Studio Drift to Open Dedicated Museum in Amsterdam in 2025

Studio Drift, the Amsterdam-based artist duo Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, will open their own museum in Amsterdam in early 2025. The Drift Museum will be located in a historic industrial complex designed by architect Adolf Leonard van Gendt in 1898, in the city center. The building is owned by entrepreneur Eduard Zanen, who has been overseeing restoration since 2020. Architecture firm Braaksma & Roos, based in The Hague, is designing the intervention. Two of the five former factory halls will house the museum, totaling 8,000 square meters, with the remaining space for offices, startups, a sports hub, and restaurants. The halls are 160 meters long, 18 meters wide, and 20 meters high, suitable for Studio Drift's large-scale, technologically advanced works. The duo expects 500,000 annual visitors. Zanen stated his responsibility to preserve the building with innovative restoration techniques, making it a sustainable, energy-neutral national monument. The museum marks a turning point for Studio Drift, which has grown globally but remains tied to Amsterdam. Their 2018 solo exhibition "Coded Nature" at the Stedelijk Museum attracted 280,000 visitors and included works like "Drifter," a suspended concrete monolith. The Stedelijk has supported the duo since 2007, acquiring "Fragile Future Chandelier 3.5" (2012) and "Volkswagen Beetle 1980" (2018). A potential partnership between the Stedelijk and the Drift Museum is hinted at.