Es Devlin’s Other Worlds traces 30 years through desks, wildlife and books
Open at London’s Design Museum until April 4, 2027, the exhibition brings a studio reconstruction, circular archive display and Infinite Library into one view of the work behind the stage.
Es Devlin: Other Worlds opened at London’s Design Museum on October 2, 2026, and runs until April 4, 2027. The British artist and designer’s first European retrospective connects 30 years across sculpture, stage design, music, language and light through a studio, archive, installations and books. For anyone familiar with large concert visuals but less familiar with their development, it offers an entry through the traces an idea leaves before becoming a space.
From a studio replica to a circular archive desk
The exhibition reconstructs Devlin’s London studio, bringing books, objects and models together in a detailed representation of her working environment. Archive Unboxed, a wall installation, gathers sketches, collages, diaries and prints from school, university and art college through her continuing practice. Drawing becomes a starting point for following an idea’s development, extending beyond illustration of a finished work.
Books, drawings and objects in Devlin’s original studio, not the exhibition replica.
The large circular 30-Year Desk places different periods alongside one another, referencing the 2018 staging of The Lehman Trilogy, Forest of Us in Miami in 2021, the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony and the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show. Models and documents turn monumental events into details readable at table height. Photographs of the continuous curving white surface suggest a way to compare projects along an arc, beyond the fame of any individual performance.
The circular 30-Year Desk combines models, drawings and working documents.
Wildlife and books redirect attention toward other lives
Come Home Again is reconfigured for this exhibition, bringing Devlin’s interest in wildlife and threatened life into new spatial relationships. Exhibition photographs show numerous animal and bird drawings forming an illuminated circular setting, with a person appearing small within it. Close views reveal individual wings and feathers; from farther away they become a whole that surrounds the body. Drawing’s movement from a line into an environment makes its connection with stage design tangible.
Es Devlin stands among the animal and bird drawings of Come Home Again.
Infinite Library turns more than 2,000 books that have informed her thinking into a colour-organized installation involving movement and mirrors. In photographs, spines form diagonal illuminated bands, translating accumulated reading into a physical volume. Penguin Random House UK provided the books, which the museum plans to donate to local charities after the exhibition. They therefore have a destination beyond display, returning to other reading lives.
Infinite Library creates layers through coloured book spines and light.The diagonal outline and mirrors give Infinite Library architectural scale.
Current times and ticket prices
The official page lists adult admission from £17.09, student/concession from £12.82 and children from £8.55, subject to the chosen booking. The exhibition begins with a short film and uses 15-minute entry slots. Current museum opening hours are 10am–5pm Monday–Thursday and 10am–6pm Friday–Sunday, all London local time. The museum closes on December 24, 25 and 26, 2026, reopening on December 27.
The address is 224–238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG. Use the official exhibition page to book and check updates. Bloomberg Philanthropies supports the exhibition, with additional support including STEPEVI and Penguin Random House. Focusing on how drawings become models, and models organize people and light, reveals more than a list of celebrated works: it brings the steps of creative practice back into view.
