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Es Devlin’s installation inside the Cortile d'Onore at the Pinacoteca di Brera
Es Devlin. Library of Light, Pinacoteca di Brera – Cortile d’Onore Salone del Mobile.Milano 2025
The British artist and designer presents Library of Light, a Salone project in collaboration with the Pinacoteca di Brera, with the contribution of Milan based publishing house Feltrinelli and the support from A2A, open to the public from 7 April to May 5
With the 2025 edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, the event consolidates its cultural commitment with a dense programme of events within the Fiera Milano, Rho spaces and around the city.
In the year of Euroluce, the Salone del Mobile has commissioned a monumental kinetic installation by Es Devlin, the British artist and designer, known as a ‘poet of light’. The work is being created within one of Milan’s most venerable landmarks: the Pinacoteca di Brera. The installation Library of Light reflects a phrase by Umberto Eco that came to the artist's mind as she climbed the tall shelves of the Braidense National Library: “Books are the compass of the mind, they point to countless worlds yet to be explored.”
Devlin’s luminous rotating sculpture is located in the centre of the 17th century Cortile d'Onore, which connects the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Braidense National Library and the Academy of Fine Arts. It is an 18 meter diameter revolving cylindrical sculpture formed of illuminated book shelves containing 3200 volumes. During the day, while the structure turns, the angled mirrored plane at the top of Devlin’s cylindrical sculpture will reflect the sun’s light into the columns, the statues of the portico and parts of the building never previously penetrated by the rays of the sun. At night, its illuminated structure creates shadow plays on the walls of the courtyard.
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
Devlin’s sense of the vitality of libraries is expressed through a series of collective readings including The Order of Time, by theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, read in the recorded voice of the British actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Devlin’s own voice will contribute phrases from The Mystic Heaven by Maria Gaetana Agnesi. Their voices will be underscored by a composition by British duo Polyphonia, with solo violin drawn from Beethoven’s 1806 Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61.
Encompassing these voices is a firmament of over 2,000 books selected and donated by Feltrinelli on the theme of Thought for Humans., chosen by the Salone del Mobile as the common thread running through the 2025 edition. Every day, at 8.00pm, visitors will be able to listen to readings “recited” by the library itself while following the text running horizontally across an LED display. Visitors can browse the books and donate their own, helping to expand this public archive during the days open to the general public, books that will become part of the Milan Library System, continuing their journey through the hands and minds of other readers. A gift to the city, commissioned by the Salone del Mobile, with the contribution of Feltrinelli, in collaboration with the Pinacoteca di Brera and La Grande Brera.
During the two weeks the installation is open, Library of Light will be transformed into a stage for thought and dialogue, hosting a series of meetings that will interweave art, literature, craftsmanship and reflections on our time. Through the voices of artists, writers, curators and innovators, the library will become a place in which ideas take shape, become cross-pollinated and multiply, offering visitors a chance to immerse themselves in a constantly evolving cultural experience.
Free entrance, April 7 to April 21, from 9 am to 9 pm. April 22 to May 5, 10 am to 7:30 pm (last admission 7 pm).
Es Devlin. Library of Light - Ph. Daniel Devlin
s Devlin. Library of Light Pinacoteca di Brera – Cortile d’Onore Salone del Mobile.Milano 2025
Es Devlin. Library of Light Pinacoteca di Brera – Cortile d’Onore Salone del Mobile.Milano 2025 ©Es Devlin Studio
Es Devlin. Library of Light - Ph. Daniel Devlin
Talk. Library of Light: C’era una volta il corpo
Talk. Library of Light: Weaving Indian Art
Discover the programme of meetings
Tuesday 8 th April
7 pm, in English
Weaving Indian Art
Vinita Chaitanya, Interior Designer, Founder Prism
Urmila Chakraborty, Writer, Specialist of Patachitra Folk Art
Malika Verma, Founder Border&Fall
Moderator: Cristina Kiran Piotti, Italian-Indian Journalist and Consultant
Wednesday 9th
April 7 pm, in Italian
C’era una volta il corpo
with Walter Siti, Writer, Literary Critic and Essayist
Curated by Feltrinelli
Thursday 17th - The Talk is postponed due to adverse weather to a date to be determined
April 6 pm, in Italian
Thought for Humans.
Matilde Cassani, Artist and Designer
Luca Cipelletti, Architect and Museographer
Margherita Palli, Set designer
Moderator: Annalisa Rosso, Editorial Director e Cultural Events Advisor, Salone del Mobile.Milano
The schedule is subject to variations. To stay up to date, follow Salone del Mobile.Milano on social media.
