Zara Taps Es Devlin for Cúpula Atlántica Installation

LONDON — Zara is continuing its 50th anniversary celebrations with art.

The Inditex-owned brand has tapped British artist Es Devlin for an installation titled “50 Songs of the Sea” that will be exhibited at Cúpula Atlántica, a scenic point in A Coruña, Spain, that the brand is restoring as part of its opening on Thursday.

Devlin’s installation has been created for the observatory’s 28-meter diameter dome.

“This was my first encounter with A Coruña. I was drawn to the fierce energy and weather of the city — especially at the top of Monte San Pedro. In November, a tempestuous wind blew our hair horizontally, I sensed that this promontory was the place,” she said in an interview.

In her research she found that Cúpola Atlántica is the only covered 360-degree viewing point in Spain and that the promontory’s Tower of Hercules is the world’s only working Roman lighthouse, which was built in the first century AD.

Devlin’s installation features three concentric revolving circles of seats that allows guests to rotate around one another. Outside the dome of the Cúpula Atlántica is an LED strip that will broadcast 50 sea poems.

“At the heart of the work is a kinetic planetarium of names of more than 150,000 people who work for the company today: they are the true protagonists of the piece. The finale is a physical reveal of the city and the Atlantic Ocean that surrounds it,” Devlin said.

“The first Zara store which opened in 1975, is itself a tiny promontory — offering three sides of its triangular footprint to the streets,” she added.

Devlin’s work is always immersive and interactive. Her portfolio ranges across mediums: theater, fashion shows, concerts, Super Bowl halftime shows, installations and museum exhibitions.

When working with Zara, she said that she sensed the “company’s roots are deeply entwined within the very specific geology and architecture and character of this particular place and these specific people — I began to think of the place, the people and the company as entirely continuous with one another.”