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By Bjarke Ingels, Beatrice Leanza and William Myers
240 pages, hardcover, $89.95
Published by Phaidon
phaidon.com

Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Odyssey and the person who first proposed the idea of a geostationary communications satellite, famously wrote, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” In the work of DRIFT, an art collective and studio based in Amsterdam run by Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, technology and magic fuse to create jaw-dropping spectacles. To view the hundreds of photographs across the 240 pages of DRIFT: Choreographing the Future is to enter a world of emotion, awe and bewilderment, where technology disappears and wizardry remains.

DRIFT is arranged in broad categories encompassing Technology, Human Nature and Choreographed Spaces, plus a photographic catalog of works under construction on the lab bench at the studio. Essays by heavy hitters in the art world—including artist Marina Abramović and art dealer Arne Glimcher, architect Bjarke Ingels, and WIRED co-founder Jane Metcalfe—provide thoughtful context.

The book is a feast for the eyes and a puzzle for the mind. To see the photos in DRIFT inspires both senses of wonder—the emotional and the practical, from ‘how wonderful’ to ‘I wonder how they did that?’ For anyone who has not seen the DRIFT drone swarms over the playa at Burning Man or DRIFTER, a dance of massive, floating (yes, floating!) concrete blocks, the book is a great introduction and a jumping-off point to dozens of DRIFT videos on YouTube. —Sam McMillan

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