Es Devlin’s The Library of Us has emerged as one of Miami Art Week’s most dramatic spectacles. The 20-foot-tall rotating bookshelf housing 2,500 books invites visitors to read and reflect in a quiet counterpoint to the frenzy of Art Basel. By day, it towers over the sands of Miami Beach, a triangular wedge of a bookshelf set within a circular pool of water, slowly rotating in the Florida sun. By night, it glows like a beacon, offering a mesmerizing tribute to the power of the written word.
Designed to serve as sculpture, library, and public gathering space, the work invites visitors to step onto a circular platform that rotates them into shifting proximity with strangers. As the interior circle spins, viewers will face different people on the outside, creating a social experience. Set just feet from the Atlantic, the piece doubles as a meditation on fragility—of culture, of knowledge, and the environment.
Es Devlin, Library of Us. Photo: Sunn Studio. Courtesy of the artist and Faena Art.
“What would the resonance of 4,000 books with differing points of view revolving together without disagreement be in this place in Miami. What would happen if encircling that library were water, rising waters?,” Devlin told guests at the opening for the ambitious work.
The artist’s nearly 20-foot-tall bookshelf represents a remarkable vision. Sure, everyone loves to bring a beach read down to the shore, but there’s something poignantly fragile about seeing an entire library within a stone’s throw of the ocean waves, pages and spines open to the salty breeze. But this apparent vulnerability seems fitting for this city on a tiny strip of land, the colorful hotels and vibrant restaurants increasingly at risk of flooding due to climate change and intensifying storms.
Es Devlin, Library of Us Photo: Sunn Studio. Courtesy of the artist and Faena Art
Exactly five minutes before the 4 p.m. media preview was scheduled to start, the skies opened up with a brief but intense rain shower. The main sculpture’s structure is designed to protect the books from the elements, but there are also volumes laid out for guests to read on the circular platform, completely exposed. Devlin and her team scrambled to snatch them up and keep them dry.
A Reading Room for the People
Fortunately, the storm passed quickly, and soon the opening was back on track, kicking off across the street at the Faena Project Room. There, Devlin is displaying preliminary drawings and works related to , which she created to resemble a giant compass.
Italian novelist Umberto Eco talked about the library as “a compass of the mind, pointing us in the direction of new explorations,” explained Devlin, who is a voracious reader herself and tackles perhaps 300 books a year. The 2,500 titles included are those she considers formative to her philosophy, life, and practice.
Where libraries are traditionally places of reverent silence, Devlin has created an audio track to accompany her monumental sculpture. She reads various quotes from the many titles included in the display—some of which have been banned by Florida schools, according to the artist. She’ll donate all the books to Miami public schools and libraries after the installation ends.
Es Devlin, Library of Us. Photo: Sunn Studio. Courtesy of the artist and Faena Art.
The selected quotes include sage life advice: “So plant your own garden, and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.” But many of the words are simply a love letter to the act of reading: “Let others pride themselves about how many pages they have written. I’d rather boast about the ones I’ve read,” and, simply, “We live for books.” (The sculpture also includes a long horizontal screen with LED subtitles.)
A Meditative Experience
Devlin is known for her kinetic sculptures and immersive installations, and for dreaming up stage designs for superstars like Beyoncé and Adele. She also has an interactive mirrored installation, , on permanent view at Superblue Miami, But here on the beach, she’s crafted a surprisingly meditative experience.
The Faena project, which is free and open to the public, was commissioned by Argentinean real estate developer Alan Faena in honor of the art district and hotel’s anniversary. It took Devlin’s team about nine months to design and build, and a couple of weeks to install. But the concept has been in the works for far longer, with initial conversations between Devlin and Faena taking place some four to five years ago.
Es Devlin, Library of Us. Photo: Sunn Studio. Courtesy of the artist and Faena Art.
He gave Devlin free rein to create not only her beachside installation, but also a smaller installation of books in the Faena Cathedral, as the hotel’s lobby is called. (In April, Devlin staged a similar revolving library project, , in the courtyard of the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan.)
Stepping onto the circular platform of , revolving with the books—each rotation takes about 10 minutes—or sitting on the perimeter to page through Devlin’s selections, everything else seems to fall away. It may be a crushingly busy week of fairs, exhibitions, parties, brand activations and whatever else artists and marketers have dreamed up for Art Basel Miami Beach. Why not take a moment to just sit and read?
Source: Exhibition - news.artnet.com
