DRIFT's installation blossoms inside santiago calatrava’s pavilion at milwaukee art museum

DRIFT's installation blossoms inside santiago calatrava’s pavilion at milwaukee art museum

DRIFT’s flowers bloom in Santiago Calatrava-designed pavilion

 

Artist duo DRIFT transforms Windhover Hall at the Milwaukee Art Museum into an upside-down landscape with Meadow, a luminous kinetic installation crafted from aluminum, stainless steel, and vibrant fabric. Presented as part of the Museum’s Winter Series, the piece will be on view and free to the public until April 13, 2025.

 

Suspended beneath the soaring wings of Santiago Calatrava’s iconic Quadracci Pavilion, Meadow features choreographed flowers that gently open and close in a mesmerizing dance. Developed with custom software by DRIFT’s Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, the kinetic artwork draws inspiration from the patterns and movements of wildflowers. Meadow’s colors and choreography are uniquely tailored to the Milwaukee setting, offering an experience aware of its surroundings.

DRIFT's installation blossoms inside santiago calatrava’s pavilion at milwaukee art museum
all images of Winter Series: Meadow by Front Room Studios courtesy of the Milwaukee Art Museum

 

 

the installation is part of Milwaukee Art Museum’s winter series

 

For the Dutch duo, Gordijn and Nauta, the opportunity to exhibit in Calatrava’s architecture was particularly meaningful. ‘It was a dream to design this artwork specifically to fit Windhover Hall,’ the duo shared. ‘We worked with the perspective to draw the eye into the height of the open atrium to make visitors wander through the space vertically.’

 

‘DRIFT has long worked at the intersection of nature and technology, and I’m excited to present their work within the context of the Quadracci Pavilion, a biophilic space designed by Calatrava,’ comments Shoshana Resnikoff, Demmer Curator of 20th- and 21st-Century Design. 

 

The Winter Series, inaugurated in 2024 with Larry Bell’s Iceberg (2020), invites artists to reflect on the natural world within the expansive setting of Windhover Hall. Through Meadow, the Museum extends the series’ mission of bringing joy and inspiration to the darker months. ‘The first Winter Series presentation was a remarkable success, and I’m delighted to continue the series with an installation that transforms this iconic space into a garden-like setting for everyone who enters the Museum,’ notes Elizabeth Siegel, Chief of Curatorial Affairs at the Milwaukee Art Museum. ‘Meadow will leave visitors wonderstruck.’

DRIFT's installation blossoms inside santiago calatrava’s pavilion at milwaukee art museum
DRIFT’s upside-down landscape transforms Windhover Hall at the Milwaukee Art Museum

DRIFT's installation blossoms inside santiago calatrava’s pavilion at milwaukee art museum
the flowers are crafted from aluminum, stainless steel, and vibrant fabric

DRIFT's installation blossoms inside santiago calatrava’s pavilion at milwaukee art museum
presented as part of the Museum’s Winter Series

DRIFT's installation blossoms inside santiago calatrava’s pavilion at milwaukee art museum
suspended beneath the soaring wings of Santiago Calatrava’s iconic Quadracci Pavilion

drift-santiago-calatrava-pavilion-milwaukee-art-museum-upside-down-landscape-designboom-1800-02

Meadow features choreographed flowers that gently open and close in a mesmerizing dance

DRIFT's installation blossoms inside santiago calatrava’s pavilion at milwaukee art museum
developed with custom software by DRIFT’s Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta

DRIFT's installation blossoms inside santiago calatrava’s pavilion at milwaukee art museum
the kinetic artwork draws inspiration from the patterns and movements of wildflowers

drift-santiago-calatrava-pavilion-milwaukee-art-museum-upside-down-landscape-designboom-1800-01

Meadow’s colors and choreography are uniquely tailored to the Milwaukee setting

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