This past week I went to the Stedelijk, to see the work of Dutch Design team Studio Drift. https://www.stedelijk.nl/en/exhibitions/studio-drift http://www.studiodrift.com
In the Stedlijk’s words:
“The work of Studio Drift occupies a unique place at the interface between tech art, performance, and biodesign. As a museum that has always placed great importance on both art and design, and performance, the Stedelijk Museum is the perfect venue to display this transdisciplinary work. Gordijn and Nauta engage with contemporary topics such as sustainability, the meaning of natural processes for today’s environment, and issues raised by the use of augmented reality. Their work focuses attention on a society in flux, shaped by the impact of fast-paced innovations, without judging.”
The work was technically stunning and meditative. Viewers spent time with the work. In the case of one piece, the Meadow, viewers lay on the floor beneath the moving flower-like forms. As they opened and quickly fell towards the viewers, people gasped, giggled, and laughed.
The light pieces were some of the first uses of bio-mimicry I have seen in person. Their algorithms were based on how birds interact in a flock; not just how they move as a group, but in relation to each other. This algorithm was used to turn control the lights, which responded not just to each other, but also to individual viewers as we moved throughout the room.
In the context of my work in social design, the main things I took away from the exhibition are:
The central position of materials and making
The craftsmanship was truly exquisite with a level of precision that showed mastery. While it is likely parts of the projects were out-sourced, a knowledge of working with your hands is manifest in these objects and installations. The most impressive aspect of this was the dandelion seeds individually glued to the LED in the dandelion lights. (see detail picture)
In the Materialism series, the blocks of materials showing the quantity of materials used in each product, spoke to craftsmanship in their presentation, but also spoke to environmental aspects of materials by breaking down the assembled object into its raw elements and in representational quantities. The Albert Heijn bag (local grocery store) was small, but sobering as a transient object (I would say single use, but Dutch are ahead of us in reusing and eliminating single use bags). Studio Drift included a material deconstruction of one of their dandelion lights, and thus considered the environmental implications of the materials they themselves use. This self reflection is an important element.
Left image: materials in Albert Heijn plastic bag; Right image: materials of a VW Beetle
The inherent necessity of failure, and the evolution of a successful piece
As a teacher and a maker, I loved the curatorial choice of including the prototype room. Studio Drift showed the various iterations of many of their projects at the different stages. A friend of mine works at MICA, helping students include technology in their artwork. He emphasizes the unavoidability of trying, failing, adjusting, improving, redoing, and eventually getting the result you want, or something close. This is how you learn not just the process, but the possibilities.
With art (an many other things) we often just see the finished product, and mistakenly believe that is how the idea was manifested the first time. Sketches, maquettes, prototypes, failures, remaking of prototypes, checking connections, remaking...these ARE the process of making art.
Exhibiting prototypes along side the finished works are important in a curatorial context, and go far in debunking the myth of immediate perfection.
Art + Design + Science + Engineering
Part of what I like about Social Design, is how it goes so far beyond STEAM, where art is used for more than making pretty posters. For Studio Drift, art and design are the methods of inquiry.
What do flocking patterns look like when we are part of the flock?
The importance of manifesting data in front of us does not just have metaphorical implications (we are part of a greater whole, natural rhythms as calming, etc.), but can be a way of seeing patterns and data in a new way. In a video from Museum of Art and Design on artists who use 3D printing, Leonor Caraballo recounts a doctor walking into a gallery of her cancer tumor sculptures, and seeing patterns he had never noticed in a digital isolated context, which led him back to the research lab. The art made the cancer visible in a new way.
But, it is really important to realize that the art alone is enough. Putting the A in STEAM doesn’t make art more useful or worthy. Art is a useful tool of inquiry, not as an addendum.
Art is enough, with meanings and workings that teach and inquire.
More images from Studio Drift exhibition:
Updated images
Studio Drift's drone performance over NDSM (the Noord) albeit a tad fuzzy
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