Es Devlin
Artist and designer
CONGREGATION
A choral installation at PAC NYC
On Now until 4th January
Free / pay what you want - book your slot at PAC NYC site - link in bio
Perelman Arts Center, 251 Fulton St, NYC,
next to World Trade Center Memorial
Between April and August 2024 I made chalk and charcoal drawings of 50 strangers.
I knew only their first name, and nothing else about them, except that at some point in their life, they had to seek refuge, and they sought it here, in London. We did not speak for the first 45 minutes of the drawing session. We listened to Max Richter’s Four Seasons. A face to face encounter, unmediated by language. Emmanuel Levinas wrote: ‘the human face ordains and orders us; it’s first commandment is : thou shalt not kill”.
After 45 minutes they told me their stories, how they travelled to London, sometimes decades ago as a small child, sometimes months ago on a small boat.
We translated the drawings into a 24’ tall installation, projection-mapped with a choreographic sequence made in collaboration with Botis Seva, Joshua Shanny Wynter, Evie Gurney and Ruth Hogben. As a synonym for ‘refugee’ we used the phrase ‘those who bring their gifts to London’. Each sitter became a co-author of the work, guiding me how to paint their gift within the empty box they held on their lap.
First shown at St Mary le Strand church in collaboration with The Courtauld, Kings College London and UNHCR last year, and curated by Ekow Eshun, the installation is now open until January 4th at PAC NYC, Perelman Arts Center, 251 Fulton St, NYC. It has found new resonance at this charged site adjacent to the World Trade Center memorial.
Underscore composed by Polyphonia
Projection by Ruth Hogben and Treatment Studio with VYV
Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies
The co-authors full stories can be found at Bloomberg Connects - link in bio
And there’s a BBC short doc about the making of the work - link in bio
CONGREGATION
A choral installation at PAC NYC
On Now until 4th January
Free / pay what you want - book your slot at PAC NYC site - link in bio
Perelman Arts Center, 251 Fulton St, NYC,
next to World Trade Center Memorial
Between April and August 2024 I made chalk and charcoal drawings of 50 strangers.
I knew only their first name, and nothing else about them, except that at some point in their life, they had to seek refuge, and they sought it here, in London. We did not speak for the first 45 minutes of the drawing session. We listened to Max Richter’s Four Seasons. A face to face encounter, unmediated by language. Emmanuel Levinas wrote: ‘the human face ordains and orders us; it’s first commandment is : thou shalt not kill”.
After 45 minutes they told me their stories, how they travelled to London, sometimes decades ago as a small child, sometimes months ago on a small boat.
We translated the drawings into a 24’ tall installation, projection-mapped with a choreographic sequence made in collaboration with Botis Seva, Joshua Shanny Wynter, Evie Gurney and Ruth Hogben.The poet JJ Bola contributed to the voiceover. As a synonym for ‘refugee’ we used the phrase ‘those who bring their gifts to London’. Each sitter became a co-author of the work, guiding me how to paint their gift within the empty box they held on their lap.
First shown at St Mary le Strand church in collaboration with The Courtauld, Kings College London and UNHCR last year, and curated by Ekow Eshun, the installation is now open until January 4th at PAC NYC, Perelman Arts Center, 251 Fulton St, NYC. It has found new resonance at this charged site adjacent to the World Trade Center memorial.
Underscore composed by Polyphonia
Projection by Ruth Hogben and Treatment Studio with VYV
Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies
The co-authors full stories can be found at Bloomberg Connects - link in bio
And there’s a BBC short doc about the making of the work - link in bio
CONGREGATION
A choral installation at PAC NYC
On Now until 4th January
Free / pay what you want - book your slot at PAC NYC site - link in bio
Perelman Arts Center, 251 Fulton St, NYC,
next to World Trade Center Memorial
Between April and August 2024 I made chalk and charcoal drawings of 50 strangers.
I knew only their first name, and nothing else about them, except that at some point in their life, they had to seek refuge, and they sought it here, in London. We did not speak for the first 45 minutes of the drawing session. We listened to Max Richter’s Four Seasons. A face to face encounter, unmediated by language. Emmanuel Levinas wrote: ‘the human face ordains and orders us; it’s first commandment is : thou shalt not kill”.
After 45 minutes they told me their stories, how they travelled to London, sometimes decades ago as a small child, sometimes months ago on a small boat.
We translated the drawings into a 24’ tall installation, projection-mapped with a choreographic sequence made in collaboration with Botis Seva, Joshua Shanny Wynter, Evie Gurney and Ruth Hogben. As a synonym for ‘refugee’ we used the phrase ‘those who bring their gifts to London’. Each sitter became a co-author of the work, guiding me how to paint their gift within the empty box they held on their lap.
First shown at St Mary le Strand church in collaboration with The Courtauld, Kings College London and UNHCR last year, and curated by Ekow Eshun, the installation is now open until January 4th at PAC NYC, Perelman Arts Center, 251 Fulton St, NYC. It has found new resonance at this charged site adjacent to the World Trade Center memorial.
Underscore composed by Polyphonia
Projection by Ruth Hogben and Treatment Studio with VYV
Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies
The co-authors full stories can be found at Bloomberg Connects - link in bio
And there’s a BBC short doc about the making of the work - link in bio
Es Devlin’s (@esdevlin) ‘The Library of Us’ rises from Faena Beach in Miami like a luminous monument to reflection amid the rush of Art Basel. The 20-foot-tall rotating bookshelf filled with 2,500 volumes offers a rare pause for reading and quiet contemplation. By day it turns slowly in a sunlit pool on the sands of Faena Beach; by night it becomes a glowing beacon, a hypnotic tribute to the enduring power of the written word.
Earlier this week, Es Devlin (@esdevlin) unveiled “Library of Us” on Faena Beach for Miami Art Week. The installation features a slowly rotating triangular bookshelf, nearly twenty feet tall and fifty feet long, set within a shallow reflecting pool and encircled by two concentric reading tables—one still, one in motion.
Watch as Devlin speaks with Ursula about the making of “Library of Us” and the ideas that shaped its debut.
Video: Olly Bharat @olly.bharat Ted Mendez @tedmendez
Photography: Es Devlin, “Library of Us,” 2025. Photos: Oriol Tarridas. Courtesy of the artist and Faena Art
PORTRAITS OF US
—ES DEVLIN
Presented by @ChaseSapphire #ChaseSapphirePartner,
Past Tuesday, we had the honor of hosting a drawing class workshop entitled Portraits of Us, lead by artist Es Devlin. Participants met at the Library of Us and drew each face they met as the sculpture revolved, resulting in a collective portrait.
Whether reading, conversing, listening or drawing, Library of Us provides an architecture of encounter. Join us this week at the Faena District!
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FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
December 2nd - 7th
@FaenaMiamiBeach @Faena
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Featured Artist
@EsDevlin
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Translation provided by Ray-Ban Meta
@raybanmeta #MetaRayBan Display, #RayBanMeta
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Faena Art thanks @chateaulagordonne @casadragones @illy_coffee @fevertree_usa @perrier @redbull @saintjamesicedtea @bombaysapphire @lafetewine for their generous support
📚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
Library of Us, commissioned by Faena Art on Faena Beach Miami - now until 7th December - free and open to the public.
A 50-foot-wide rotating triangular bookshelf containing 2500 books including the texts that have most influenced me. The illuminated triangular sculpture rotates like a mirrored compass needle within a circular reflecting pool surrounded by a 70-foot-wide collective reading table, set daily with my books for viewers to read as they revolve around one another.
Throughout the day, the library reads aloud in my voice, phrases from 250 texts.
“Books are the compass of the mind, pointing toward countless worlds yet to be explored”
Umberto Eco
“I am not sure I exist actually, I am every book I have ever read,”
Jorge Luis Borges
“It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.”
James Baldwin
The books incorporated within Library of Us have been kindly supplied by Penguin Random Houseand will be donated to various organizations throughout Miami, including public libraries and schools, at the end of Miami Art Week.
There are also works for sale that relate to this and other recent projects in Tracing Time, an exhibition of paintings on glass, paper and a kinetic sculpture. Faena Art Project Room opposite the the hotel at 3420 Collins Ave
Reading Room is the final part of the commission - in the Faena hotel entrance Cathedral space - it incorporates the favourite books of all the hotel staff
These commissions are presented by Chase Sapphire Reserve More details at link in bio
LIBRARY OF US
—ES DEVLIN
Presented by @ChaseSapphire, #ChaseSapphirePartner Faena Art marks ten years in Miami Beach with Es Devlin’s ‘Library of Us’—a 50-foot revolving library and radiant reading room that turns the Faena District into a shared space for reflection during Miami Art Week. The exhibition unfolds across three sites: a kinetic sculpture on Faena Beach, the luminous ‘Reading Room’ inside Faena Cathedral, and ‘Tracing Time’, a suite of drawings and paintings on glass, paper, and screens in the Faena Art Project Room.
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Miami Art Week 2025 programming also features ‘Tropical Stomping Grounds’ by Pepe Mar, a site-specific installation at Casa Faena supporting No Vacancy, a program by the City of Miami Beach, the Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority, and the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau.
#MiamiArtWeek
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FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
December 2nd - 5:00PM at @FaenaMiamiBeach @Faena
RSVP link in bio
——
Featured Artist
@EsDevlin
Translation provided by Ray-Ban Meta
@raybanmeta #MetaRayBan Display, #RayBanMeta
——
Faena Art thanks @chateaulagordonne @casadragones @illy_coffee @fevertree_usa @perrier @redbull @saintjamesicedtea @lafetewine @bombaysapphire for their generous support.
‘The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything .. except our modes of thinking. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.’ - Albert Einstein. Wednesday 6th August, Piccadilly Lights.
I Saw the World End, a monumental digital artwork made in response to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945, 80 years ago .
Commissioned by IWM in 2020, I Saw the World End is a digital diptych which responds to the moment the nature and consequences of war were irrevocably redefined, reflecting on the impact of the event from both a Japanese and a British perspective. The artwork highlights precise moments of destruction within a ten-second period – the time it took for the nuclear weapons to eliminate both Japanese cities.
The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945. The two bombings killed over 100,000 people directly, most of whom were civilians, and caused thousands more to die of their injuries or the after-effects of radiation. The detonation of these weapons remains the first and only time they have been used in war.The work is made in collaboration with Machiko Weston with score composed by Polyphonia. More info and link in bio to watch the work online at Imperial War Museums website
Tomorrow, Wednesday 6th August:
I Saw the World End, a monumental digital artwork made in response to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945, 80 years ago tomorrow.
The work is 10 mins long and will show tomorrow only
From 10am till 5pm at the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ - in the Blavatnik Art, film and photography galleries screening room
and
at 8.45pm on the giant LED screen, Piccadilly Lights, Piccadilly Circus, London W1D 7ET
Commissioned by IWM in 2020, I Saw the World End is a digital diptych which responds to the moment the nature and consequences of war were irrevocably redefined, reflecting on the impact of the event from both a Japanese and a British perspective. The artwork highlights precise moments of destruction within a ten-second period – the time it took for the nuclear weapons to eliminate both Japanese cities.
The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945. The two bombings killed over 100,000 people directly, most of whom were civilians, and caused thousands more to die of their injuries or the after-effects of radiation. The detonation of these weapons remains the first and only time they have been used in war.The work is made in collaboration with Machiko Weston with score composed by Polyphonia. More info and link in bio to watch the work online at Imperial War Museums website
Tomorrow, Wednesday 6th August:
I Saw the World End, a monumental digital artwork made in response to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6th and 9th August 1945, 80 years ago tomorrow.
The work is 10 mins long and will show tomorrow only
From 10am till 5pm at the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ - in the Blavatnik Art, film and photography galleries screening room
and
at 8.45pm on the giant LED screen, Piccadilly Lights, Piccadilly Circus, London W1D 7ET
Commissioned by IWM in 2020, I Saw the World End is a digital diptych which responds to the moment the nature and consequences of war were irrevocably redefined, reflecting on the impact of the event from both a Japanese and a British perspective. The artwork highlights precise moments of destruction within a ten-second period – the time it took for the nuclear weapons to eliminate both Japanese cities.
The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August 1945. The two bombings killed over 100,000 people directly, most of whom were civilians, and caused thousands more to die of their injuries or the after-effects of radiation. The detonation of these weapons remains the first and only time they have been used in war.The work is made in collaboration with Machiko Weston with score composed by Polyphonia. More info and link in bio to watch the work online at Imperial War Museums website
Trình Xem Câu Chuyện Instagram là một công cụ dễ sử dụng giúp bạn xem và lưu câu chuyện Instagram, video, ảnh hoặc IGTV một cách bí mật. Với dịch vụ này, bạn có thể tải xuống nội dung và thưởng thức ngoại tuyến bất cứ lúc nào. Nếu bạn tìm thấy điều gì đó thú vị trên Instagram mà bạn muốn xem sau này hoặc muốn xem câu chuyện mà vẫn giữ ẩn danh, Trình Xem của chúng tôi là lựa chọn hoàn hảo. Anonstories cung cấp giải pháp tuyệt vời để giữ kín danh tính của bạn. Instagram ra mắt tính năng Câu Chuyện vào tháng 8 năm 2023, và nhanh chóng được các nền tảng khác áp dụng do định dạng hấp dẫn và nhạy cảm với thời gian. Câu Chuyện cho phép người dùng chia sẻ cập nhật nhanh, bất kể là ảnh, video, hay selfie, được bổ sung với văn bản, emoji, hoặc bộ lọc, và chỉ hiển thị trong 24 giờ. Khoảng thời gian giới hạn này tạo ra mức độ tương tác cao so với các bài đăng thường xuyên. Trong thế giới ngày nay, Câu Chuyện là một trong những cách phổ biến nhất để kết nối và giao tiếp trên mạng xã hội. Tuy nhiên, khi bạn xem một Câu Chuyện, người tạo có thể thấy tên của bạn trong danh sách người xem, điều này có thể gây lo ngại về quyền riêng tư. Nếu bạn muốn duyệt Câu Chuyện mà không bị phát hiện, Anonstories sẽ hữu ích. Nó cho phép bạn xem nội dung công khai trên Instagram mà không tiết lộ danh tính của mình. Chỉ cần nhập tên người dùng của hồ sơ mà bạn tò mò và công cụ này sẽ hiển thị Câu Chuyện mới nhất của họ. Các tính năng của Trình Xem Anonstories: - Duyệt Ẩn Danh: Xem Câu Chuyện mà không xuất hiện trong danh sách người xem. - Không Cần Tài Khoản: Xem nội dung công khai mà không cần đăng ký tài khoản Instagram. - Tải Nội Dung: Lưu bất kỳ nội dung Câu Chuyện nào trực tiếp vào thiết bị của bạn để sử dụng ngoại tuyến. - Xem Highlight: Truy cập các Highlight trên Instagram, ngay cả khi đã qua 24 giờ. - Theo Dõi Đăng Lại: Theo dõi các bài đăng lại hoặc mức độ tương tác trên Câu Chuyện của hồ sơ cá nhân. Hạn chế: - Công cụ này chỉ hoạt động với các tài khoản công khai; các tài khoản riêng tư không thể truy cập. Lợi ích: - Thân thiện với quyền riêng tư: Xem bất kỳ nội dung Instagram nào mà không bị phát hiện. - Đơn giản và dễ dàng: Không cần cài đặt ứng dụng hoặc đăng ký. - Công cụ độc quyền: Tải và quản lý nội dung theo cách mà Instagram không cung cấp.
Theo dõi các cập nhật Instagram một cách kín đáo trong khi bảo vệ quyền riêng tư của bạn và vẫn giữ ẩn danh.
Xem hồ sơ và ảnh một cách ẩn danh dễ dàng với Trình Xem Hồ Sơ Riêng Tư.
Công cụ miễn phí này cho phép bạn xem Câu Chuyện Instagram ẩn danh, đảm bảo hoạt động của bạn không bị phát hiện bởi người tải lên câu chuyện.
Anonstories cho phép người dùng xem Câu Chuyện Instagram mà không cảnh báo người tạo.
Hoạt động mượt mà trên iOS, Android, Windows, macOS và các trình duyệt hiện đại như Chrome và Safari.
Ưu tiên duyệt web an toàn, ẩn danh mà không yêu cầu thông tin đăng nhập.
Người dùng có thể xem Câu Chuyện công khai chỉ bằng cách nhập tên người dùng—không cần tài khoản.
Tải ảnh (JPEG) và video (MP4) một cách dễ dàng.
Dịch vụ này miễn phí.
Nội dung từ các tài khoản riêng tư chỉ có thể truy cập bởi những người theo dõi.
Các tệp chỉ được sử dụng cho mục đích cá nhân hoặc giáo dục và phải tuân thủ quy định bản quyền.
Nhập tên người dùng công khai để xem hoặc tải xuống câu chuyện. Dịch vụ tạo liên kết trực tiếp để lưu nội dung vào thiết bị của bạn.