Breaking Waves

2022
Aerial performance
300 drones

On 28 April 2022 the Elbphilharmonie was illuminated by our new performance Breaking Waves. 

Hundreds of illuminated drones danced around the Elbphilharmonie  and enhance the architecture in fascinating ways. Visitors could experience the moving light artwork for free from any location around the building. Breaking Waves accentuates our mission of bringing art into public spaces so that it can reach a large and broad audience. We want to create physical installations that allow the audience to experience and feel the art with all their senses. 

Breaking waves was planned in close collaboration with the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, where we show three of our spectacular kinetic sculptures; Shylight, Fragile Future and In 20 Steps, until the 8th of May, 2022. 

The plan was to perform Breaking Waves four nights in a row. Unfortunately we had to cancel three performances due to aggressive disruption of the airspace as part of the premiere.  During the dress rehearsal and the premiere on Thursday, the art event was massively disrupted by foreign high-speed drones. There have been several collisions and, as a result, numerous drones have crashed. In close coordination with the aviation security authorities of Hamburg and Lower Saxony the show couldn’t go on. We were of course devastated, but luckily we have the film! 

Read more:
Light Zoom Lumière – Breaking Waves: sculpture lumineuse de drones
Designboom – DRIFT’s breaking waves of illuminated drones wrap elbphilharmonie hamburg
Colossal – DRIFT On the Unparalleled Potential of Technology in Cultivating Connections with Nature