This week at Miami Art Week, Es Devlin has unveiled one of the event’s most thoughtful and quietly ambitious projects. Library of Us, commissioned by Faena Art for its tenth anniversary, transforms a stretch of Miami Beach into a moving open-air library. The fantastic work explores what it means to read together in public. Es Devlin herself is an avid reader.

Set directly on the sand, the centrepiece is a 50-foot triangular bookshelf that slowly rotates over a circular pool of water. It holds 2,500 books chosen by Devlin. The artist / stage set designers has shaped the art, design and performance scenes with stages for Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.

In Miami, two rings of seating encircle the structure. The inner ring turns with the bookshelf while the outer one stays still, creating a moment of alignment between strangers as the structure rotates. For a brief second, readers face one another across the table, sharing both the space and the simple act of reading.

In a week known for speed, spectacle and market buzz, Devlin offers something different: a space to slow down. At night, LED strips embedded in the shelves illuminate scrolling lines from the books, and Devlin’s recorded voice reads passages aloud. The beach becomes a place for collective listening and it’s gorgeous.

The project continues indoors. Inside the Faena Cathedral, Devlin has created Reading Room, a calmer, more intimate space built around a 46-foot bench with its own library and LED display. This collection is assembled not by Devlin alone but by hotel staff and collaborators, whose books are read aloud throughout the day. It feels personal, shared and democratic. Nearby, the Faena Art Project Room shows Tracing Time, a group of drawings and glass works exploring Devlin’s ongoing interest in perception and duration.

Still, the beach installation has quickly become one of the most meaningful works of the week. Though it looks spectacular, its purpose is simple: to invite people to read together. Devlin turns reading, usually a solitary act, into something communal.

At the end of the week, all 2,500 books will be donated to Miami’s public libraries, schools and community organisations, allowing the project to live on long after the structure is gone.