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DE📚Step into the mind of visionary artist @esdevlin (Es Devlin), whose work bridges art, architecture, poetry, and music. Her latest installation, Library of Us—commissioned by @faenaart (Faena Art) for their 10th anniversary at Art Basel Miami—is a luminous triangular bookshelf set in a circular reflecting pool on Faena Beach. Evolving from her Milan piece, Library of Light, this monumental sculpture invites collective reading in response to what Devlin calls “our contemporary erosion of focus.”
Devlin recalls her teenage years immersed in books, before smartphones fragmented attention. The sculpture, shaped like a sundial or compass, points both out to the Atlantic and inland to Miami—a city shaped from north, south, east and west. Fragile paperbacks sit inches from the water, a poignant detail in a city now 400 times more likely to flood than 19 years ago.
Towering nearly 20 ft. tall and 50 ft. long, Library of Us houses 4,000 books across 2,500 titles that have most influenced Devlin’s thinking. Visitors meet either side of a circular reading table—they travel a full rotation every 10 minutes.
The commissions continue with Reading Room, a 46-foot bench bookshelf featuring an LED strip with phrases from books chosen by Faena Hotel housekeeping staff, kitchen staff, pool cleaners, previously commissioned artists, and fabrication teams. Tracing Time in The Faena Art Project Room offers an intimate look at Devlin’s creative process, showcasing sketches, glass paintings, and painted TV screens from her London studio—available for sale for the first time.
Recognizing that 70% of Miami’s population speaks Spanish as a first language, Devlin offers real-time translation via @raybanmeta glasses, available to borrow at the @raybanmeta info kiosks, enabling guests to connect across language barriers.
Whether reading, conversing, or listening, Library of Us provides an architecture of encounter.
Sound design: @polyphonia_studio, @adiworldwide
Photography/Video: @SunnStudio.co, @Orioltarridas, @koffie.agency
Archival images: @esdevlin
Additional 👓footage: @raybanmeta
✨ See @design Broadcast Channel credits
#EsDevlin #FaenaArt #RayBanMeta #ArtBaselMiami #Design
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