As of: 04/30/2022 6:52 PM
At the start of the Hamburg International Music Festival, Drift artist duo Elbphilharmonie was immersed in a play of light waves. The light show “Breaking Waves” has now been canceled for safety reasons.
The other three performances planned were canceled for security reasons in coordination with the aviation security authorities in Hamburg and Lower Saxony: at the rehearsal and premiere on Thursday, the technical event was significantly disrupted by high-speed foreign drones, she said. Several collisions occurred, and as a result, many drones crashed. The Elbphilharmonie’s website reads: “The Elbphilharmonie and DRIFT team deeply regret this.”
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Elbphilharmonie presents the first surfing video on the internet
The Dutch artist’s Drift duo created a work of art for the Hamburg Kunzerthaus, which was meant to immerse the building’s western end in a wave of light for ten minutes on four evenings. Hundreds of drones danced at the start of a music festival on Thursday to the second movement of Thomas Addis’ piano concerto. On Saturday, Konzerthaus uploaded the first video to his YouTube channel, lasting about eight minutes – and party music can also be heard.
It is a ballet luminous drone designed to record water waves and sound waves to music. Thousands of people watched the scene from the harbor – however, not everyone was able to connect to the Elbphilharmonie’s website with their cell phones, so some viewers had to switch off the music.
“We are very pleased that after ‘Breaking Waves’ has been postponed to April, so many people have had the opportunity to participate in this extraordinary art project,” said Christoph Lieben-Sutter, Elbphilharmonie’s technical director on Friday. “I got the light installation from the water we saw yesterday. – It was a pleasure to see the Elbphilharmonie organized in such a wonderful way.” He would like to thank all concerned for the successful cooperation.
video: Stunning drone light show at the Elbphilharmonie (1 minute)
Drift – Dutch duo artist combining nature and technology
In their facility, artist duo Drift grapples with questions about the future, nature, and technology. “We look at our world curiously and don’t take everything for granted, we question things,” says artist Lonneke Gordijn of Studio Drift. “When we then use technology, we have a certain sense of what we want to express.” Often this is a state that they want to create – like a feeling of buoyancy, flight, and freedom. Her colleague Ralph Nauta adds: “Nature is our model, an endless source of inspiration.” “Over billions of leaps in evolution, nature has found the most perfect form to do its definite job.”
Beautiful and fragile – like nature
Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta have been working together as the Drift design duo since 2007.
Their first joint work was dandelions, which they still make: the seeds are glued individually to LEDs with tweezers and silicone glue – 120 small umbrellas for each flower, a lot of work. The staff runs three pieces an hour. Circles made of phosphor bronze wire, designed as a metal frame, later make the fluffy balls glow.
“She appears here as a link between technology and nature,” explains Lonneke Gordijn. “It’s also a positive scenario for a future where nature and technology are combined to make progress rather than working against each other. That’s why we call this work ‘Fragile Future’.”
Breaking waves: light as the central component of waves
Light plays a key role for both: “Light is life and the light in which you see something determines how you feel,” says Lonneke Gordijn. “Light has a huge impact on that and our art is about exactly that: we want to change the attitude towards life.” Many of her works have been copied from nature: “Flylight” simulates the flight of starlings, “In Twenty Steps” imitates the swinging of wings with twenty pairs of computer-controlled glass tubes, and silky “Shilites” that open and close Like flowers – in the rhythm of nature.
“We know exactly when something is right or not,” says Lonneke Gordijn. “It’s not just when we first look at an action, it happens every time you come in contact with it: stillness, the comfort of allowing yourself to breathe normally rather than rushing through life. The rhythm of nature, on the other hand, is very powerful, healing and important to me. for us “.
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Nature is stunningly beautiful – and smart. The crowding behavior of the animals inspired artists to create a flying installation of 300 algorithm-controlled glow at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada.
“Create something no one has ever seen”
In our increasingly digital world, sensory experience is also important to them: “It is very important to stay connected and appreciate the body, build something with your hands, use technology to create something magical, express yourself – to create something that no one has seen before. Something like this inspires people and enters into conversation with them,” says Ralph Nauta.
The event continues as planned
Despite the events and the cancellation of Breaking Waves, concerts will continue within the framework of the Hamburg International Music Festival. Alan Gilbert conducts the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra at the second performance of Joseph Haydn’s “Creation” oration Friday night.
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