central park was shrouded in a flock of luminous drones by DRIFT

one thousand drones float over central park

On Saturday, October 21st, Dutch studio DRIFT released one thousand drones into the heart of New York City‘s Central Park. The ambitious light art installation, titled Franchise Freedom, shrouded the park in an ethereal ‘kinetic aerial sculpture’ akin to a silent fireworks display. Studio founders Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta took inspiration by the hypnotic sight of bird murmurations, where vast flocks of starlings twirl and dive in synchronized harmony across the skies.

As Franchise Freedom was open to the public, visitors in Central Park gathered to view the spectacle during three scheduled performances during the evening, with each show lasting a duration of ten minutes.

image © Arjen van Eijk, banner video courtesy DRIFT

a fresh vision of the natural world by drift

DRIFT‘s aerial installation of drones in Central Park was created together with Drone Stories founder Lucas van Oostrum, and was supported by Therme US, a wellness company whose president was co-founder of the High Line. The team hoped that the aerial show would offer New Yorkers a chance to reconnect with the natural world in the heart of the city. It’s a sentiment shared by Frederick Law Olmsted himself, who led the planning of Central Park with its picturesque landscape during the 19th century for city dwellers of all classes to have access to trees and woodlands. This time, rather than recreating an untouched wilderness and memories of antiquity, the artists at DRIFT replicate the natural world in a way that is futuristic, fresh, and carefully choreographed.

Franchise Freedom is now the most extensive public art project in Central Park since Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s ‘The Gates’ (2005).

image © Arjen van Eijk