Devlin’s protean work is rooted in a lifelong practice of reading and drawing, especially sketching in the margins of texts. For this exhibition, I have gathered the drawings, fragile paper sculptures and small-scale revolving cardboard models that I and my studio team have been making over the past three decades, a miniature parallel practice at the root of the large-scale public performance and installation works. Her work is rooted in a lifelong practice of reading and drawing, from the plays, song lyrics and opera libretti that have informed her performance sculptures, to the works of fiction, poetry, geo-philosophy, anthropological economics, biology and climate science that have formed the foundation of her art and activism over the past decade. Published in association with a retrospective exhibition opening at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York in November 2023, An Atlas of Es Devlin is a unique, sculptural volume of over 900 pages, including foldouts, cut-outs, and a range of paper types, mirror and translucencies, with over 700 color images documenting over 120 projects spanning over 30 years, and a 50,000 word text featuring the artist’s personal commentaries on each art work as well as interviews with her collaborators including Hans Ulrich Obrist, Bono, Benedict Cumberbatch, Pharrell Williams, Carlo Rovelli, Brian Eno, Sam Mendes, Alice Rawsthorn, and Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye. For her first monographic museum exhibition, Devlin will install her 30-year archive across the third floor of the museum.

This first monographic exhibition showcases the never-before-seen, small-scale works that lead to her monumental architectures.A lot of them were seeded in that 1980s period, and in that intention there’s no such thing as society, only the individual.

Having finally completed the herculean task of documenting a decades-long career driven forward by collaboration, it seems that she too sees potential in pursuing more soloistic projects. An Atlas of Es Devlin” is organized by Andrea Lipps, associate curator of contemporary design and head, Digital Collecting, and Julie Pastor, curatorial assistant. Lift and escalator access to the Hall is located next to the river entrance, just beyond the brick arches. For this first monographic exhibition of her work, Devlin and the curators dug through her 30-year archive, mapping throughlines that connect her teenage paintings to her stage designs to her contemporary installations.The book features over 700 color images documenting 120 projects spanning four decades and a 50,000-word text featuring Devlin’s personal commentaries on each artwork, as well as interviews with collaborators, including Bono, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brian Eno, Sam Mendes, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Alice Rawsthorn, Carlo Rovelli, Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, Lyndsey Turner, and Pharrell Williams.

At the UN headquarters in New York last month, I was sitting not far from the Sudanese-American poet Emi Mahmoud when she got up to perform her work and brought a room of 200 people to tears, to their feet, to their senses. The app platform is part of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ longstanding commitment to supporting digital innovation in the arts.

Best known for her theatre sets, she has also designed Olympic ceremonies and collaborated with stars including Beyoncé, U2 and Kendrick Lamar on their live shows. An Atlas of Es Devlin” will examine the origins, rigor and depth of Devlin’s process through a compelling journey into her 30-year archive, charting the evolution of form, scale and intention in her practice, from teenage drawings and paintings, to designs for theater, opera, stadium concerts and ceremonies, to her current engagement with climate and civilizational crises. The book features over 700 color images documenting 120 projects spanning four decades, and a 50,000-word text featuring Devlin’s personal commentaries on each artwork as well as interviews with collaborators, including Bono, Benedict Cumberbatch, Brian Eno, Sam Mendes, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Alice Rawsthorn, Carlo Rovelli, Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye, Lyndsey Turner and Pharrell Williams. Adams Charitable Foundation, the August Heckscher Exhibition Fund, the Barbara and Morton Mandel Design Gallery Endowment Fund, the Esme Usdan Exhibition Endowment Fund, the Lemberg Foundation, and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation.

She has been awarded The London Design Medal, three Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, an Ivor Novello Award, doctorates from the Universities of Bristol, Kent and the University of the Arts London as well as Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts and CBE. The installation invites everyone to come and experience the monumental space that the artist has created for Free Your Mind. The exhibition's been made in parallel with Devlin's first monographic book as well as her first record – presented as a limited-edition vinyl LP by The Vinyl Factory.

This vinyl LP captures 20 of her iconic works’ soundscapes, with music produced by long-time collaborators Polyphonia, uniquely mixed with her voiceovers, including personal stories and poetry.