Recently, I had the pleasure of viewing Immersed in Light: Studio Drift at the Mint. The exhibition is truly special and so impressive that, after attending the morning media preview, I went back the same night for the opening reception.
This is the first solo museum exhibition outside of Europe by Studio Drift. Founded by Dutch artists Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn, Studio Drift is an artist collective based in the Netherlands that uses technology to illuminate the power and beauty of nature.
Bridging People and Space
The installation, Amplitude, is absolutely incredible. It consists of 20 large but delicate glass wings that move smoothly to suggest a bird in flight or the movement of waves. Lonneke Gordijn explains that “each piece moves on its own without communicating with each other.” The movement was inspired by a moment on a boat when Gordijn felt immense happiness, realizing she had become one with the boat and the undulation of the waves.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpkN3GCmv5o[/embedyt]
Fragile Future 3 is a stunning exhibit of 60,000 dandelion seeds that have been glued, seed-by-seed, onto LED lights. They are held together by bronze electrical circuits. At first the exhibit looks like hundreds of lit bulbs but on closer examination, you see each tiny dandelion seed.
Gordijn and Nauta have created installations that bridge people and space…helping viewers connect with one another and the environment. Embrace those moments.
Coded Coincidence
Coded Coincidence is an ongoing collaboration with the Mint Museum Uptown in their industrial space on Level 5. The Studio Drift artists will be traveling back and forth to Charlotte to work on the piece. Visitors can go inside a huge acrylic chamber, as machines simulating gusts of wind lift and swirl small white boxes around the visitor — a nod to the iconic floating blocks in their Drifters piece, on view on Level 3. The project was inspired by the movement of elm tree seeds in Amsterdam and is a fitting project for Charlotte with our beautiful canopy of trees.
Peachy Pick
You don’t want to miss the documentary film Franchise Freedom that is part of the exhibition. Franchise Freedom is the performance that debuted at Art Basil and came to life again at Burning Man in 2018. It consists of 600 Intel drones soaring through the night sky as they fluidly mimic the flight pattern of starlings.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ixGWdzTah4[/embedyt]
Immersed in Light: Studio Drift is at the Mint Uptown through April 26, 2020.
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