The Everythingists

Es Devlin has a new commission on display at V&A East Storehouse called The Everythingists, and it's only running for a couple of days. You can catch it in Gallery 2 on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October, with the gallery open 10.00 to 17.30 both days. It's free to see.

Devlin is best known for her stage design, and this piece works like a sculptural drawing that comes to life around a dancer. The whole thing is a response to Natalia Goncharova's 1926 painted backcloth for the Ballets Russes production of The Firebird. East London dancer Joshua Shanny-Wynter is suspended between enlarged iPhone boxes that echo both the architecture of Igor Stravinsky's The Firebird score and the museum's own storage crates. A 15-metre-wide painted landscape animates every 90 seconds when illumination hits the plywood structures, and the choreography is by Botis Seva.

Over a soundtrack by Polyphonia, rooted in the opera's horn theme, Devlin reads a series of texts: Goncharova's 1913 manifesto, Cory Doctorow's 2026 reflections on centaurs, Clark Ashton Smith's 1958 poem 'Centaur', and Adrienne Rich's 1971 'Centaur's Requiem'. The title comes from 'Everythingism', a term used to describe Goncharova's work across painting, theatre design and performance art, and one Devlin applies to her own practice across sculpture, music, performance design, poetry and painting.

It's a short window to see it, so if you're around Hackney Wick this weekend, it's worth a look. The V&A East Storehouse is on Parkes Street in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, E20 3AX, and entry is free.