DAMN°58 magazine / STUDIO DRIFT

THE ART OF WASTE Studio Drift challenges human nature

Based in , Studio Drift creates site-specific in- stallations and interactive sculptures that deal with space and light. They do this by playing with new and existing relationships between nature, technology, and mankind. At first glance, the works seem to refer to familiar situations, but on further inspection these references become curious- ly questionable. Through the use of advanced technology and detailed craftsmanship, each of the works attempts to make some sort of future prediction. This challenges the limits of what is considered possible, ultimately advancing the boundaries each time. With research being an impor- tant part of Drift’s process, the studio frequently collabo- rates with scientists, university departments and facilities, computer programmers, and engineers.

TEXT Anna Sansom

From collecting dandelions to studying how sun- Shylight – an artwork comprising of five flowers flowers open and close, a love of nature combined commissioned by the Rijksmuseum. “Shylight is with a desire to harness technology underpins Stu- made from fine silk that floats gently in the air but dio Drift’s projects. At the new citizenM hotel near because of the rain, wind, and cold, it isn’t possible the Tower of , the studio’s first large-scale, to use for an outdoor piece”, explains Nauta. Sem- open-to-the-elements sculpture, Semblance, is be- blance presented several difficulties. Studio Drift ing unveiled in September. Installed in the atrium, needed to make the fabric waterproof and resist- it is composed of 14 large mechanical flowers that ant, to determine how to hang the piece using a slowly open and close in programmed choreog- string system, and to figure out how to achieve the raphies, evocative of the movements of certain movements of the flowers in the atrium’s 30m-tall plants. Like many of their projects, it is poetic and volume. “Trying to get this refined movement in a enchanting, to hypnotic effect. long force is quite complicated”, Nauta admits. Ralph Nauta & Lonneke Gordijn “There’s a whole list of flowers we looked at, like Nauta and Gordijn met as students at Design Acad- Photo: Manon van der Zwaal

sunflowers and this beautiful moonflower that has emy Eindhoven in the Netherlands, where Gordi- ∆ Shylight a very interesting twist in it when it opens and clos- jn's graduation project was Fragile Future – a light Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam es”, says Ralph Nauta, who co-founded Studio Drift sculpture containing handpicked dandelion seeds Photo (top): Petra & Eric Hesmerg Photo (below): Erik Smits together with Lonneke Gordijn in Amsterdam in that were painstakingly, individually glued to LED 2007. The ambitious installation follows on from lights. The duo has since elaborated the work, mak- Cross-section drawing

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ing it increasingly complex. It has won six awards The duo works by shooting ideas back and forth to and various site-specific pieces have been made, the extent that they often forget who came up with including for the São Paulo Biennale in 2014 and the original one. The difference in their characters for a private commission in Paris involving 3,000 creates an interesting tension, Nauta believes, say- flowers. “People don’t realise that you can make ing, “Lonneke has a hopeful, positive view on life something that’s almost back to nature, by hand, while I am a bit darker and pessimistic about our and then blown it up to such a scale”, says Nauta. human culture.” A quest to convey intangible emo- Another of the Fragile Future works was included tions in nature drives many of Studio Drift’s pro- in the What is Luxury? exhibition at the Victoria jects. Take Flylight, a light installation consisting of and Albert Museum in London in 2015, which delicate glass tubes that interact with the surround- explored how the preciousness of such time-con- ings and the presence of visitors. The patterns of suming, labour-intensive pieces constitutes a new light mimic the behaviour of a flock of birds in interpretation of luxury. Commissions for Fragile flight. “A flock protects itself through its large num- Future continue to roll in due to its popularity. bers, so if a hawk attacks a swarm of starlings, the “We’re still picking dandelions once a year, around flock moves towards the enemy and an individual May, to collect at least 5,000 of them so we know cannot be pinpointed”, explains Nauta. “We cre- we have enough if a large commission comes in”, ated a programme that has the same behaviour. adds Nauta. When you walk towards it, the light flies towards you and follows you around. After a while, it loses interest and starts swarming again.”

The movements of birds also inspired In 20 Steps – a huge symmetrical sculpture, which, through the motion of 20 glass tube wings, simulates the wing- spans of a flying bird in an abstract way. “We didn’t want to make a static piece so we broke down this movement into distinctly different stages and thought about how we could programme it”, Nauta says. “All our pieces are about entering a space, see- ing something that you can’t believe can be real,

and giving it this feeling of a natural phenomenon and of displacement. That’s why our pieces take so long to develop, because before we get that feeling of disbelief right, we can’t show it.”

After first being exhibited in a Venetian palazzo last year, In 20 Steps was presented by Pace gallery during the Armory Show in New York in March. Studio Drift signed with the prestigious art gallery, which this year has opened a Pace Art and Tech- nology space in California. How did Nauta and Gordijn feel about seeing their work in an art fair Studio Drift has several projects being showcased rather than in a design context? “It was a big relief”, this autumn. For Lichtparcours Braunschweig Nauta replies. “I don’t consider myself as being spe- 2016, a citywide exhibition in Lower-Saxony, Ger- cifically a designer or an artist – we are something many featuring 14 site-specific light works, the in between. The art world is much more interest- pair has used a former granary in the port for their ing for me because it has more dialogue behind it.” piece The Portal. “We were fascinated by how this Studio Drift’s work enters into the dialogue of ki- building was one huge machine where grain was netic art. But, as Nauta says, “Our work differs, in processed over the different floors using gravity”, Flylight, 2014 Winner of the Arte Laguna art Dandelight, 2006 a sense, from a lot of kinetic work because there’s says Nauta. Discovering that it had a shaft going prize Photo: Juuke Schoorl always an element you can’t control.” In 20 Steps from top to bottom, Studio Drift installed a light Arsenale, Venice is included in the current GlassFever exhibition in sculpture that rises and falls through the space. The Fragile Future, 2014 In 20 Steps, 2015 Cidade Matarazzo Hospital, Dordrecht, Netherlands curated by Murano glass- sculpture’s movements are recorded by a camera São Paulo maker Adriano Berengo. and projected onto the exterior façade. Photos: Juuke Schoorl

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Together with the chemist, Studio Drift hopes to invest in a new factory. “We want to use this obsid- ian straight away in the factory to create sculptures, not to reheat it again because that uses a lot of en- ergy”, he clarifies. “Hopefully, in the process of do- ing this we can contribute to creating a solution to our way of living.” Indeed, for Studio Drift, the col- laboration is an opportunity to make a significant social contribution and to challenge itself. “When- ever Lonneke and I thought about what we really wanted to do in life, we came back to this process of finding a technology that can make a difference”, says Nauta. “I want to see how far we can push our ideas and research, to work on something that’s on the border of being impossible. Our projects are done with a lot of patience and excitement. It feels like having an adrenaline shot for years without an end.” •

At the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Studio Drift’s Obsidian Project features in the exhibition Dream Out Loud – Designing for Tomorrow’s De- mands. The project is an on-going collaboration with a Dutch chemist who recycles chemical waste in order to create obsidian, a volcanic glass that is usually dark but in thin pieces is transparent. Nauta was introduced to the chemist, who pre- fers to remain anonymous, through a friend. “He has been studying volcanoes for 20 years and has built a furnace mimicking a volcano’s behaviour, in which he burns chemical waste”, explains Nautra. “We wanted to promote this beautiful technology because all our planet’s resources are running out.”

Through experimenting and learning that the ob-

sidian can be worked on like glass but at different studiodrift.com melting and cooling temperatures, Studio Drift cre- ated elegantly smooth, mirrored objects. “We were Dream Out Loud – Designing for Tomorrow’s Demands is at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, until 01 January 2017. stedelijk.nl looking for a way to make this so-called chemical waste into something of super-high value, shiny In 20 Steps is part of the GlassFever exhibition at Dordtyard in Dordrecht, stone like granite or marble”, enthuses Nauta. “The Netherlands, until 22 September 2016. dordtyart.nl

idea to sell chemical waste as art back to the people The Portal can be seen at Lichtparcours Braunschweig 2016 in responsible for producing it has been an inspiring Braunschweig, Lower-Saxony, Germany, until 22 September 2016. thought. You can perceive your reflection in the braunschweig.de mirrored surface as a reflection of yourself and also Taking care of light The Obsidian Project, 2014 Flylight is in the Art Light exhibition at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Paris, Photos: Eric & Petra Hesmerg of your own waste.” until 2 October 2016. carpentersworkshopgallery.com www.marset.com

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