es devlin to illuminate venice with 15 immersive works
For its fourth edition, Homo Faber Biennial hands the reins to Es Devlin to transform San Giorgio Maggiore into An Island of Light from September 1st to 30th, 2026. The British artist and designer will conceive 15 immersive installations, each using light to frame the work of hundreds of artisans from across the world.‘I have spent the last thirty years collaborating with musicians, choreographers, composers, librettists, playwrights and artisans. Becoming the co-author of a series of installations alongside 400 of the world’s most expert artisans in the gardens and palladian buildings of the legendary island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice is an extraordinary privilege, a great adventure,’ Devlin reflects on her role.
Devlin’s appointment follows a lineage of notable artistic directors, including Luca Guadagnino, Stefano Boeri, India Mahdavi, Judith Clark, and Robert Wilson. Known for large-scale, kinetic works that have animated museums, opera houses, stadiums, and public squares internationally, she brings a decades-long practice of collaboration with makers of every discipline. Her recent Library of Light in Milan (find designboom’s previous coverage here) drew nearly 200,000 visitors, showing how readily her installations translate into impactful public experiences.
Piscina Gandini Homo Faber 2026 | image courtesy of Es Devlin
homo faber 2026 maps global craft and live-making in venice
At Homo Faber 2026, Devlin and her team will build a sequence of spatial narratives around the labor and materials of global artisans, including ceramists, glassblowers, wood turners, paper artists, weavers, blacksmiths, embroiderers, model makers, mosaicists, and more. Their work becomes the gravitational center of each environment. Portraits, videos, poetry, and music highlight their cultural contexts, while a reconstructed workshop reveals the tools, raw materials, and techniques behind the finished objects. In three major rooms, craftspeople will demonstrate their practice live, bringing process and performance into the visitor’s field of view.
The exhibition’s mediators, 90 Young Ambassadors from design and applied-arts schools worldwide, will guide audiences through this landscape of light, gesture, and material intelligence. The ensemble of installations examines what the British artist describes as the ‘fundamental relationship between light, materials, and labor.’
Library of Light | image by Monica Spezia
open studios, demonstrations, and cultural events
The Michelangelo Foundation, which curates the biennial, frames the theme as an embodiment of its core values. As vice president Hanneli Rupert notes, Devlin is ‘herself an incredible craftswoman, capable of conjuring entire worlds from nothing,’ while executive director Alberto Cavalli emphasizes that ‘the theme chosen for the fourth edition… embodies the ethic that guides our every action: to give visibility to the original, conscious, and noble gestures of artisans… and to inspire a new generation of creators.’
Beyond the main exhibition, Homo Faber 2026 will expand across Venice through Homo Faber in Città, inviting visitors into artisan workshops listed on the Homo Faber Guide and staging additional exhibitions on the city’s craft heritage. Throughout September, the biennial will also host demonstrations, participatory workshops, and culinary experiences that deepen engagement with the practices on display. The complete program will be announced in due course, with ticket sales opening in April 2026.
Surfacing (2024) by Es Devlin, a BMW-commission light and water installation at Art Basel 2024 | image by Lucy Emms
Congregation | image by Daniel Devlin
image by Jason Ardizzone-West courtesy of Es Devlin
Es Devlin | image ©Victor Picon
project info:
event: Homo Faber Biennial 2026 | @homofaber
theme: An Island of Light
artistic director: Es Devlin | @esdevlin
location: Fondazione Giorgio Cini | @fondazionecini, San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
dates: September 1st–30th, 2026
curated by: Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship
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