Es Devlin's *The Library of Us*, a 20-foot-tall rotating bookshelf containing 2,500 books, debuted as a major spectacle during Miami Art Week. Installed on Miami Beach within a circular pool of water, the sculpture invites visitors to step onto a rotating platform, creating shifting social encounters with strangers. By day it towers over the sand, and by night it glows like a beacon. The work also includes an audio track of quotes from the books, some of which have been banned by Florida schools, and Devlin plans to donate all volumes to Miami public schools and libraries after the installation ends.
The work matters because it offers a quiet, meditative counterpoint to the commercial frenzy of Art Basel, while also serving as a poignant meditation on fragility—of culture, knowledge, and the environment. Set just feet from the Atlantic, the library's vulnerability echoes Miami's own precarious position amid climate change and rising waters. Devlin, known for stage designs for Beyoncé and Adele, uses the piece to explore how differing viewpoints can coexist, and to champion the act of reading as a compass for exploration.