Mint’s new exhibit features work from artists who launched 600 drones into the sky at Burning Man

The Mint Museum’s newest exhibition features immersive, illuminated and animated installations that blend art, nature and technology.

It’s the first solo museum exhibition outside Europe by Studio Drift, an artist collective based in the Netherlands. Before you start seeing the photo-worthy displays popping up all over Instagram, here’s what to expect.

When to go: The exhibition will run from Sept. 20, 2019 through April 26, 2020 at the Mint Museum Uptown.

Who’s involved: Studio Drift, an artist collective founded by Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn in 2007, is a collaborative effort among more than 50 artists, technologists and engineers.

The installations: Four pieces are located on the 3rd floor and the fifth international premiere installation is on the 5th floor.

• Amplitude – The large-scale installation is made of 20 glass and brass “wings” perfectly timed to move in a way that mimics the undulation of waves or the flight of a bird.
• Fragile Future 3 – The intricate light display features LED light bulbs covered in hundreds of real dandelion seeds that were meticulously glued by hand.
• Drifters – The 12-minute film stars one of Studio Drift’s most famous pieces Drifter, a massive concrete block seemingly suspended in air. Presented here in CGI form, the block travels through the Scottish Highlands in search of its origins.

• Franchise Freedom – You can watch a documentary film version of the jaw-dropping light show that launched 600 illuminated Intel drones into the sky at Miami’s Art Basel 2017 and Burning Man 2018. The drones are synchronized to mimic the flight of starlings.

• Coded Coincidence (world premiere) – Visitors can step inside the plexiglass chamber where a system of fans swirls elm seeds through the air. This is a collaborative project with the community of Charlotte.