Beating Heart Made of Drones Lit Up the Skies Over Rotterdam

Studio Drift’s Franchise Freedom debuted in 2017 with the mission to “explore the relationship between man, nature, and technology.” The art installation uses hundreds of autonomously flying drones based on a biological algorithm and modeled after starlight’s flight behavior.

And the show could not come at a more welcome time. A recent study on the benefits that contact with nature has on our physiological well-being determined that stargazing has the power to significantly reduce stress and improve our mood in general.

“COVID-19 makes it abundantly clear that we as people depend on each other. The future only has value if we can rebuild this, together and sustainably, based on a greater, collective interest,” Studio Drift co-founder Ralph Nauta said in an official press release. After a two-month lockdown, the Netherlands is preparing to slowly reopen, beginning with primary schools set to resume on May 11.