Van Gendt Hallen in Amsterdam in early 2025 Amsterdam is gaining a new museum: the Drift Museum. Initiators are the artists and founders of DRIFT, Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta, and the owner of the renovated national monument Van Gendt Hallen, Eduard Zanen. The three founders are entrepreneurs who share their vision to use technology for a sustainable future and are always striving for maximum quality. DRIFT’s work will be shown to maximum effect in the monumental Van Gendt Hallen, as designed by architecture firm Braaksma & Roos.

DRIFT creates large-scale, technologically advanced and performative artworks and in many cases the infrastructure of existing museums do not therefore always do justice to their work. After the overwhelming success of their solo exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in 2018, it became DRIFT’s mission to show their work to the widest possible audience. The result is a space that aims to offer a new kind of museum experience. The grandeur, robustness and industrial character of the Van Gendt Hallen will enhance DRIFT’s space-filling artworks and kinetic installations.

The founders of DRIFT have been working at the intersection of art and technology since 2007. “The Drift Museum is the outcome of everything we have been working towards for the past 17 years. We hope it will be a place that generates wonder and emotional responses from our visitors and where they feel more connected to our planet and nature,” share artists Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta.

DRIFT’s work has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Biennale di Venezia (2015, 2022); Pace Gallery New York (2021); Victoria & Albert Museum (2009, 2015) and the Stedelijk Museum in 2018. This successful solo exhibition attracted around 275,000 visitors in four months at the Stedelijk Museum. Recently, DRIFT hit the world press with the drone performance of their artwork Franchise Freedom over New York Central Park (October 2023).

Van Gendt Hallen

The Van Gendt Hallen are five industrial factory halls in the centre of Amsterdam designed by architect Dolf van Gendt in 1898. After years of vacancy, the monumental 13,300 m2 building is being renovated sustainably and innovatively at the initiative of Eduard Zanen. Eduard Zanen: “This heritage complex fortunately escaped demolition. I see it as my responsibility to preserve this foundation-owned building for the future and use innovative restoration techniques to transform it into a future-proof, sustainable and energy-neutral national monument. The Drift Museum of over 8,000 m2 will be located in two of the halls. The other halls will house sports activities, restaurants, offices and start-ups that stand out in terms of sustainability. This will make it a place where art and technology will converge on over 25,000 m2 and where new forms of collaboration will emerge, such as now with DRIFT in a new museum.”

Eduard Zanen

Eduard Zanen owns a range of sustainable businesses including Holland Composite, several of whose innovative solutions are being applied in the restoration of the Van Gendt Halls. Previously, as an entrepreneur, he co-founded the successful company Bugaboo International.