Previously On View: November 18, 2023 through August 11, 2024

See exhibitions currently on view.

An Atlas of Es Devlin is the first monographic museum exhibition dedicated to British artist and stage designer Es Devlin (born 1971), who is renowned for work that transforms audiences. Since beginning in small theaters in 1995, she has charted a course from kinetic stage designs at the National Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera to installations at major institutions, including the World Expo, Lincoln Center, and the United Nations headquarters. Her sculptures for Olympic Ceremonies, NFL Super Bowl halftime shows, and stadium tours for The Weeknd and U2 frame narratives that feel personal at a monumental scale. Over the past decade, she has adapted her craft to address climate and civilizational crises. Her public installations on endangered species and languages have inspired audiences to reimagine their connections to each other and to the planet. She shapes stories in ways that stay with us and reframe our thinking.

These stories often begin in the margins of texts. Devlin’s work is rooted in a lifelong practice of reading and drawing. Sketches and small cardboard models form the seeds of her large-scale architectures. Until now, these drawings, paintings, and sculptures have remained unseen. 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. Devlin calls the result an atlas—a collection of maps.

Connect with your own inspiration, explore the Es Devlin Creative Curriculum.

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS

 

publication

A vibrant red rectangular box shaped like a thick book with a square cover. The words

An Atlas of Es Devlin, the first monograph on Devlin’s genre-defying practice, is an experiential publication encompassing art, activism, theater, poetry, music, dance, opera, and sculpture.

Published by Thames & Hudson, UK in collaboration with Cooper Hewitt and edited by curator Andrea Lipps, An Atlas of Es Devlin is a unique, sculptural volume of over 900 pages, including foldouts, cut-outs, and a range of paper types, mirrors, and translucencies. 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. Each book is boxed and includes a die-cut print from an edition of 5,000.

Learn more about the publication.

enhance your visit

Download the free Bloomberg Connects app and embark on an audio journey through Es Devlin’s creative practice guided by the artist herself. In an introduction and fifteen stops, Devlin shares personal stories of process, which all begin with a line on a piece of paper, and morph through forms, studies, scale, and models.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The exhibition was curated by Andrea Lipps, Associate Curator of Contemporary Design and founding Head, Digital Curatorial Department, and by Julie Pastor, Curatorial Assistant.

Curatorial interns and fellows assisted with research and development: Madelyn Colonna, Bailey de Vries, Barbara Kasomenakis, and Sophie Scott.

Exhibition design and fabrication by Es Devlin Studio and Pink Sparrow. Graphic design by Morcos Key. Creative production by Jo MacKay. Projection and video design by Luke Halls Studio. Composition and sound design by Polyphonia. Lighting design by Bruno Poet and John Viesta. Audiovisual production and integration by AV&C.

SUPPORT

This exhibition is made possible with major support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Generous support is provided by Amita and Purnendu Chatterjee, Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer, Kimberly Schuessler, and Morgan M. Schuessler, Jr.

Support is also provided by the Arthur F. & Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, the August Heckscher Exhibition Fund, the Barbara and Morton Mandel Design Gallery Endowment Fund, Disguise Technologies, the Esme Usdan Exhibition Endowment Fund, the Lemberg Foundation, and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation.

Drop-In Sketching in the Galleries – An Atlas of Es Devlin
Experience the Cooper Hewitt collection objects and exhibitions through drawing! An Atlas of Es Devlin is the first monographic exhibition of British artist and stage designer Es Devlin. The exhibition traces the throughline from Devlin’s early artwork, to sketches and stage plans, to models and videos of her stage designs activated. This exhibition is full of visual imagery to spark the imagination for sketching! 
An Atlas of Es Devlin, Curator Tour
In this curator-guided tour of An Atlas of Es Devlin, visitors will examine the origins, rigor, and depth of Devlin’s process through a compelling journey into her 30-year archive, charting teenage drawings and paintings, to designs for theater, opera, stadium concerts, and ceremonies, to her current engagement with climate and civilizational crises. The exhibition will reveal thematic connections and trace the development of Devlin’s groundbreaking ephemeral architectures. Tour led by one of the exhibition’s curators, Julie Pastor, Curatorial Assistant.
CANCELLED- An Atlas of Es Devlin, Curator Tour
In this curator-guided tour of An Atlas of Es Devlin, visitors will examine the origins, rigor, and depth of Devlin’s process through a compelling journey into her 30-year archive, charting teenage drawings and paintings, to designs for theater, opera, stadium concerts, and ceremonies, to her current engagement with climate and civilizational crises. The exhibition will reveal thematic connections and trace the development of Devlin’s groundbreaking ephemeral architectures. Tour led by one of the exhibition’s curators, Julie Pastor, Curatorial Assistant.
Family Program | Drag Story Hour, Session 2
Celebrate Pride Month with Cooper Hewitt! At this Drag Story Hour, a storyteller will read picture books about self-expression, and get you singing and moving to your own beat. Explore artist and designer Es Devlin’s set creations, which help some of the biggest performers in the world convey who they are to audiences. Then, consider: How would you express your larger-than-life self on stage? Inspired by storyteller Lori Lu, create a portrait of yourself exactly how you want to be seen and turn it into a set for your own pop star alter ego! This fun and fabulous program will celebrate all forms of difference and give you confidence to express yourself.
Family Program | Neurodiverse Drag Story Hour, Session 1
Celebrate Pride Month with Cooper Hewitt! At this sensory-friendly Drag Story Hour, a storyteller will read picture books about self-expression, and get you singing and moving to your own beat. Explore artist and designer Es Devlin’s set creations, which help some of the biggest performers in the world convey who they are to audiences. Then, consider: How would you express your larger-than-life self on stage? Inspired by storyteller Bad News Bear, create a portrait of yourself exactly how you want to be seen and turn it into a set for your own pop star alter ego! This fun and fabulous program will celebrate all forms of difference and give you confidence to express yourself.
Black and White photo, left side profile of Jerron Herman, a Black man with a Black beard, turns grasping his head in his right arm, while his left arm flexes in a grip by his chest.
Temporary Body: A Jerron Herman Performance
Join us for an original dance performance by writer and dancer Jerron Herman, in which he will engage and respond to the historic Carnegie Mansion, Cooper Hewitt’s home. The performance will travel through several galleries on the first floor of the museum and attendees will be encouraged to interact with the performance piece by writing on the performer’s garment, designed by fashion designer Sughanda Gupta. Soundscape design by composer and vocalist Molly Joyce.
Es Devlin in Conversation with Dario Calmese
Public tickets sold out, few member tickets remain available.In celebration of her first monographic exhibition, An Atlas of Es Devlin, join artist and stage designer Es Devlin in conversation with Dario Calmese, founder of the Institute for Black Imagination. Together they will explore imagination, memory, and what it means to lead a creative life. Exhibition curator Andrea Lipps will introduce the program.
Family Program | Song Sets
Collaborate as a family and create a stage design for a favorite song! Play the part of a set designer and choose shapes, colors, and imagery to evoke a mood and convey the song’s message visually. This program is inspired by the work of artist and designer Es Devlin, currently on view in the exhibition, An Atlas of Es Devlin.
Family Program | Song Sets
Collaborate as a family and create a stage design for a favorite song! Play the part of a set designer and choose shapes, colors, and imagery to evoke a mood and convey the song’s message visually. This program is inspired by the work of artist and designer Es Devlin, currently on view in the exhibition, An Atlas of Es Devlin.