The debut of lacma’s David Geffen Galleries in Los Angeles
TREND has released Franchise Freedom, of illuminated flock of dancing drones above the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), to mark its opening Peter Zumthor-designed the David Geffen galleries in Los Angeles.
Located along Wilshire Avenue, the event put two systems in conversation. The David Geffen galleries extend horizontally in sand-toned concrete, forming a continuous raised level in the area. Above it, DRIFT’s formation of illuminated drones moved through the evening air, shifting in density and direction. One holds its place through mass and structure, the other through movement and resonance.
images © Pablo Garcia, Albert Azouz, Bo Bridges, Complex Aerial, Davis Huber, Dillon Harmon, Elias Posada, Jake Howard, Joshua Ewalt, Mark Christian, Patrick Coyne, Pedro Castro, Sammie Saing, William Teets
drift learns from the murmurs of starlings
Franchise Freedom, which appeared LACMA this past weekend, is based on more than two decades of research by TREND in brisket murmurs. Each drone responds to its neighbors through a common set of behavioral rules, producing patterns that remain fluid yet legible. The formation expands, compresses and redirects, creating a constantly reorganizing field with no fixed center.
This logic finds a parallel in the following architecture. The David Geffen Galleries propose a horizontal organization where curatorial departments occupy a continuous level. Traffic flows throughout the building without a dominant axis, evenly distributing attention to the exhibitions. Spatial hierarchy gives way to contiguity and the building functions as a network rather than a sequence.
the drone formation moves as a coordinated field of light over the museum
shared information from more than 1,000 drones
The alignment between the installation from DRIFT and the new LACMA galleries is made clear in the way it defines the structure. In DRIFT’s work, no drone directs the composition. Form emerges through proximity and responsiveness, with each unit maintaining an awareness of the group. The visual effect depends on this shared intelligence, where coherence is maintained without central control.
Galleries apply a similar principle to architectural scale. By flattening the institutional arrangement, the design places different collections in direct relation. Movement throughout the building is continuous, allowing visitors to construct their own paths. Spatial experience is shaped by connections rather than thresholds.
the show draws from research into starling murmurations
project information:
name: Franchise Freedom
artist: TREND | @studio.drift (Lonneke Gordijn & Ralph Nauta)
location: Los Angeles, California
date: April 18, 2026
photo, video: Pablo Garcia, Albert Azouz, Bo Bridges, Complex Aerial, Davis Huber, Dillon Harmon, Elias Posada, Jake Howard, Joshua Ewalt, Mark Christian, Patrick Coyne, Pedro Castro, Sammie Saing, William Teets
