Last week in Paris, Whitewall Projects raised the curtain on an inaugural group presentation. On view alongside Art Basel Paris, just a short distance from the Grand Palais, the exhibition, “From Nature” ebbed and flowed throughout a chic Parisian apartment on 37 Roosevelt 75008 Paris. Skillfully curated by Emma Donnersberg, Marion Guggenheim, and Nicolas Dewavrin, the vivacious show shined light on visionaries Fabien Adèle, Louis Alcaraz, Apollinaria Broche, Mia Chaplin, Eugénie Didier, Daria Dmytrenko, DRIFT, Sasha Ferré, Pandora Graessl, Rafael Y. Herman, Alexandre Lenoir, William Macnad, Ileana García Magoda, Kami Mierzvvinsk, Roman Moriceau, and Maho Nakamura. The dazzling presentation was staged by Donnersberg, enhanced by Flos lighting and Diptyque scents.
Whitewall spoke with Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, the founders of Amsterdam-based DRIFT, to speak about their lush artwork Coded Nature II and their upcoming project, The Drift Museum. The masterful duo have been working side by side for 17 years. After meeting at Design Academy Eindhoven, they formed their studio in 2007. Since then, Gordijn and Nauta have built a robust team of 65 diverse creatives, employing cutting-edge technology to bring immersive performances, installations, sculptures to revelatory life. DRIFT acutely understands art’s ability to transcend spaces such as galleries and museums, often bringing their dynamic creations into architectural and natural realms. Here, singular connections between human beings and Mother Earth unfurl, sparking new understandings and visceral compassion for our precious, organic world.
A magnificent parade of global, multidimensional endeavors illuminate the boundless imagination and optimistic nature of DRIFT. Projects have been unveiled at CCBB Brasília (2023), Hyundai Space, Seoul (2022) Biennale di Venezia (2015, 2022); The Shed (2021); Pace Gallery (2021), The Stedelijk Museum (2018); Victoria & Albert Museum (2009, 2015); Met Museum (2010); and in many more prestigious spaces.
WHITEWALL: How would you describe your creative practice?
DRIFT: DRIFT works on experiential sculptures, installations and performances. Through our work, we employ technology to uncover the hidden properties of nature, and to re-establish our connection to the Earth. We want our visitors to see the relationship between the space, the work, and themselves—to feel the reciprocal relationship between our environment and the way we feel and live.
“Through our work, we employ technology to uncover the hidden properties of nature, and to re-establish our connection to the Earth,”
DRIFT
Beginning with a Fascination for Nature
WW: How do you see your work in relation to nature?
D: Every project for us starts with a fascination for something in nature. Everything we do is research in order to understand how the world around us functions. When we take a closer look at these natural mechanisms and apply them to our own lives, we start to see how out of sync we are with the nature around us. Hence, this connection with nature really comes from slowing down, and carefully examining and appreciating even the smallest things happening in our environment.
“Everything we do is research in order to understand how the world around us functions,”
DRIFT
Unveiling the Second Iteration of Digital Series “Coded Nature” in Paris
WW: Can you tell us about the work that will be on view in the exhibition?
D: We’re showing the second iteration of our digital series “Coded Nature.” Coded Nature II is a digital artwork that mimics nature’s learning and adaptation, using artificial intelligence to simulate evolution. Since the dawn of time, the evolution of species has been affected by natural vortices. Even now, with all the modern technology that we have, the force of vortices can still wreck havoc to the supposedly sturdy man-made infrastructure. Unlike natural vortices, the vortices in this piece evolve based on viewer presence and movement. It is the view that creates these vortices. The piece responds to real-time viewer interaction, gaining strength and evolutionary traits that allow one vortex to outlast another.
WW: What was the starting point for this work?
D: The starting point for the Coded Nature series began with our fascination with the phenomenon and mechanism of starling murmurations. This then evolved into a research phase in which we zoomed in on the patterns of animals, insects, and the elements, each representing a different code in the complicated process of life. Whether mimicking starling murmuration, swarms of fish, or the patterns of a vortex, each piece in the series highlights the interaction of each organism or element in the natural world.
During the development of this work, we were also interested in discovering the realm of digital interactive art and machine learning, two phenomena that have inspired many artists alike. The artwork incorporated sensors that generate codes responding to visitors’ movement, giving them a much more active role within the artwork. The artwork is therefore the result of a collaboration between the artists and the visitors.
“During the development of this work, we were also interested in discovering the realm of digital interactive art and machine learning,”
DRIFT
Fusing Art Studio and Science Lab in Amsterdam
WW: Can you tell us about your studio?
D: DRIFT is a mix between an art studio and a science lab, and this combination is also reflected in our art. We have engineers and software developers doing research for new works and exploring new mechanisms for our future projects. This could mean anything from looking at academic papers to programming the movement of our artworks on the computer. We have people producing the actual artworks, carefully bringing each detail together to form the completed piece. And of course, we have different teams of people ensuring the smooth daily operations and external relations of the studio.
Expanding the Studio with Invigorating and Inspiring Projects
WW: What is a typical day like for you there?
D: No day is ever the same for us, and as we expand as a studio, it becomes even more impossible to have a daily routine. It’s a good thing that we have dedicated teams for different aspects in the studio, so everyday we try to spend time with each team—development, production, design and the more commercial side of our business (Sales, Communications)—to keep progress moving forward towards our ongoing and future goals. We are also frequently traveling for our different exhibitions and projects: something which we both find endlessly invigorating and inspiring.
Preparing for the Sustainable Drift Museum, Opening Next Year
WW: What are you working on next in the studio?
D: At the moment, we are extremely busy preparing for the opening of The Drift Museum which will open next year. It has been a much-awaited dream for us to create our own museum where we have full control of the space in order to create the full DRIFT experience as we envision it. The museum will display all our installations, including many new ones. We cannot wait to create a sustainable space in our home city of Amsterdam that will inspire and connect our future visitors.