Es Devlin to unveil landmark installation on the Strand in London in support of UNHCR 

LONDON, August 2024 — Es Devlin will unveil CONGREGATION, a new large-scale choral installation she has created in partnership with UK for UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency’s national charity partner at St Mary le Strand from 3 – 9 October 2024 (Press Preview: 3 October 2024). The work, curated by Ekow Eshun, has been developed in collaboration with King’s College London in partnership with The Courtauld.

The work will be free and open to the public daily from 10am till 6pm with free public choral performances within the surrounding pedestrianised area of the Strand outside The Courtauld at 7pm each evening from Thursday 3rd October until Wednesday 9th October, to coincide with Frieze London.

Over the past four months, Es Devlin has been making large scale chalk and charcoal portraits of 50 Londoners who have experienced forced displacement from their homelands. The drawings will be presented as a monumental projection-mapped tiered structure within the eighteenth-century church of St Mary le Strand adjacent to The Courtauld and Somerset House. The sculptural collective portrait will be accompanied by choral music performed outside the church at dusk each evening.

Each portrait sitter is a co-author of the work. Each is depicted holding a box containing a projected animated sequence which they have envisaged. The co-authors constitute a vibrant London congregation whose roots extend across the globe to Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania, Chile, Venezuela, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Germany. All 50 voices are included in an accompanying sound sequence composed by Polyphonia. The projected film sequence has been created in close collaboration with film maker Ruth Hogben and choreographer Botis Seva.

In parallel to the installation, the Sanctuary Programme and The Policy Institute at King’s will be holding public events and policy development discussions with leading researchers on asylum and migration policy. These will be presented as part of a wider season, Lost & Found: Stories of sanctuary and belonging, developed and curated by King’s Culture.

The work is being made in response to the history of St Mary le Strand, the first of 12 churches to be completed according to Queen Anne’s commission of 50 new churches to replace those lost in the Great Fire of London. St Mary’s Scottish Catholic architect James Gibbs practiced in secret at a time of severe persecution, weaving emblems of the exiled Catholic James of Scotland within the architecture of the building. The church is also replete with Masonic symbols and was the site of masonic gatherings whose secret congregation included both Catholic and Jewish members, in spite of public prohibition.

Devlin and curator Ekow Eshun are responding also to their research into the Courtauld’s origins, established by a Huguenot refugee, and the origins of King’s College London as a university with a long history of developing sector-leading initiatives that support forcibly displaced staff and student, as well as the Strand’s history more broadly as an ancient processional route from east to west, a foundational migratory artery of the city since AD93.

Devlin’s approach to making the portraits is rooted in a visit to Lucian Freud’s sketchbooks in the archive of the National Portrait Gallery, and in her research within The Courtauld’s collection of 500 years of portraiture from Albrecht Dürer to Frank Auerbach.

She carries out the first 45 minutes of the drawing session without any knowledge of her sitter/co-author. After 45 minutes the drawing is paused while the co-author tells Devlin their story, then the drawing resumes.

Es Devlin said: “I was moved in 2022 by the generosity of spirit with which we, as a country and as individuals, offered support to those displaced by the war in Ukraine. I wanted to understand why we have not yet been drawn to show an equivalent abundance of support to those displaced in comparable circumstances from other countries including Syria, Sudan, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Eritrea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and many more. I went to UK for UNHCR to learn more about the numbers and contexts of the 117 million people currently displaced globally, and the experiences of refugees now living in the UK.

I am beginning each portrait without knowing my sitter/co-author’s story. For the first forty-five minutes I am drawing a stranger: I am drawing not only a portrait of a stranger, but also a portrait of the assumptions I inevitably overlay: I am drawing my own perspectives and biases. I am trying to draw in order to better perceive and understand the structures of separation, the architectures of otherness that I suspect may stand between us and the porosity to others that we are capable of feeling when these structures soften.”

Emma Cherniavsky, Chief Executive of UK for UNHCR, said: “We are honoured to be working with Es Devlin on this project and so grateful for her commitment and dedication to all those forced to flee their homes due to war, violence and persecution.  Congregation is an incredible opportunity for refugee co-authors to share their stories with London in a new way. We are excited to see how visitors will respond and hope the installation will inspire more support for and solidarity with refugees here and around the world.” 

Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin, Vice President (International, Engagement & Service) King’s College London, said: “As part of King’s commitment to serving society, it is inspiring to see this visionary work by Es Devlin connecting so closely with our pioneering Sanctuary Programme, which promotes social justice and supports refugee students, as well as the work that The Policy Institute is leading around international attitudes to human migration.  Societal impact sits at the heart of King’s research practice as does community engagement across London and internationally.  The Lost & Found creative programme, produced by King’s Culture, will provide impact, engagement and visibility for these vital areas of enquiry.”

Professor Mark Hallett, Märit Rausing Director of The Courtauld, said: “This is a wonderfully ambitious and innovative project, and we are thrilled that is has been informed by Es Devlin’s experience of our extraordinary collection. The Courtauld is always looking to collaborate with today’s most interesting artists, and to stay true to our founder Samuel Courtauld’s ideal of ‘art for all’. It has been a delight to work with Es, and to see her remarkable vision for Congregation being fulfilled in such a spectacular way.”

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NOTES TO EDITORS

About Es Devlin 

Artist Es Devlin (born London 1971) views an audience as a temporary society and often invites public participation in communal choral works. Her canvas ranges from public sculptures and installations at Tate Modern, V&A, Serpentine, Imperial War Museum and the Lincoln Centre, to kinetic stage designs at the Royal Opera House, the National Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera, as well as Olympic Ceremonies, Super-Bowl half-time shows, and monumental illuminated stage sculptures for large scale stadium concerts. She is the subject of a major monographic book, ‘An Atlas of Es Devlin’, described by Thames & Hudson as their most intricate and sculptural publication to date, and a retrospective exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York. In 2020 she became the first female architect of the Pavilion at a World Expo, conceiving a building which used AI to co-author poetry with visitors on its 20 metre diameter facade. Her practice was the subject of the 2015 Netflix documentary series ‘Abstract: The Art of Design’. She is a fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, University of the Arts London and a Royal Designer for Industry at the Royal Society of Arts. She has been awarded The London Design Medal, three Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, an Ivor Novello Award, doctorates from the Universities of Bristol and Kent and a CBE.

About UK for UNHCR

UK for UNHCR is the UN Refugee Agency’s national charity partner for the UK. We build solidarity, create partnerships and raise funds across the UK to help deliver global humanitarian relief for refugees through UNHCR’s work. www.unrefugees.org.uk

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, leads international action to protect people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. Operating in over 130 countries, it delivers lifesaving assistance like shelter, food and water, helps safeguard fundamental human rights, and develops solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home where they can build a better future. UNHCR also works to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality.UK for UNHCR is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1183415).

About King’s College London

King’s College London is amongst the top 40 universities in the world and top 10 in Europe (THE World University Rankings 2024), and one of England’s oldest and most prestigious universities.  With an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research, King’s maintained its sixth position for ‘research power’ in the UK (2021 Research Excellence Framework). King’s has more than 33,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide and 8,500 staff. Since its foundation, King’s students and staff have dedicated themselves in the service of society. King’s will continue to focus on world-leading education, research and service, and will have an increasingly proactive role to play in a more interconnected, complex world. Visit King’s website to find out more about Vision 2029, King’s strategic vision to take the university to the 200th anniversary of its founding kcl.ac.uk/

King’s Sanctuary Programme is a sector-leading initiative that brings together education, research and impact to tackle the pressing global challenge of forced displacement. King’s harnesses its expertise in education and remote learning, as well as research and existing partnerships, to initiate and lead on projects that widen access to higher education for forcibly displaced students and staff. ‘Lost and Found’ supports the One King’s Impact Priority: Peace and justice in a turbulent world. kcl.ac.uk/service/sanctuary

King’s Culture brings together King’s researchers, students, artists, cultural partners and community groups to develop creative programmes that inspire and instigate conversation and action. You’ll find our free exhibitions, events, screenings and talks across two King’s sites: Science Gallery London on Guy’s Campus, just steps away from the Shard, and across the pedestrianised streets and public spaces of the Strand Campus. kcl.ac.uk/cultural

About The Courtauld

The Courtauld cares for one of the greatest art collections in the UK, presenting these works to the public at The Courtauld Gallery in central London, as well as through loans and partnerships. The Gallery is most famous for its iconic Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces – such as Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. It showcases these alongside an internationally renowned collection of works from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance through to the present day.

Academically, The Courtauld faculty is the largest community of art historians and conservators in the UK, teaching and carrying out research on subjects from creativity in late

Antiquity to contemporary digital artforms – with an increasingly global focus. An independent college of the University of London, The Courtauld offers a range of degree programmes from BA to PhD in the History of Art, curating and the conservation of easel and wall paintings. Its alumni are leaders and innovators in the arts, culture and business worlds, helping to shape the global agenda for the arts and creative industries.

The collection cared for by The Courtauld Gallery is owned by the Samuel Courtauld Trust.

About Ekow Eshun

Ekow Eshun is a writer and curator. He is Chairman of the Fourth Plinth, overseeing Britain’s foremost public art programme, and the former Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. Described by Vogue as “the most inspired – and inspiring – curator in Britain”, his acclaimed exhibitions include In the Black Fantastic at the Hayward Gallery, for which he was awarded the Association for Art History’s Curatorial Prize 2023 and The Time Is Always Now, at the National Portrait Gallery, a major study of the Black figure and its representation in contemporary art. He is a contributor to publications including the New York Times, Financial Times and the Guardian and the author of books including Black Gold of the Sun, shortlisted for the Orwell prize for its exploration of race and identity, and Africa State of Mind, nominated for the Lucie Photo Book Prize. His latest book, The Strangers: Five Extraordinary Black Men and the Worlds That Made Them, is out in September.

About St Mary le Strand

St Mary le Strand is a Grade 1 listed building but it is also so much more. It is a place where people come together, reflect and enjoy a sense of shared cultural heritage.

St Mary le Strand was built in 1714-21 to the designs of the renowned Scottish Architect, James Gibbs – his first building on his return from studying in Rome. It is often said to be one of the UK’s loveliest Baroque churches, with its fabulous plastered, curved and coffered ceiling, unparalleled in Britain. The original church of St Mary le Strand was demolished in 1549 to make way for Somerset House. The present church was constructed following an Act of Parliament which called for 50 new churches to meet the demands of an expanding eighteenth century London.

As a local church in the City of Westminster, St Mary le Strand is committed to delivering Christian, Public and Cultural benefit, all of which sit at the heart of the Jewel in the Strand project.

To strengthen its core value of inclusivity, St Mary le Strand is a member of ‘Inclusive Church’ as a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate.