The artists and founders of DRIFT, Lonneke Gordijn & Ralph Nauta, are at the forefront of a new cultural development in Amsterdam: the Drift Museum. This initiative takes shape in collaboration with Eduard Zanen, the owner of the beautifully restored Van Gendt Hallen, which is set to become the museum’s home.
The three founders are entrepreneurs who share a vision of using technology for a sustainable future, whilst always striving for the highest possible quality. DRIFT’s art will be presented in the monumental Van Gendt Hallen setting, as designed by architecture firm Braaksma & Roos.
DRIFT creates large-scale, technologically advanced and performative artworks that don’t always fit in the infrastructure of existing museums. After the overwhelming success of their solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in 2018, it became DRIFT’s mission to show their work to the widest possible audience. The result is a museum in which DRIFT’s space-filling artworks will be enhanced by the robust and industrial character of the Van Gendt Hallen.
The founders of DRIFT have been working at the intersection of art and technology since 2007.
The Drift Museum is the outcome of everything we have been working towards for the past 17 years. We hope it will be a place that generates wonder and emotional responses from our visitors and where they feel more connected to our planet and nature,
artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta share.
DRIFT’s work has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Biennale di Venezia (2015, 2022); Pace Gallery New York (2021); Victoria & Albert Museum (2009, 2015) and the Stedelijk Museum in 2018. The successful solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum attracted around 275,000 visitors in four months. Recently, DRIFT hit the world press with a drone performance of their artwork Franchise Freedom over New York’s Central Park (October 2023).
About
The Van Gendt Hallen are five industrial factory halls in the centre of Amsterdam designed by architect Dolf van Gendt in 1898. After years of vacancy, the monumental 13,300 m2 building is being renovated sustainably and innovatively at the initiative of Eduard Zanen. Eduard Zanen:
This listed building fortunately escaped demolition. I see it as my responsibility to preserve this building for the future and to use innovative restoration techniques to transform it into a future-proof, sustainable, and energy-neutral national monument. The Drift Museum of over 8,000 m2 will be located in two of the halls. The other halls will house sports activities, restaurants, offices and start-ups that stand out in terms of sustainability. This will make it a place where art and technology will come together on over 25,000 m2 of floor space and where new forms of collaboration will emerge, such as this new museum with DRIFT.
Eduard Zanen owns a range of sustainable businesses including Holland Composite, several of whose innovative solutions are being applied in the restoration of the Van Gendt Hallen. Previously, as an entrepreneur, he co-founded the successful company Bugaboo International.
