At the heart of London’s Design Museum, the highly anticipated exhibition featuring Es Devlin: Other Worlds marks her first European retrospective, unfolding her creative journey from humble beginnings to monumental artistic stages. In an exclusive video interview with Dezeen, Devlin shares insights into how grand projects sprout from simple ideas.
“This is literally my favourite project. A book which took me seven years to make and it contains everything I’ve ever made,” Devlin told Dezeen, as she introduces a companion book that catalogues over three decades of her theatrical and visual designs.
Unveiling the Journey
The exhibition meticulously charts Devlin’s evolution as an artist, from initial sketches to awe-inspiring installations worldwide. Her goal is to demystify the artistic process, inspiring visitors to nurture their own creative impulses. “I really hope that when people leave this exhibition, they’ll see objects and traces of things which make them say, ‘Oh, I could do that’,” she remarked.
Devlin’s ability to create awe-inspiring installations mirrors her luminous vision at San Giorgio, offering another perspective on her artistic innovation.
Devlin emphasizes the grounded nature of creativity: “It’s not a mystery. It doesn’t come by magic. It comes step by step, with attention, curiosity, work, and collaboration.”
The showcase kicks off with a replica of Devlin’s Peckham studio, a treasure trove of her books, models, and tools. “I love visiting other artists and designers’ studios,” she noted. The setup aims to capture the essence of where creativity thrives without constraints.
Visitors next encounter Come Home Again, originally showcased outside Tate Modern in 2022. It features lit silhouettes of endangered wildlife set within a St Paul’s Cathedral dome cross-section, reimagined with a mirrored ceiling for the current exhibition.
This impressive display is followed by A 30-Year Desk, exhibiting circular desks filled with archival sketches and models, including pieces from The Lehman Trilogy, the Forest of Us installation in Miami, and her work from the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony.
The retrospective climaxes with An Infinite Library, an awe-inspiring rotating sculpture eight meters wide, housing over 2,000 influential books. Initially set on Miami Beach, the installation is renewed for this showcase, featuring colorful, illuminated bands and Devlin’s voice reading passages.
Devlin’s career commenced with set designs for small theatre productions in 1996, later expanding into opera and concert stages. Recently, her focus has shifted to grand public artworks. The exhibition offers a pane into her expansive career, even including childhood artwork, providing a narrative thread through the exhibit of her artistic motifs and thought processes.
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“I began to develop an attitude on how to take things that are amassed in piles and are somewhat overwhelming, to spread them out along a timeline and make them digestible and legible to an audience,” Devlin reflects. Her retrospective eloquently showcases how seemingly daunting creations stem from “really simple gestures.”
Es Devlin: Other Worlds is open as part of the special event at the Design Museum until 4 April 2027.
Source: dezeen.com
Frequently asked questions
What is featured in Es Devlin’s retrospective at the Design Museum?
The exhibition features Es Devlin’s artistic journey from humble beginnings to monumental artistic stages, including a replica of her Peckham studio, the Come Home Again installation, and An Infinite Library among other works.
What is the theme of Es Devlin’s exhibition?
The theme of the exhibition is to demystify the artistic process and inspire visitors to nurture their own creative impulses, showing that creativity is grounded and comes through attention, curiosity, work, and collaboration.
How long is Es Devlin’s exhibition open at the Design Museum?
Es Devlin’s exhibition, Other Worlds, is open at the Design Museum until 4 April 2027.
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