Library of light
WATCH Es Devlin talk about her installation
library of light
BY ES DEVLIN
Milan Design Week is alive and humming with the 2025 edition of Salone del Mobile. Designers gather to showcase the cutting edge of design from all around the world. British artist Es Devlin’s installation features a carousel of tomes and light.
Library of light is a collection of 3,000 books revolving around a statue in the Cortile d'Onore at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan.
Library of Light Installation by Es Devlin, 2025, Salon del Mobile
In Devlin’s vision, the books come to life. Guests visiting the library can listen and read the text which runs along an LED display looping around the bookcases. Among the readings, Devlin brings the writings of Maria Gaetana Agnesi to life with her own voice. It is a benediction of sorts, a wonderful celebration of books and humans, a meeting place for a meeting of minds.
People who enter the library can browse the selection and even bring their own books to donate to the Milan Library when the installation closes.
“Books are the compass of the mind, they point to countless worlds yet to be explored.”
Umberto Eco
Es Devlin. Library of Light, Pinacoteca di Brera – Cortile d’Onore Salone del Mobile.Milano 2025
“I have always experienced libraries as silently intensely vibrant places where minds and imaginations soar, while clutched like kites by their seated bodies. This kinetic sculpture reflects the synaptic connections being forged, the resonances and associations at play within the minds of a temporary community of readers.”
Es Devlin
April 7 th - April 21 st 2025
09:00 - 21:00 (CEST)
The Cortile d’Onore
at the Pinacoteca di Brera
very laboratory