Es Devlin brings 'Take Me Home' to Asia for first time in SZ

Video by Lin Songtao

While tens of thousands of migratory birds enjoy their annual retreat in Shenzhen Bay, a new exhibition themed on these feathered travelers has opened in Hall 8A of Shenzhen Bay Culture Square in Nanshan District.

A poster for “Take Me Home,” British artist and set designer Es Devlin's first exhibition in Asia. Photos courtesy of Shenzhen Bay Culture Square unless otherwise stated

Globally acclaimed British artist and set designer Es Devlin unveiled her very first exhibition in Asia, titled “Take Me Home,” Monday at the city’s newest cultural landmark. Devlin is not only recognized for her large-scale, kinetic sculptures but also for her immersive stage environments for iconic artists like U2, Adele, and Beyoncé, as well as for theater, opera, and major public installations.

A view of Poem Pavilion by Es Devlin at UK Pavilion, World Expo 2020 in Dubai, UAE. Photo by Es Devlin

Curated by Ma Yansong — principal architect and founder of MAD Architects, the firm that designed Shenzhen Bay Culture Square — the commissioned exhibition directly responds to the prehistoric migratory bird flyway that cuts through Shenzhen’s skies, showcasing the artist's reflections on migration and homeland.

Es Devlin speaks at a guided tour of her exhibition Monday. 

“We’re underneath one of the nine great global migratory flyways. The birds have been flying over this place for millions of years,” Devlin said to media Monday.

Devlin noted that the design of Shenzhen Bay Culture Square struck her as a piece of ancient futurism, which she describes as “very spiritual.” She added, “Shenzhen is about the same age as me, so my ambition was to create a mythology to your young city.”

Devlin has transformed Hall 8A, known as the Floating Stone Gallery, into a chapel-like space of reflection and meditation. The white walls, enclosed design, and soft, ambient lighting of the two-level hall evoke a sacred atmosphere for visitors.

A view of the exhibition space. 

On the first floor, visitors gain an intimate encounter with the artist's career through an installation of roughly 2,000 hand-drawn sketches made over decades. These drawings include closely observed studies of London’s endangered species, early portraits of family and friends, and concept sketches of some of her most iconic performance and installation works.

A visitor admires Devlin's sketches on display. 

“Downstairs, you’ll see 2,000 drawings that I made over the course of my whole life. It’s like a fresco on the wall,” Devlin described.

In a unique gesture, visitors are invited to take one sketch from the wall home with them. This act resonates with the work of late Cuban-American artist Felix Gonzalez Torres (1957-1996), drawing on his resistance to transactional art and his reassertion of ritual.

Visitors are also invited to sit on the benches in the first floor area and read phrases from the 75 books that have most influenced the artist’s philosophy and practice. The 75 phrases selected by the artist are beamed through a 60-meter-long strip of luminous LED embedded into an assemblage of 2,000 replicas of Devlin’s hand-drawn sketchbooks.

Visitors watch an eight-minute film projected on the exhibition space's dome ceiling. 

On the second floor, an eight-minute projected film is inscribed like an animated cave painting across the interior domed ceiling, inviting viewers to meditate on the migration of birds, humans, mountains, and magnetic poles. Underscored by cello and piano music from British composers Polyphonia, the work is conceived to catalyze the sketch that visitors hold in their hands.

A visitor watches the projected film. 

“Upstairs, I’m giving you my response to this place. I hope that while you’re watching the eight-minute film, this piece of paper in your hand transforms from being a souvenir to becoming a seed that you then propagate and take into your life,” Devlin concluded.

Tickets are available for purchase via the official WeChat miniprogram of Shenzhen Bay Culture Square "深圳湾文化广场 DBAY."