Es Devlin's Forest For Change has popped up at Somerset House as part of London Design Biennale 2021 (on view until 27 June 2021), in partnership with Project Everyone. The initiative aims to showcase the facts behind the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (which include eradicating poverty, establishing gender equality, and fighting the climate crisis) and offer a glimpse into the ‘urgent pathway of action to a better and fairer future’.
When Devlin first visited Somerset House, something attracted her attention: ‘I discovered that the Enlightenment principles on which the building was conceived specifically forbade the introduction of trees into the courtyard,’ she recalls. So naturally, as soon as she was able to leave her mark on the historical London venue, the first thing she had in mind was to plant a forest in it.
An installation in the central clearing of the forest drives awareness of the United Nations’ Global Goals for Sustainable Development
‘The first thing we wanted to do when considering this year’s biennale,’ says Devlin, ‘was to counter this attitude of human dominance over nature, by allowing a forest to overtake the entire courtyard. In literature, forests are often places of transformation: the Forest of Arden in Shakespeare, the enchanted forests of the Brothers Grimm.’ The installation was created in collaboration with landscape designer Philip Jaffa and urban greening specialist Scotscape, and features 400 trees, representing 23 species local to the UK and Northern Europe. The installation includes an immersive Bird Song Soundscape by Brian Eno, Cheryl Tipp and the British Library Board, and each tree will be replanted in the city after the exhibition is over.
The forest's impressive presence within the courtyard will serve as an interactive green landscape set to encourage debate around themes of climate change, inequality and post-pandemic recovery. ‘The UN Sustainable Development Goals offer us clear ways to engage and alter our behaviour,’ says Devlin. ‘It is our hope that an interaction with the goals in the forest will be transformative.’
In literature, forests are often places of transformation: the Forest of Arden in Shakespeare, the enchanted forests of the Brothers Grimm - Es Devlin
RELATED STORY
Devlin’s forest is part of the London Design Biennale’s rich programme of pavilions and events, including Ini Archibong’s Pavilion of the African Diaspora and ‘Design in an Age of Crisis’, an exhibition showcasing radical thinking, and the result of an open call to the design community at large.
‘In our global, digital era, design can instantly permeate borders and bridge cultures,’ said Devlin on the occasion of the London Design Biennale opening on 1 June 2021. ‘As a community of designers approaching shared global challenges from culturally diverse viewpoints, the collective resonance of our ideas and our actions has the power to be truly transformative. I am delighted to be working alongside such an extraordinary group of designers, thinkers, artists and makers who have the power to influence and change minds in order to help build a more sustainable future.’
‘Great design ideas can help change things for the better, inspire people and give them hope for the future – never more needed than now,’ says London Design Biennale president Sir John Sorrell. ‘At Somerset House in June, the London Design Biennale will present inspired thinking from across the world in a unique exhibition designed to entertain, inform and spark action.’
Watch: a time-lapse of Es Devlin's Forest being built at Somerset house
INFORMATION
London Design Biennale is now on view at Somerset House, 1-27 June 2021. londondesignbiennale.com
ADDRESS
Somerset House Strand
London
WC2R 1LA
-
Meet Malak Mattar, the Palestinian artist behind the 'Together for Palestine' concert at London's Wembley ArenaThe London-based artist curates a landmark concert of music and art in support of Gaza, alongside Brian Eno, James Blake, Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry and more
-
A new coffee table book proves that one designer’s trash is another’s treasureThe Rizzoli tome, launching today (16 September 2025), delves into the philosophy and process of Retrouvius, a design studio reclaiming salvaged materials in weird and wonderful ways
-
A carbon-emission-busting house, yeast-biomass building, and more ‘Designs for a Cooler Planet’‘Designs for a Cooler Planet’ returns to Aalto University in Finland as part of the annual Helsinki design and architecture week, highlighting buildings, materials and solutions towards a better future
-
Norman Foster and nine other architects design birdhouses for charity – you can bid‘Architects for the Birds’ is spearheaded by Norman Foster and the Tessa Jowell Foundation to raise funds to improve treatment for brain cancer. Ten architect-designed birdhouses will go up for auction
-
The David Collins Foundation celebrates creativity in all its forms at London Design FestivalThe David Collins Foundation presents ‘Convergence’ at the Lavery during London Design Festival 2025 (on view until 19 September), featuring works from the Arts Foundation’s annual Futures Awards
-
Lee Broom’s brutalist-inspired ‘Beacon’ will light up London as Big Ben strikes the hourSet to pulse through London Design Festival 2025 (13-22 September) and beyond, the British industrial designer’s sculptural light installation on the South Bank draws on its surroundings
-
Yuri Suzuki turns sound into architecture at Camden Arts ProjectsThe sound designer unveils ‘Utooto’, an interactive installation at London’s Camden Arts Projects (until 5 October 2025), in which visitors collaboratively build a sonic piece of architecture
-
Alex Tieghi-Walker unveils his plans for Brompton Design District 2025Ahead of London Design Festival 2025, we catch up with New York gallerist Alex Tieghi-Walker about his appointment as curator of the Brompton Design District programme
-
‘The point was giving ordinary people access to bold taste’: how Ikea brought pattern into the home‘Ikea: Magical Patterns’ at Dovecot Gallery in Edinburgh tells the story of a brand that gave us not only furniture, but a new way of seeing our homes – as canvases for self-expression
-
Design beyond humans: a new exhibition argues that the world doesn’t revolve around us‘More Than Human’ at London's Design Museum (until 5 October 2025) asks what happens when design focuses on the perspectives and needs of other species, from bees to seaweed
-
‘100 Years, 60 Designers, 1 Future’: 1882 Ltd plate auction supports ceramic craftThe ceramics brand’s founder Emily Johnson asked 60 artists, designers, musicians and architects – from John Pawson to Robbie Williams – to design plates, which will be auctioned to fund the next generation of craftspeople
