Behind vast stages are small sketches, models and books read many times. Es Devlin’s exhibition reveals those starting points.
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When the performance begins, the stage instantly becomes a scene. While the lights are turned on and the structure moves, the paper on which it was initially drawn or the small model on the desk are not visible to the audience. Once you see the finished size, it's easy to feel like the starting point must have been huge.
‘Es Devlin: Other Worlds’ at the London Design Museum is an exhibition that brings together 30 years of Es Devlin’s work, including performance stages, installations, and sculptures. It traces finished works back to the studio and the sketches that began them.
When a big stage is placed on a small desk
The exhibition hall includes a reconstruction of Devlin’s London studio. Books, objects, and models are placed, and drawings, collages, diaries, and printed materials from school and college are introduced. The hands-on work easily overlooked in finished productions becomes part of the exhibition.
The central circular exhibition structure ‘30-Year Desk’ connects the flow of various works, including the stage of the play ‘The Lehman Trilogy’, ‘Forest of Us’, the London Olympics closing ceremony, and the Super Bowl halftime show. Even though each stage meets a different location and audience, the process of testing form and light returns to small materials and models.
The final room where the bookshelf moves
‘An Infinite Library’ awaits at the end of the exhibition. An 8m wide triangular bookshelf with over 2,000 books arranged according to color rotates on a circular mirror. They include well-read books from Devlin’s own studio.
A bookshelf is usually a stationary object attached to a wall. Here, the structure where the books are placed moves and becomes an installation. Reading the title and looking at the colors and shapes created by the books happen in the same place. The stage designer has made a new space from the books that influenced her.
This exhibition will be open until April 4, 2027. The books in the exhibition will be donated to a local charity after the exhibition ends. Even after the rotation is over, the book opens again in someone's hand.
Image information: Design Museum official press photo. Photo: Daniel Devlin @susakpress. Original photograph used. https://designmuseum.org/asset/download?id=2bda83ea-0e4e-48cd-8141-00ab845c6b4f
Sources and editorial notes
Design Museum · Exhibition official introduction
Design Museum · September 2026 press release
Editorial note: Facts were checked against the sources above; interpretations are MUADAILY’s editorial views. Image: Daniel Devlin @susakpress / Design Museum.
Machine-translated from Korean. Read the original.
