Es Devlin’s Rotating Library Challenges Static Knowledge at the Design Museum

On 18 October 2023, the Design Museum in London unveiled The Library of Change, a kinetic installation by artist Es Devlin. At its core is a circular library featuring 240 books focused on transformation and ecology. This library redefines traditional concepts, reflecting Devlin’s commitment to language and civic responsibility.

The installation aligns with the museum’s focus on public spaces, coinciding with their autumn exhibition series on adaptive design. Devlin, known for large-scale works like the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, takes an intimate turn here. A rotating mechanism designed with Atelier One slowly turns the library shelves. This movement disrupts viewers’ perceptions of permanence, making key texts like Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower momentarily vanish before reappearing.

Devlin’s book selection showcases layered thinking. “The library is an act of curation as much as creation,” she explained during a press preview. Titles include works by Ursula K. Le Guin and Robin Wall Kimmerer, each annotated by Devlin to explain their significance. Visitors can read these texts on-site or suggest additions for future installations.

The kinetic design reflects the instability of knowledge today. Libraries, once static, are now dynamic ecosystems. Devlin emphasizes that libraries must foster creativity and dialogue. Curator Priya Khanchandani noted, “Devlin’s work continually asks how physical spaces can promote both personal reflection and collective action.”

This is not Devlin’s first exploration of libraries as evolving entities. Her 2019 installation Please Feed the Lions invited public contributions to a collective poem projected in Trafalgar Square. Both works question authorship and audience, but the rotation here adds a literal dimension of flux—acknowledging that access to knowledge is ever-changing.

The library’s circular form symbolizes cycles—ecological, historical, and emotional. Devlin remarked, “Circularity reminds us of cycles. It’s a counterpoint to the linear narrative of progress that dominates so much of our cultural thinking.” The materials—timber from sustainably managed forests—reinforce this ecological commitment.

Visitors engage with the installation in various ways, from observing its rotation to interacting with the books. A digital interface allows participants to suggest texts aligning with the library’s ethos, with the potential for these suggestions to inform future updates. Devlin hopes the installation will travel beyond London after its run concludes on 28 February 2024. This mobility departs from the permanence traditionally associated with libraries. “A library,” Devlin stated, “should evolve as its community evolves.”

Critics are divided on the installation’s effectiveness. In The Guardian, Oliver Wainwright questioned if the project risks aestheticizing libraries rather than addressing critical funding issues. “Devlin’s library is undoubtedly beautiful,” Wainwright wrote, “but does it truly grapple with the structural inequalities that limit access to knowledge?” Conversely, The Architectural Review’s Catherine Slessor praised it as “an elegant provocation,” noting its kinetic element “forces a reconsideration of the library’s role within a society increasingly fragmented by screen-based interactions.”

The installation also reflects broader conversations about the future of cultural institutions. Recent years have highlighted the role of public libraries, especially post-COVID-19. Major projects like the Library of Birmingham and the regeneration of Lambeth’s Carnegie Library illustrate the ongoing tension between libraries as civic spaces and economic pressures.

In The Library of Change, Devlin offers a space for contemplation rather than a solution. By making the library revolve, the work gestures at the inevitability of change and encourages visitors to consider how they might actively shape it. Whether this installation redefines the library’s role or merely reframes its aesthetics remains an open question. For now, it invites us to turn the pages—both figuratively and literally—on what libraries can be.