Drone Swarm Performance and Generative Art at Venice Biennale

For the 2022 Venice Biennale, the Dutch duo Studio DRIFT (Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn) staged a performance titled 'Social Sacrifice' in the church of San Lorenzo, home to Ocean Space. The piece used one hundred small luminous drones to simulate the defensive dance of a fish school evading a predator, an example of 'swarm intelligence' and collective behavior found in nature. The performance was accompanied by a soundtrack by DJ Don Diablo. The event was part of CodeX, a program by Aorist, a new cultural institution bridging digital and physical art, also operating as an NFT marketplace on sustainable Proof-of-Stake blockchains. Aorist was founded by Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, Ximena Caminos, and Andrea Bonaceto. In addition to the performance, Aorist presented an immersive installation by Rafaël Rozendaal titled 'Observation' at the Venice Meeting Point near the Arsenale, featuring mirrors and screens with ever-changing colors and forms. The program also included a generative online work by Jonas Lund called 'MVP (Most Valuable Painting),' consisting of 512 digital paintings that evolve based on audience reactions to optimize their market appeal.