In the spotlight: Multimedia exhibition by Studio DRIFT on view in San Francisco

Presented at a former Catholic church which is now home to Carpenters Workshop Gallery and Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, DRIFT: About Nature, Technology and Humankind features the first significant presentation of Dutch artistic collective Studio DRIFT in San Francisco. This multimedia exhibition seeks to identify and learn from the underlying mechanisms of the natural world in an effort to reconnect humanity to the environment it inhabits.

In an era when environmental concerns are top of mind, DRIFT: About Nature, Technology and Humankind brings together artists who, in the words of historian William Meyers, “make an effort to understand and materialise the nature of nature”. The exhibition showcases how cutting-edge technology is utilised by artists to mimic existing natural phenomena.

One example of this is Studio DRIFT’s site-specific installation, Flylight (2009), which simulates the behavior of a flock of starlings through software responsive to external stimuli. A second installation, Fragile Future III (2007) depicts a floating field of light-emitting dandelion sculptures as a meditation on the rapid evolution of technology. A third work by Studio DRIFT, a video installation of their immersive aerial drone artwork Franchise Freedom, which premiered at Art Basel in Miami Beach in 2017 and was presented at Burning Man 2018, is also on view.

'DRIFT: About Nature, Technology and Humankind' features works by Maarten Baas, Sebastian Brajkovic, Johanna Grawunder, Random International, Robert Stadler and the Verhoeven Twins.

17 Jan.—30 Apr. at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in San Francisco, CA, the United States

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