Renowned British designer Es Devlin has unveiled "Library of Us," a monumental rotating library installation featuring 2,500 carefully selected books that have influenced her artistic career over the years. The impressive structure was erected on Miami Beach as part of the city's prestigious annual art week, which centers around the internationally acclaimed Art Basel fair.

The installation has been strategically positioned on the beachfront of the luxurious Faena Beach hotel in Miami Beach, serving as a centerpiece for the Faena Arts program. The structure features a distinctive compass-like design, with a triangular rotating shelf system mounted on a metallic plinth and surrounded by a circular pool of water. A circular desk equipped with reading chairs encircles the entire installation, creating an intimate space for visitors to engage with the books.

Devlin deliberately spaced the 2,500 books throughout the shelves to allow natural light to filter through during the day, while the entire structure becomes illuminated at night, creating a striking visual beacon during Miami's bustling art week festivities. The installation showcases books that have been particularly relevant and influential to Devlin's distinguished career as a designer, offering visitors insight into the literary works that have shaped her creative vision.

"I have always experienced libraries as silent, intensely vibrant places where minds and imaginations soar, while clutched like kites by their seated bodies," Devlin explained about her inspiration for the project. "I sense the synaptic connections being forged, the resonances and associations at play within the minds of a temporary community of readers. This installation seeks to express the vitality of the library through a series of encounters between viewers revolving to meet one another through language around a circular collective reading table."

The interactive nature of the installation becomes apparent as visitors sit around the circular table while the central rotating element continuously moves, creating new sight lines and perspectives for readers positioned in the fixed chairs. This dynamic movement is designed to foster unexpected encounters and connections between strangers through their shared experience of literature and reading.

Each day during the art week, Devlin personally curates and arranges a special selection of books intended to provide visitors with a peaceful respite from the typically frenetic energy and pace of Miami's art week activities. One of the installation's shelves incorporates an LED screen that displays various phrases and excerpts from the books housed within the structure, accompanied by audio readings of the same passages, creating a multimedia literary experience.

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Faena Art, Devlin has also designed and outfitted a complementary reading room within the Faena Beach hotel, extending the literary experience beyond the outdoor installation. The project reflects Devlin's longstanding fascination with communal reading experiences and her belief in libraries as spaces where temporary communities of readers naturally form and connect.

The Library of Us installation will remain accessible to visitors from December 2-7 as an integral part of Miami Art Week's programming. Following the conclusion of the art week festivities, all 2,500 books from the installation will be donated to local Miami libraries, ensuring that the literary collection continues to serve the community long after the temporary installation is dismantled.