Drone art. Drone art (also known as drone display or drone light show) is the use of multiple unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), often quadcopters which fly in a coordinated fashion with light fixtures attached. They are usually equipped with multiple LEDs and the display is held at night. The first drone display was presented in 2012 in  Linz, Austria; the Ars Electronica Futurelab introduced SPAXELS (short for "space elements") for the first time. The displays are often for entertainment and the drones may use flocking or swarming behaviour. The drones have the capability to produce images. Using the emerging technology, displays have been employed for advertising purposes.

Intel has produced the Shooting Star, a type of drone used in light shows. The drones were used during the 2018 Winter Olympics, a Super Bowl halftime show in 2017, and a 2018 Fourth of July celebration.

Drone light shows differ from fireworks displays in that drones are reusable; they do not produce air and noise pollution. However, drone displays cannot happen during rain or strong winds. In the 2020s, some cities in the United States replaced Independence Day fireworks displays with drone or laser light shows, to reduce fire risk, air pollution, and the disturbance of dogs and people with PTSD. Concerns about safety have also emerged in response to malfunctioning of public drone light displays, such as prior to a match in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, 350 of the 500 performing drones plunged into the water due to a glitch.

List of drone displays

2012 
 September 2012 - 49 LED-equipped UAVs, called SPAXELS (short for "Space Elements") performed at a world premiere by Ars Electronica Futurelab.

2013 
 March 2013 - 50 SPAXELS used to perform at the premiere of the film Star Trek Into Darkness next to Tower Bridge in London
 August 2013 - 30 SPAXELS used to perform the opening of the new campus at QUT, Brisbane, Australia

2015 
 November 2015 - 100 SPAXELS used for the first Guinness World Record "Drone100" by Ars Electronica Futurelab for Intel

2016 
 November 2016 - Five hundred drones were used in Krailling, Germany  setting a Guinness World Record.
 November 2016 to Jan 8, 2017 - Intel/Disney "Star Bright Holidays", Disney Springs, Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, Florida

2017 
 5 February 2017 - Three hundred drones performed during a Lady Gaga song in the Super Bowl LI halftime show.
 2017 - At the Fortune Global Forum in China, 1,180 drones performed.
 September 2017 - To mark the release of the home version of the Wonder Woman film, 300 drones displayed an enormous "W" in the night sky above Los Angeles.
 December 2017 -  A swarm of 300 Intel drones performed at Art Basel in Miami Beach by Studio Drift and performed by Intel and DroneStories.

2018 
 2018 - During the 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, 1,218 drones performed, breaking the previous world record.
 June 2018 - One hundred SKYMAGIC drones performed in Newcastle, England creating shapes synchronized to music at the opening of the Great Exhibition of the North.
 July 2018 - Intel celebrated its 50th anniversary with 2018 simultaneous drones over their facility in Folsom, California setting a Guinness world record. Intel flew 2066 drones.

2019 
 January 2019 - Two hundred SKYMAGIC drones were deployed for the world's first New Year's Countdown set to fireworks and music for New Year's celebrations on Al Marjan Island.
 3 February 2019 - 150 enhanced Intel Shooting Star drones, choreographed to the music of Maroon 5 at the Super Bowl halftime show
 July 2019 - Two hundred and fifty drones performed at the opening show of the 24th World Scout Jamboree.
 August 2019 - Five hundred drones performed at the 80 years of VDNH celebration in Moscow.
 October 2019 - Two hundred drones presented the new Peugeot 208 show above Paris.
 December 10, 2019 - 150 drones were used to show a spectacular dazzling display for the ending ceremony of South Asian Games 2020, Nepal held at the Dasharath stadium in Kathmandu, Nepal.

2020 
 June 2020 - A 200 drones light show celebrating the 3rd San Giovanni Festival, breaking the world record for simultaneous indoor drone flight
 September 3, 2020 - Geoscan Group launched 2,198 drones at the 75th anniversary of the end of the World War II in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The record was registered by the Record Book of Russia.
 September 20, 2020 - 3,051 drones created a spectacular light show in China setting a Guinness world record. The record was set by Shenzhen Damoda Intelligent Control Technology Co., Ltd in Zhuhai, Guandong.
 November 7, 2020 - President-elect Joe Biden's presidential victory speech featured a celebration drone light and firework show in Wilmington, Delaware.
 November 8, 2020 - 1,000 drones show at the «Wonder of Light» festival in Saint Petersburg performed by Geoscan Group
 December 31, 2020 - 300 drones show at the New Year's Eve fireworks and lighting display in London performed by SKYMAGIC

2021 
 March 17, 2021 - 500 Intel drones in a (pre-recorded) Orchestra of Light show to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Dublin
 April 6, 2021 – Drone Show Europe by Spectrum production team launched first drone show in central europe.The show was performed near Prague Castle (the largest castle complex in the world) Drone Show Prague
 April 12, 2021 – Geoscan Drone Show team launched 500 drones in Velikiy, Novgorod, Russia to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the 1st man's flight in space.
 May 2, 2021 – a performance of 500 quadcopters was shown at the Tourist Season Opening festival in St. Petersburg.
 May 9, 2021 – 1000 drones were launched by Geoscan Drone Show team at the Rzhev Memorial to the Soviet Soldier paying respect to soldiers who fell in the Battles of Rzhev.
 May 2021 – 580 quadcopters show presentation of the new Hyundai Tucson in Istanbul city. It was performed by the Geoscan Drone Show team.
 July 2021, a show using 5200 drones in China
 July 23, 2021 - 1,824 drones are used during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. The drones began above the stadium in positions which depicted the Tokyo 2020 games emblem slowly changing into a rotating sphere with the countries of the world outlined.
 August 21, 2021 – a drone show of 1200 quadcopters were launched in Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia by Geoscan Drone Show celebrating the city's 800th anniversary.
 August 25, 2021 – 1000 drones were put into the sky in Ufa, Russia by Geoscan Drone Show in a display dedicated to the beginning of the WorldSkills Russia contest.
 August 27, 2021 – Samsung Electronics company presented its new smartphones in Estonia with a drone show of 500 quadcopters launched by the Geoscan Drone Show team.
 August 31, 2021 – 1000 drones launch to celebrate the Knowledge Day in Pushkin, Saint Petersburg
 September 4, 2021 - a 100-drone show by Cyberdrone to celebrate the 875th anniversary of Yelets, Russia 
 September 18, 2021 - Cyberdrone's light show with 100 drones celebrating the Balashikha City Day 
 September 21, 2021 – 1000 drones were used in a drone display performed by Geoscan Drone Show during the Armenia Independence Day celebrations.
 October 20, 2021 – 2100 drones were used in a display performed by Geoscan Drone Show during the opening ceremony of Riyadh Seasons 2021.
 December 4, 2021 - 300 drones illuminated the sky of Mumbai in a Cyberdrone  show.
 December 11, 2021 - 500 Cyberdrone drones turned the 75 years of Grasim Industries celebration into a spectacle.

2022 
 January 1, 2022 - Cyberdrone Johnnie Walker light show with 500 drones dancing in the sky
 January 1, 2022 - a SKYMAGIC show (from SkyMagic) in London as part of the New Year's Day celebration
 January 29, 2022 - 1000 drones designed and built by BotLab Dynamics, an Indian startup, performed in a display at the Beating Retreat ceremony in New Delhi as a part of India's Republic Day celebrations.
 February, 2022 - a drone light show team Verge Aero were contestants and given a "golden buzzer" (sending them to the finals in the TV show America's Got Talent: Extreme
 March 1, 2022 - 663 UAVs formed the slogan "Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй" ("Russian warship, go **** yourself") against the background of the Motherland Monument in Kyiv.
 March 6, 2022 - Disneyland Paris premiered a pre and post Illuminations drone show called D Lite and After Glow for their 30th birthday celebrations  which ran nightly until 30 September 2022.
 March 2022 - The world's first feature-length art show containing drones, SKY SONG at Adelaide Fringe Festival, performed by Celestial. It had the world's biggest holographic projector screens and showcased First Nation art
 June 25, 2022 - 500 drones flying over the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran, Algeria throughout the opening ceremony of the Mediterranean Games in 2022 in Oran
 June 26, 2022 - 800 drones created formations over El Hadj Hassan Gouled Aptidon Stadium to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Djibouti's Independence. BotLab Dynamics designed and executed the show which was the first and largest show in Africa.
 August 28, August 30 and September 1, 2022 - 400 drones by SKYMAGIC performed three shows in Weston-super-Mare, England as part of the See Monster art installation.
 October 2022 - 500 drones, performed by Celestial and commissioned by Prime Video, lit up the skies in Lagos, Nigeria for the season finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power making it the first drone show in West Africa.

2023 

 January 1, 2023 - Celestial drones performed at the London New Year's Eve Celebration
 January 7, 2023 - At The Awakening, the opening ceremony of Leeds 2023, held at Headingley Stadium, a giant head spoke to the people of the city.
 January 29, 2023 - BotLab Dynamics' fleet of 3500 drones lit up the skies of New Delhi during the Beating Retreat ceremony for the second year in a row, to perform the world's second largest drone light show till date
 March 14, 2023 - Drone show Europe by Spectrum production team flew 500 drones in Albania. This was the first show in Albania and one of the biggest shows in the whole of Europe. The drone show also won international awards. 
 
 April 2, 2023 - 600 drones used to perform in promoting the animated film The Super Mario Bros. Movie at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California.
 April 16 and April 26, 2023 - 864 drones by Studio Drift performed at Coachella festival during both of Björk's sets, based on "architectural and physics shapes—curves based on biology, like cells and microorganisms."
 July 4, 2023 - 500 drones created a slowly turning representation of the Statue of Liberty at the start of Macy's Fourth of July Spectacular, a fireworks show in New York City, over the East River on the east side of Manhattan.
 July 4, 2023 - 500 drones were used for a unique drone light show for the first time in Downtown Los Angeles at Gloria Molina Grand Park for their Gloria Molina Grand Park's 4th of July Block Party. 
 Aug 27, 2023 - DroneSwarm produce the UK's first ever drone light show proposal at Newby Hall in Yorkshire
 October 2023 – Newcastle United F.C.'s shirt sponsor, Sela, created an animated drone display above the St James' Park stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England to celebrate the team's return to the UEFA Champions' League after their last campaign 20 years earlier.

2024 
 July 14, 2024 - 1,571 drones were used at Disneyland Paris to created a giant tricolor Mickey Mouse for their special drone show accompained with fireworks to commemorate Bastille Day, set a Guinness World Records title for orchestrating “the Largest aerial display of a fictional character formed by multirotors/drones".
 September 26, 2024 - In Shenzhen, China, 10,197 drones were confirmed to be used in a drone show above Shenzhen Bay Park to celebrate National Day. Despite challenges from strong winds and heavy ionospheric interference, the Damoda team successfully set two Guinness World Records for “The most multirotor/drones airborne simultaneously from a single computer (outdoors)” and “The largest aerial image formed by multirotors/drones”.

Drone teams 
 Ars Electronica Futurelab

See also
 Aerial advertising
 Laser lighting display
 Light art
 Swarm robotics

References

Multi-robot systems
Light art