1,000-Drone Show To Light Up Central Park This Weekend

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY - It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a … drone.

1,000 drones are slated to light up the area around Central Park’s lake Saturday night as part of a choreographed performance from Amsterdam-based artists STUDIO DRIFT. Music from Joep Beving will be paired with the kinetic display, dubbed “Franchise Freedom."

“To create Franchise Freedom, DRIFT translated over 10 years of starling flight behaviour research into an especially-developed software that is embedded in the drones,” the artists said in a statement. “The parameters in the algorithm used are choreographed by Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, founders of DRIFT, in order to channel the emotional impact of the performance.”

The duo has already received permission from the city for the drone swarm, according to an Instagram post from the team.

Showings will take place at 7, 8 and 9 p.m., with each show lasting about 10 minutes. Ideal viewing locations include Bethesda Fountain, Boat Landing, Lake Overpass and the Bandshell. Much of the rest of the surrounding area will be restricted during the nighttime show, officials said.

The display will be the largest public art project in Central Park since 2005’s “The Gates,” per the New York Times.

Even if you haven’t heard of the duo, the display is far from DRIFT’s first rodeo. The pair’s artwork has been displayed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Art Basel Miami and Hudson Yards’ The Shed, to name just a few. DRIFT was also awarded Dezeen Designer of the Year in 2019.

“The artwork is a poetic illustration of how we as humans strive to live autonomously within a society defined by rules and conventions,” the artists added. “Although the drone patterns appear random and the swarm reminds us of freedom, the behaviour of these birds is completely orchestrated and subject to many rules and survival instincts.”