SURFACING

Es Devlin's "Surfacing" at Art Basel 2024: A Dance Between Light, Water, and Stagecraft 

At the intersection of art, design, and performance, few creators manage to evoke visceral experiences like Es Devlin. Known for her groundbreaking stage designs for some of the world’s most iconic musicians and brands, Devlin’s latest work at Art Basel 2024, Surfacing, marks yet another masterclass in immersive scenography. Commissioned by BMW M Culture, this installation doesn’t just serve as an artwork; it’s an environment, a stage that brings together water, light, and dance in a poetic fusion. 

A Stage for Rituals 

Located in Hall 1.1 above the Unlimited area of the fair, Devlin's booth houses four distinct works: Surfacing (2024), Surfacing II (2024), Mask (2018), and Mask in Motion (2018). The centerpiece, Surfacing, creates a dynamic stage — an illuminated cube of falling water penetrated by a single, glowing line of light. Each hour, the cube transforms into a ritualistic performance space where dancers, choreographed by Sharon Eyal, move through rain and sound, inviting the audience into a mesmerized state of stillness. 

Devlin's approach to staging Surfacing is not just about visual spectacle; it is about how a space behaves, how it engages the audience, and ultimately how it disrupts expectations. The set acts almost like a magician's apparatus, triggering surprise and a sense of awe every hour when the performance begins. 

Surfacing: The Box of Rain 

At its core, Surfacing is an evolving platform where elements of nature — water and light — create a mutable stage environment. The piece recalls Devlin's fascination with water, an element that she has often incorporated into her works, from opera stages to concert scenography. Here, the rain is not just aesthetic but central to the narrative. The water pours from above in a controlled system that mimics natural rainfall, providing both a visual spectacle and an auditory landscape. The sounds of rain become an integral part of the experience, enveloping the audience in a meditative atmosphere. 

The stage is more than just a physical space; it becomes an emotional and sensory environment. The illuminated line of light cuts through the falling rain, altering the audience’s perception and forcing their eyes to recalibrate as the light brightens and dims. This rhythmic lighting, designed by Bruno Poet, is crucial in shaping the mood of the performance, as it shifts from somber darkness to glowing warmth, evoking an emotional arc throughout the show. 

The Performers: A Living Set Piece 

The dancers, led by Sharon Eyal and co-creator Gai Behar, are not just performers but living components of the installation. Eyal's choreography is meticulously designed to sync with the visual and sonic environment of Surfacing. Dancers move through the veil of water with carefully controlled gestures that blur the boundaries between body and stage, becoming part of the immersive visual narrative. The water distorts their figures, creating an ethereal sense of motion as their movements interact with the falling rain, the lighting, and the haunting music composed by Polyphonia. 

This is the essence of Devlin’s stagecraft. She creates environments where performers, stage, and audience coexist in a fluid relationship. As the performance unfolds, the entire space — from the falling water to the illuminated walls — behaves like a living organism, reacting to the dancers' movements and the accompanying soundscape. 

From Concerts to Art Basel: Devlin’s Expanding Scenographic Language 

Devlin's signature style — honed over decades designing for artists like Beyoncé, U2, and Adele — is marked by an intricate layering of physical and digital elements. With Surfacing, she brings this language to a more intimate and contemplative setting, but the core remains the same: creating visual environments that challenge and engage the audience on multiple sensory levels. 

In Surfacing II, Devlin pushes this concept further by juxtaposing technology with painting. Two painted televisions display a figure dancing, seemingly displacing pixels and pigment. The tension between the virtual and the physical, the digital and the visceral, mirrors the contemporary world’s ongoing negotiation with these dual realities. 

Similarly, in Mask (2018) and Mask in Motion (2018), the stage itself becomes a kinetic entity. The revolving, illuminated translucent printed city in Mask in Motion blends viewers into its dynamic shadow play, reinforcing Devlin's belief in the interactivity of spaces and spectators. 

Conclusion: A New Era of Stage Design 

Surfacing marks a significant point in Devlin’s oeuvre, demonstrating her ability to transform the traditional role of stage design into something that operates on multiple dimensions: artistic, performative, and immersive. By merging light, water, dance, and sound, she transcends the boundaries of traditional scenography, creating spaces that breathe, shift, and evolve with the performance. 

For those who are passionate about set design, Devlin’s Surfacing provides an invaluable study of how stagecraft can evolve into a truly immersive medium, where the stage itself becomes the narrative, not just the background. This installation challenges both viewers and designers to think of spaces not as static, but as living, fluid environments capable of stirring profound emotional and sensory reactions.