d'strict's FLOW, Thereafter makes 'wrong' art takes a genre — iF Gold 2026

The predecessor FLOW translated the history of Western art into dance on Outernet London's four-storey, 360-degree 16K screens. For the sequel, d'strict wanted to dismantle the fear that contemporary art is 'too difficult', which keeps ordinary audiences at a distance.

Treat contemporary art as the medium: turn people's 'wrong' impressions of artworks into earnest giant-figure performances, so any interpretation becomes a way in.

In 'A Misinterpretation Performance', d'strict staged earnest, whimsical readings of real artworks — the first chapter centers on Star Cliff (2023) by Jinu Nam — with giant figures performing on the Now Building's five-sided screens from 16 October 2025. A second chapter, Society, put eight characters reinterpreting eight artworks on Times Square's vertical screens.

The Gold-winning 'Misinterpretation Performance' earned the iF Design Award 2026 Gold in Film/Video/Animation — one of only 75 Gold trophies from more than 10,000 entries — among seven awards and eight consecutive years of iF recognition for d'strict.

When d'strict's first FLOW translated the history of Western art into dance on Outernet London's four-storey, 360-degree 16K screens in early 2024, it became a landmark of the UK's most visited cultural attraction. For the sequel, the Korean digital design company aimed at a harder target: the widespread belief that contemporary art is difficult and not for ordinary audiences.

The answer was to make that discomfort the medium. FLOW, Thereafter is a 'Misinterpretation Performance': giant figures perform earnest, playful, deliberately 'wrong' readings of real artworks — the first chapter centers on Star Cliff (2023) by Jinu Nam — on the Now Building's five-sided screens from 16 October 2025, free to everyone. A second chapter, Society, staged eight characters reinterpreting eight artworks on Times Square's vertical screens.

The premise is that any interpretation, even a nonsense one, deserves legitimacy, so art stops being something to understand and becomes something to feel. The iF jury said the work dissolves the boundary between audience and story, turns viewers into participants in a living narrative, and creates an entirely new genre. It won iF Design Award 2026 Gold in Film/Video/Animation — one of roughly 75 Gold trophies among more than 10,000 entries from 68 countries.

The insight targets the real barrier — intimidation by contemporary art — rather than dumbing the art down.

Making deliberately 'wrong' interpretations the performance gives every audience member permission to engage on their own terms.

Placing the work on Outernet's free, four-storey, five-sided 16K screens turned a gallery experience into an open public one.

Expanding the series to Times Square's Society chapter showed the format was a repeatable genre, not a one-off stunt.

The iF jury's 'entirely new genre' verdict and Gold in Film/Video/Animation confirmed the format's originality.

If a category feels too hard, don't simplify the message — make the fear itself the subject: give audiences permission to interpret 'wrongly', and the barrier becomes the experience.

FLOW, Thereafter opened free at Outernet's Now Building on 16 October 2025 and ran into February 2026, while the Society chapter played on Times Square. In February 2026 the 'Misinterpretation Performance' took iF Design Award Gold in Film/Video/Animation — one of about 75 Golds from over 10,000 entries — giving d'strict seven awards in that edition and an eighth consecutive year of iF recognition. d'strict said it would keep expanding the format to bring art closer to everyday life.