Through her creative practice, Es Devlin explores biodiversity, linguistic diversity and collective AI-generated poetry. Her immersive installations have been shown at Tate Modern, V&A, Serpentine Gallery, Imperial War Museum and United Nations General Assembly, to the Royal Opera House, the National Theatre, London and the Metropolitan Opera, New York. She has made monumental sculptures for Olympic Ceremonies, Super-Bowl half-time shows, and wild stage designs for Beyoncé, to U2. Devlin has been awarded The London Design Medal, three Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, an Ivor Novello Award, three doctorates as well as Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts, and CBE. While installing her latest project ‘The Library Of Us’ on South Beach Miami, we talked to Es about her practice, inspirations and must-haves.
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Style Notes
Draw or sketch?
Sketching fast and drawing slow
Conceptualise or construct?
Conceptualising large things and observing with wonder as many infinitely skilled others construct them. Constructing smaller things myself and observing the conversation between my eyes, hands and the materials, bypassing my brain.
Stage design for U2 at The Sphere, Las Vegas.
Minimal or maximal?
Essential forms on an epic scale
Which projects from your illustrious career best define you?
My book: ‘An Atlas of Es Devlin‘ (Thames & Hudson 2023) - although it's the smallest thing I've made, it's the densest with traces of me.
What is your ultimate project?
One that conjoined 8.6 billion humans in shared purpose
Which film, if any, has most informed your work?
William Kentridge: Second Hand Reading
Which work of art would you most like to hang on your wall?
Naum Gabo, ‘Linear Construction in Space No. 4‘ (1957)
Which living artist seems most relevant to you today?
Joan Jonas
Which museum inspires you most?
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art near Copenhagen
If you didn’t live in London, which city would be next?
Copenhagen
Es Devlin, Surfacing, 2024, Art Basel, Switzerland. Featuring a dance performance choreographed by Sharon Eyal.
What view best describes your happy place?
Rolling hills on the way to the sea
What is your first rule of personal style?
Anything yellow
Who is your style icon?
Tilda Swinton
What is the favourite object you own?
A bell I bought in Kyoto
What’s your favourite bar and your drink of choice?
The bar at the back of the Marlton Hotel in NYC - a ceremonial celebratory non alcoholic drink with a dash of Angostura bitters
Plum Village Monastery, France.
Where would be your ultimate place to sleep?
Surrounded 360 degrees by calm turquoise sea
Stillness or madness?
Stillness, presence.
Chaos or zen?
Zen: I recently attended an artists retreat at Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's monastry Plum Village near Bergerac in France - the monks there teach you how to migrate back from the future tense to the present tense, how to avoid being absent from your own life.
