@studio.drift ’s iconic drone performance ‘Franchise Freedom’ provided a striking finale to @LACMA ’s opening gala celebrating the new David Geffen Galleries.
Developed through more than two decades of research into the swarming behavior of starlings, 1000 drones in Franchise Freedom transformed the sky into a living field of collective motion and light, bringing nature and technology into dialogue through a shared vision of democratic space shaped by equality, interdependence, and collective experience.
With special thanks:
Soundtrack by @joepbeving@skyelementsdrones
Video & Photo:
@aloha_pablo , @davis.huber , @captainbere , @patrickc_la , @wcteets , @pedrocastro1 , @bobridges , @dillon_harmon_productions , Mark Christian, Elias Posada and @complexaerial , @sammiefpv , @ewaltfpv , @j_howiee
Last night we celebrated our Shy Society installation on the Grand Canal, during the Biennale di Venezia, surrounded by friends and close collaborators.
Set in the historic Palazzo Barbaro overlooking our artwork, the evening came together with the support of @marsilioarte , @sutton ,and @artevents.it
We raised a glass together with @sohohouse and their Picante de la Casa to mark the moment.
Thank you to everyone who joined us in Venice last night!
DRIFT presented Shy Society in Venice on the occasion of the 61st Biennale di Venezia, from May 3-10.
Shy Society is an outdoor installation of multiple moving textile elements, revealing a fundamental principle of nature: transformation. In the natural world, nothing is static - everything shifts, adapts, responds. Change is not disruption, but a condition for balance and survival.
Presented in Venice, the work entered into dialogue with a city shaped by water, time, and climate. What if our built environments engaged with change instead of resisting it?
With Shy Society, DRIFT introduces movement into architecture - transforming static space into dynamic systems. Soft elements respond to wind, light, and human presence, aligning with nature.
Movement becomes a shared, embodied language - creating moments of connection in a world increasingly distanced from physical experience.
We believe the future of public space lies not in resisting change, but in embracing it. Movement is not instability - it is a shared language that can restore connection.
We have not lost this language. We have only forgotten how to access it.
Through movement, we can remember.
Special thanks to @marsilioarte
Video by @xinix.films@arjenvaneijk
Saturday night, @Shakira and @studio.drift teamed up to fly a spectacular 1500 drone performance to open her largest show ever at Rio’s Copacabana beach, in front of a world breaking record amount of 2,5 million people.
The show opened with DRIFT’s Franchise Freedom artwork, mimicking the swarming of starlings and reacting to the audience coming out to collectively experience this monumental cultural moment in history. DRIFT’s artwork, conceived in 2008, is the genesis piece that triggered the development of what is now the Drone light industry.
Franchise Freedom was followed up by a giant Wolf, inviting the audience to join in with a collective howl to connect to the full moon gracefully overlooking Copacabana beach. The howl collectively brought the audience into the same energy, inviting Shakira to the stage.
The performance featured the illumination of Shakira’s eyes overlooking the crowd, using the drone fleet as a pixelated screen, making personal eye contact with everyone at Copacabana beach, and opening Shakira’s legendary performance.
Design and project management by Studio DRIFT and Lucas van Oostrum.
Thank you @shakira and team, #Rio, local drone partner @flyworks.art , and @xinix.films
Shy Society arrives in Venice from May 3-10.
Suspended above the Canal Grande, a choreography of light and movement unfolds during the 61st Biennale di Venezia.
Viewpoint: Ponte dell’Accademia, or by boat.
Shy Society arrives in Venice from May 3-10.
Suspended above the Canal Grande, a choreography of light and movement unfolds during the 61st Biennale di Venezia.
Viewpoint: Ponte dell’Accademia, or by boat.
Last week, we shared our home city of Amsterdam with @CapitalOne cardholders and @thecultivist .
Thank you for spending the week with us, it was a pleasure to share our version of Amsterdam with you.
Thanks to @thecultivist , @capitalone@copainamsterdam
#capitalonepartner
The Van Gendt Hallen in Amsterdam, a historic industrial facility where locomotives were previously manufactured, is currently undergoing a major renovation to become the future DRIFT Museum by @studio.drift . A small group of attendees recently toured the site, which is in the early stages of construction, as part of a rare experience organized through VIP Cardholder Access from @capitalone and @thecultivist .
“Our work belongs in a context, and the dialogue between the context and the work is part of the experience of our audience,” said Lonneke Gordijn, co-founder of the artist duo DRIFT. “It was not a dream to have a museum, it was needed as the next step in our creative process.”
Read more via link in bio.
Photos: @danielseunglee for Hypeart
Experience Meadow, now on view at @kunsthal as part of Flowers Forever.
A kinetic field of flowers that opens, closes, and adapts - mirroring the quiet rhythms of nature.
@lonneke.gordijn , tell us, what is your biggest dream? 💭
the co-founder and artist at @studio.drift joins us at ROOM FOR DREAMS for a talk under the theme ‘emotional carriers: what do non-human entities dream about?’, alongside our managing editor, @clairebrdk .
if we decenter the human, what becomes of design? can materials, infrastructures, machines, and ecosystems hold their own trajectories, forms of desire, behavior, even dreams?
in this conversation, lonneke gordijn explores objects and environments as active participants: ‘dream machines’ carrying emotional, ecological, and political agency.
📍 ME milan il duca, piazza della repubblica 13
🗓 wednesday, april 22
🕒 15:00
RSVP via link in bio 🔗
#designboom
#roomfordreams #milandesignweek2026 #milandesignweek
