Photo: Sunn Studio
During Miami Art Week, Faena Beach isn’t simply welcoming passersby to plunge into the vast ocean or bask in the warm sand. It also invites us to visit its library. From December 2 to 7, 2025, the beach will be home to Library of Us, an immersive, site-specific installation produced by Es Devlin in partnership with Faena Art.
Taken in its entirety, Library of Us might be Devlin’s most intimate project yet. Set in constant rotation, the luminous, 50-foot-wide installation contains 2,500 works of literature, stocked neatly in evenly staggered shelves. For Devlin, each book has served as a sort of creative compass, deeply influencing her philosophy, life, and practice. The guiding force of these titles is captured throughout Library of Us, whose dramatic, triangular silhouette mimics that of a compass needle.
This maritime metaphor continues in the circular reflecting pool that surrounds the library, resembling a sea that can only be navigated by consulting the texts found within. Sailing across this literary ocean, as Devlin suggests, requires careful studying. In that vein, the installation features a 30-foot-wide strip of LED subtitle screen across one of its shelves, illuminated with phrases pulled from 250 books. Accompanying the screen is Devlin’s voice, which tenderly reads out each phrase for the public.
“There’s a rhythm between the text and the sound,” Devlin told The New York Times in a recent interview. “As if the library were reading itself aloud.”
Library of Us isn’t just visual; it’s highly interactive as well. Framing the installation is not only the pool, but a collective reading table, set daily with Devlin’s personally annotated books. This table is flanked by two sets of stools, one of which remains static, while the other slowly revolves alongside the library. Visitors are encouraged to take a seat, reflect, and, most importantly, engage with the artist’s curated collection of texts. This mechanic effectively stages encounters between guests, who can lock eyes and exchange books with one another before falling out of their synchronized orbits.
“The work provides an architecture for a series of encounters with strangers, and the texts offer cues for conversation,” she adds.
As part of her collaboration with Faena Art, Devlin designed two installations in addition to Library of Us, including Reading Room. This sculpture takes the form of a long bookshelf and screen, situated indoors at the Faena Cathedral. The Faena Project Room, on the other hand, is showcasing an exclusive look at Devlin’s creative process through small, layered drawings and glass works. Aside from this, artist talks and reading sessions will also be hosted at the Faena Theater and beyond.
Though Library of Us will be dismantled at the conclusion of Miami Art Week, its books will find a new home. Each title will be donated to various organizations throughout Miami, including public libraries and schools.
“The library is a model of this practice,” Devlin says. “A community of books sharing one bookshelf, all silently beaming their contrasting points of view as they turn together between the sun, sea, and sky.”
To learn more about the artist and Library of Us, visit Es Devlin’s website.
For Miami Art Week, English artist Es Devlin has produced an enormous, rotating library, stocked with 2,500 of her favorite books.
Photo: Sunn Studio
Photo: Sunn Studio
Photo: Sunn Studio
Luminescent and kinetic, Library of Us encourages visitors to read its books while engaging with others.
Photo: Sunn Studio
Photo: Sunn Studio
Photo: Sunn Studio
