Art imitating nature is at the heart of an upcoming exhibition at Newfields, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Opening February 22, 2019, “Studio Drift: Meadow” is the American debut of an “upside-down landscape,” a masterwork of kinetic lighting comprising eighteen mechanical blossoms that open and close in response to visitors passing below them. It’ll be part of the Efroymson Family Entrance Pavilion series in the Indianapolis Museum of Art until February 23, 2020.

Inspired by the biological behavior of nyctinasty —- the ability of certain plants to bloom in the daytime and close their petals at night- – visitors operate as sunlight “proxies,” activating motion sensors that cause the petals to react and change color in their presence. The silk fabric flowers are dyed in gradient shades that harmonize with colored LED lights to evoke the changing tones of a skyscape as dawn transitions to dusk.

It’s the creation of Amsterdam-based art and design collective Studio Drift, known for its large-scale installations centered on the relationship between humans, nature, and technology.

(Photos courtesy of Newfields)