Drifting Inwards: Review of DRIFT's Fragile Future exhibition in NYC
Written & Photographed by Andrea Velazquez • Co-Written & Edited by Cristina Jayo
Fragile Future by artists DRIFT invites us to reconnect with the physical world around us, examining what it means to take up space and even inviting us to experience empathy towards nonliving objects. Through soft yet calculated movements, cement-like cubes float gracefully in ways that draw us in and suspend us in the air along with them. There's a large block made of a net of thin threads that continuously alters its shape through a thoughtful choreography. In this steady state of movement, the "block" shifts from an imposing force to a feeble, almost vulnerable strand that lies on the ground as if it has lost all force to move on. A sculpture of LED lights surrounded by thousands of individually-glued dandelion seeds sits patiently in a room, waiting for us to take a moment to truly appreciate the intricacies of its being.
These are just a few examples of pieces that command attention by simply "being" in a poetic and captivating way, hypnotizing the viewer through an almost human presence that instills an emotional connection. You stay and watch in order to fully take in the presence of these objects, observe how they discover the space around them with no other intention other than to exist, and bid them farewell with a pinch of melancholy, truly desiring in some odd way that these drifters find what they are looking for.
Photos by Andrea Velazquez