Studies, Memory Palace

Installed 2019–21, Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery, London, UK

“In 2018, climate scientists issued an alarming report on the climate crisis. My studio and I were fueled by an urgency to act. We looked for other moments in history when humans radically changed their minds—about ideas ranging from the Earth’s position in the solar system to views on women’s and civil rights. Drawing on classical ‘memory palace’ techniques that suggest ideas are best remembered when located in space, we constructed a large model atlas mapping a selection of places where thinking changed. An edition of die-cut artist’s books accompanied the work. Each page contains a single map. Layering them unifies these narratives of change.”

—Es Devlin

A series of white, layered cutouts in the shape of the bottom-right quarter of a circle. The delicate cutouts result in an intricate map-like design.

Es Devlin, Study, Memory Palace, Die-cut paper and board.
Installed 2016, Copeland Park, Peckham, London, UK
Courtesy of Es Devlin

The illusion of a white spherical room is created with a mirrored ceiling and wall. A glowing white light centers the space surrounded by reflections of white models of a city and a person dressed in black, which is reflected four times.

Installation photograph, Memory Palace
Installed 2016, Copeland Park, Peckham, London, UK
Courtesy of Es Devlin

A clear case housing three white, rectangular models. Each has several intricate cutouts resembling a map.

Es Devlin, Studies, Memory Palace, Die-cut book and paper.
Installed 2016, Copeland Park, Peckham, London, UK
Photo: Elliot Goldstein © Smithsonian Institution

A crowded page of many hand-drawn circled words and numbers. They’re connected to one another by overlapping lines, resembling a web.

Es Devlin, Study, Memory Palace, Graphite on paper.
Installed 2016, Copeland Park, Peckham, London, UK
Courtesy of Es Devlin

A semicircular collage of numbered maps on a white background, with annotations in red handwritten around.

Es Devlin, Study, Memory Palace, Pen and ink and print on paper.
Installed 2016, Copeland Park, Peckham, London, UK
Courtesy of Es Devlin

Studies, Memory Palace

An Atlas of Es Devlin

Your journey so far

All pages

An Infinite Archive

Studio

Iris

Archive Unboxed

Sculptures, Ideas to Forms

Studies, Abel’s Mask

Studies, After Hours Til Dawn

Studies, Bangerz

Studies, Come Home Again

Studies, Electric

Studies, Experience + Innocence

Studies, Flag: Burning

Studies, Forest of Us

Studies, Fundamental

Studies, Hello

Studies, Innocence + Experience

Studies, Legend of the Fall

Studies, Memory Palace

Studies, Mirror Maze

Studies, PoemPortraits

Studies, Sphere

Studies, Unknown Soldier

Studies, Witness

Study, Die Tote Stadt

Study, Don Giovanni

Study, Free Your Mind

Model, Atlas

Model, Betrayal

Model, Don Giovanni

Model, Fundamental

Model, Howie the Rookie

Model, La Caja Mágica / The Seed

Model, Legend of the Fall

Model, Macbeth

Model, Parsifal

Model, The Hunt

Model, The Lehman Trilogy

Sculpture, Songs for Sorrow

Model, Abel’s Mask

Model, Bangerz

Model, Carmen

Model, Chimerica

Model, Compton Super Bowl

Model, Flag: Burning

Model, Hello

Model, Innocence + Experience

Model, Les Troyens

Model, Progress

Model, London Olympics

Study, Dynamic Cube

Study, Perforated Screen

Model, Come Home Again

Model, Five Echoes

Model, Forest of Us

Model, Infinite Library

Model, Memory Palace

Model, Mirror Maze

Model, Please Feed the Lions

Model, Poem Pavilion

Model, Redraw the Edges of Your Self

Model, Room 2022

Model, Your Voices

Model, Zoetrope

Theater in a Box

Films

Book Unbound