“The first thing I wanted to do is to invite visitors into my studio,” says British artist and designer Es Devlin, referring to the comprehensive retrospective of her 30-year career currently on view at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City. Largely known for her work as the creator of sculptural installations and multi-disciplinary stage environments for theater, opera, and the likes of Beyoncé and U2—even the closing ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics and 2022 NFL Super Bowl half-time show—Devlin does just that with a realistic recreation of the atelier she occupies with her six architecture-trained protégés near London, introducing visitors to the team’s environment and tools as they enter this intimate timed-entry exhibition.
Photo by Elliot Goldstein, © Smithsonian Institution
The “Iris” annotated with the names and dates of Devlin’s numerous collaborations. Photo © Architectural Record
Coinciding with a newly released monograph, An Atlas of Es Devlin (Thames & Hudson, October 2023), the show brings the richly illustrated, 866-page volume to life using audio, video, and digital effects in ways that mimic many of Devlin’s set designs. Beyond this initial studio experience, museumgoers encounter a super-sized replica of the book cover—a multi-layered, so-called “Iris,” that pays tribute to her many collaborators—directors, writers, musicians, lighting and costume designers, fabricators, et al—by, “evoking what it takes to see the world through the lens of others,” as she puts it. From here one enters a display of Devlin’s early explorations into art and creative thinking—the drawings, cutouts, and paintings from her youth—followed by a series of rooms showcasing countless studies and actual models that reveal the thought processes behind the dozens of productions she and her colleagues have designed. From the assertively architectural Tony- and Olivier-Award-winning Lehman Trilogy to the immersive, digital experience of U2’s recent concert at the Las Vegas Sphere, the journey comes to an end with a mockup of a traditional proscenium house (reminiscent of London’s Covent Garden) showcasing a photo loop of the produced operas, plays, events, and installations.
Photo by Elliot Goldstein, © Smithsonian Institution
Curated by Andrea Lipps, associate curator of contemporary design and head of the Cooper Hewitt’s digital curatorial department, with curatorial assistant Julie Pastor, An Atlas of Es Devlin—as with its subject’s oeuvre—was a collaborative effort, with its design and fabrication by the Es Devlin Studio with Pink Sparrow, graphics by Morcos Key, creative production by Jo MacKay, and projection and video design by Luke Halls Studio. In addition, Polyphonia provided the composition and sound design, Bruno Poet and John Viesta, the lighting design, and AV&C, the audiovisual production and integration. According to Lipps, “Within an environment conceived by Devlin herself, this exhibition will immerse visitors in the artist’s studio and archive. Centering artifacts, it will also reveal the remarkable breadth, rigor, and iterative process underlying Devlin’s transformative, multidisciplinary work.”
Devlin in her studio in 2021. Photo courtesy Es Devlin.
Perhaps what is most remarkable about this presentation at the Cooper Hewitt—and what, to this writer, makes it essential viewing for anyone interested or engaged in performance art—is that its breadth not only showcases the body of work of an active designer, it, in many ways, documents the progression of an art and its practitioners over three decades of societal and technological change.
An Atlas of Es Devlin is on view at the Cooper Hewitt through August 11, 2024.
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