British artist and designer Es Devlin may be best known for her elaborate stage extravaganzas for musicians like U2 and Kendrick Lamar, but for the 10th anniversary of the opening of Miami’s Faena hotel and cultural complex this year, she created a spectacular installation centered around an obscure theme: books.
During Art Basel Miami Beach, Faena will reveal a 50-foot-tall revolving library on its oceanfront called our libraryEs Devlin has a collection of 2,500 books that influenced her. The compass-like installation will be open to the public from December 2 to December 7, allowing visitors to read while sitting on stools on a rotating track, allowing them to meet in the process.
Devlin said in a statement that she is seeking to create “a series of encounters between audience members who get to know each other through language around a circular collective reading table.” In it, 250 phrases from the book will appear on a 30-inch-wide LED marquee screen, accompanied by a recording of the artist reading the phrases aloud.
Once installed on December 9, all 2,500 books will be donated to various organizations throughout Miami, including public libraries and schools. (According to a report last year miami new erahundreds of books have been banned from Florida public schools, but only a few of them in Miami-Dade County. )
This isn’t Devlin’s first installation using books. Last spring, as a commission for the Milan Furniture Fair, she presented Library of Lighta circular revolving bookcase, displayed in the courtyard of the Brera Gallery. To that piece, people were invited to contribute their cherished books, creating a kind of collective library.
