Payload Logo

A petting zoo of crystal-encrusted drones has been deemed too dangerous for London

By Michael Silverberg
Published

An interactive drone installation planned for the London Design Festival in September has been canceled, the project’s sponsor, Swarovski, said in a statement, citing concerns over the ”safety of members of the public in close proximity to the drones.” The Drone Aviary would have taken over the Victoria and Albert Museum’s garden with a swarm of a dozen or so drones covered in Swarovski crystals, “offering the public a chance to interact with ‘semi-autonomous’ creatures,” according to a now-removed description of the project from the festival’s site. “This would have been the first time that drone technology has interacted with the public in a museum setting,” Swarovski said in the statement.

The designers of the proposed installation, Superflux, had already helped create a similar project in 2011 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. There, they repurposed drones typically used in surveillance, turning them into a roving Wi-Fi and file-sharing network. For a taste of the aerial ballet that Londoners now won’t experience, there’s a video of the Dutch project.

📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief

Our free, fast and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.