
2015  | Exhibition  | Thing Nothing  | Van Abbemuseum[24] | Amsterdam
2015  | Installation  | In 20 Steps  | Berengo Foundation's Centre for Contemporary Art and Glass[27] | Venice
2015  | Exhibition  | What is Luxury?  | Victoria and Albert Museum[58][13][14] | London
2016  | Exhibition  | Dream Out Loud  | Stedelijk Museum[59] | Amsterdam
2017  | Fair  | Drifter[29][30][31] | Armory Show | New York
2017  | Performance  | Franchise Freedom  | Art Basel[2][3] | Miami
2018  | Exhibition  | Coded Nature[60] | Stedelijk Museum | Amsterdam
2020  | Performance  | Franchise Freedom  | Liberation Day[61] | Rotterdam
2022  | Retrospective  | Rhythms of Nature: The Art & Design of DRIFT | Philadelphia Museum of Art[62] | Philadelphia

## Publications

[edit]

* Studio Drift (2022). DRIFT : choreographing the future. London. ISBN 978-1-83866-171-7. OCLC 1346321150.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
* Maria Cristina Didero (January 25, 2018). "Studio Drift: dream big and think of the improbable". Domus. Retrieved January 2, 2019.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Hannah Martin (September 6, 2016). "Amsterdam Design Firm Studio Drift's Light Installations Fuse Nature and Technology". Architectural Digest. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
2. ^ a b c d e "Swarm of drones illuminates the night sky". CNN. September 17, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
3. ^ a b c d e f Farah Nayeri (December 5, 2017). "In Miami, It's a Bird. It's a Plane. It's ... a Flock of Drones?". The New York Times. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
4. ^ a b Julie Lasky (January 21, 2015). "Just Don't Call Them Weeds". The New York Times. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
5. ^ a b c Costas Voyatzis (May 14, 2008). "Seductive design". yatzer.com. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
6. ^ a b "Fragile Future Chandelier 3.5". Stedelijk Museum. 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
7. ^ a b "What is Luxury? - Object in Focus: Fragile Future Concrete Chandelier by Studio Drift". Victoria and Albert museum. 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
8. ^ a b c Ariella Budick (September 27, 2010). "Dead or Alive, Museum of Arts and Design, New York". Financial Times. Retrieved January 2, 2019.(subscription required)
9. ^ a b c Cindi di Marzo (June 28, 2010). "Beauty that is Always Strange". Studio International. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
10. ^ a b "Israel Museum presents contemporary design exhibition "Curious Minds"". artdaily.com. December 21, 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
11. ^ a b "Fragile Future lights up Abu Dhabi Art Fair". designcarrot.net. November 19, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
12. ^ a b Michell Lott (September 9, 2014). "A natureza futurista do Studio Drift" [Natural futurizm of Studio Drift]. Casa Vogue (in Portuguese). Retrieved January 2, 2019.
13. ^ a b Libby Banks (March 26, 2015). "Defining Luxury for a Modern Era". The New York Times. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
14. ^ a b c Kathleen Beckett (August 26, 2015). "V&A Asks, What Is Luxury?". The New York Times. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
15. ^ a b c d Ruth Bloomfield (April 22, 2015). "Studio Drift Artists Elevate Nature in Their Work". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 22, 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2018.(subscription required)
16. ^ a b Junte, Jeroen; Keuning, David (2013). Thiemann, Robert (ed.). Think Dutch: Conceptual architecture and design in the Netherlands (PDF). Daab Media. p. 12\. ISBN 978-3-942597-10-4.
17. ^ a b Marcus Fairs (April 20, 2008). "Ghost Chair collection by Design Drift". Dezeen. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
18. ^ a b c Lauren Del Vecchio (December 19, 2011). "Flylight by Studio Drift". yatzer.com. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
19. ^ a b Aaron Seward (December 11, 2012). "Naturally Electric". Architectural Lighting. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
20. ^ a b Andrea Chin (October 10, 2014). "studio DRIFT presents kapellbrücke light work at belgrade design week". Designboom. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
21. ^ a b Leydecker, Sylvia, ed. (2013). Designing Interior Architecture: Concept, Typology, Material, Construction. Birkhäuser. p. 225\. ISBN 978-3-0346-0680-6 – via Google Books.
22. ^ a b Rose Etherington (October 25, 2013). "Nola colour-mixing lamps by Studio Drift at Eat Drink Design". Dezeen. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
23. ^ a b Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan (April 24, 2014). "This Obsidian Mirror Was Once Toxic Chemical Waste". Gizmodo. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
24. ^ a b Emma Tucker (October 25, 2015). "Van Abbemuseum's Thing Nothing exhibition explores "the value of the physical object"". Dezeen. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
25. ^ a b c Amy Frearson (October 25, 2014). "Philips Wing by Cruz y Ortiz completes the 11-year renovation of the Rijksmuseum". Dezeen. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
26. ^ "Studio Drift: Shylight". Domus. October 28, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
27. ^ a b c Sam Rogers (June 9, 2015). "Flight of fancy: watch Studio Drift's kinetic installation for 2015 Venice Art Biennale take off". Wallpaper. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
28. ^ Annabelle Spranklen (December 9, 2018). "The Abu Dhabi Edition: Ian Schrager's slick new eco hotel". Evening Standard. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
29. ^ a b c Alex Greenberger (February 2, 2017). "Concrete Block to Levitate at Armory Show". ARTnews. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
30. ^ a b c "Think Giant Concrete Blocks Can't Fly? Think Again". Vice.com. March 2, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
31. ^ a b c Dan Howarth (March 6, 2017). "Monolithic block appears to levitate for Studio Drift's Armory Show installation". Dezeen. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
32. ^ a b c d Yoko Choy (April 24, 2018). "Drones flock, concrete hovers and lamps bloom as Studio Drift reimagines science and nature". Wallpaper. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
33. ^ Margot Van Der Krogt (April 2, 2018). "Studio Drift Isn't Afraid to Ask Really Big Questions". Surface. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
34. ^ Sujata Burman (October 8, 2018). "The Design Museum opens 2018 Beazley Designs of the Year exhibition". Wallpaper. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
35. ^ Juliana Neira (April 24, 2018). "THE DESIGN PRIZE 2018 - and the winners are…". Designboom. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
36. ^ Arjen Ribbens (March 7, 2018). "In plaats van over Sottsass maakt Stedelijk expo over Studio Drift" [Instead of Sottsass Stedelijk makes Studio Drift exposition]. NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved January 2, 2018.
37. ^ Belle Hutton, Daisy Woodward (April 2, 2018). "Brilliant Things To Do in April". Another Magazine. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
38. ^ "Franchise Freedom by Studio Drift | Dezeen Awards | Winners". Dezeen. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
39. ^ a b "studio drift's 'EGO' is a handwoven object that changes shape". designboom | architecture & design magazine. 2020-01-28. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
40. ^ a b Magazine, Wallpaper* (2020-01-31). "The world's oldest opera gains a space-age stage intervention". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
41. ^ "A dazzling web by Studio Drift serves as a metaphor for connection". www.theartnewspaper.com. 26 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
42. ^ a b "Pace Gallery | A Live Performance by Lee Ranaldo". www.pacegallery.com. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
43. ^ Magazine, Wallpaper* (2020-05-07). "Drift's poetic drone installation takes flight for Netherlands' Liberation Day". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
44. ^ "Studio Drift uses drones to create beating heart above Rotterdam in tribute to healthcare workers". Dezeen. 2020-05-05. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
45. ^ zeitoun, lea (2023-11-03). "DRIFT's immersive, genre-defying museum is landing in amsterdam in 2025". designboom | architecture & design magazine. Retrieved 2024-09-17.
46. ^ Helen Chislette (July 17, 2016). "Studio Drift Dandelight". Financial Times. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
47. ^ La Rocca, Francesca (2017). Design on trial: Critique and metamorphosis of the contemporary object. FrancoAngeli. p. 97\. ISBN 978-88-917-4914-7.
48. ^ Christopher Stocks (March 23, 2015). "All things bright and technical: nature and mechanics combine in Studio Drift's Rijksmuseum installation". Wallpaper. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
49. ^ Kacy Burdette (March 2, 2017). "How Microsoft's HoloLens Creates a 'Virtual Museum' at New York Armory Show". Fortune. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
50. ^ Molly Gottschalk (February 28, 2017). "Move Over, Virtual Reality—a New Artistic Medium Is about to Emerge". Artsy. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
51. ^ Kieron Marchese (October 22, 2018). "studio drift installs hanging bouquet of robotic flowers that blossom when you are near". Designboom. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
52. ^ Didero, Maria Cristina. "Studio Drift: dream big and think of the improbable". Domus Magazine. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
53. ^ Eleanor Gibson (February 21, 2019). "Studio Drift deconstructs everyday objects for Materialism series at Frieze LA". Dezeen. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
54. ^ Michiel Kruijt (December 17, 2018). "Rijksmuseum weer best bezochte museum van Nederland: 2,3 miljoen bezoekers" [Rijksmuseum again best visited museum in the Netherlands: 2.3 million visitors]. de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved January 2, 2019.
55. ^ "Studio Drift,Ghost chair, designed 2007, fabricated 2009". San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 2015. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
56. ^ Yoko Choy (March 29, 2012). "Design Days Dubai 2012". Wallpaper. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
57. ^ "Nieuwe energie in design en kunst". Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. February 26, 2012. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
58. ^ Tabish Khan (April 27, 2015). "What Is Luxury? The V&A Has Some Ideas". Londonist. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
59. ^ Emma Tucker (August 29, 2016). "Stedelijk Museum's Dreaming Out Loud exhibition showcases social design". Dezeen. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
60. ^ Selina Denman (November 10, 2018). "Bright ideas and lightbulb moments likely at Dubai Design Week". The National. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
61. ^ Benedict Hobson (May 5, 2020). "Studio Drift uses drones to create beating heart above Rotterdam in tribute to healthcare workers". Dezeen. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
62. ^ "Rhythms of Nature: The Art & Design of DRIFT". philamuseum.org. Retrieved 2023-03-27.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website