We were honoured to compose the sound world for 'Library of Us' created in collaboration with Faena Art and Es Devlin for Art Basel Miami December 2025.
Centred on a rotating triangular bookshelf 50 feet wide and holding 2,500 formative texts set within a circular reflecting pool and surrounded by a 70 foot collective reading table, turning like an illuminated compass needle and receiving critical acclaim from The New York Times.
Our music threads through this shifting architecture alongside Devlin’s recorded voice and the LED subtitle shelf that lights phrases from 250 books throughout the day, creating a multi sensory mediation of text to help audiences connect emotionally to the words and to each other as the kinetic sculpture turns.
Annotated books are laid out daily for communal reading with static stools on the outer rim and slowly revolving seats on the inner ring that move with the sculpture bringing readers into new encounters with texts and with one another.
Building on the early 2025 success of ‘Library of Light’ at the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan, which drew nearly 200,000 visitors to daily collective readings, ‘Library of Us’ blends space, sound, literature and performance into a collective experience held in motion by our soundtrack.
We shaped the score as a polyphonic field of sung choral voices, textures and fragments of piano, culminating each evening in a performance of ‘The Order of Time’ text written by Carlo Rovelli and recited by Benedict Cumberbatch with our music performed live by violinist Dany.
The project also expanded into ‘Edible Dinner’ a collaboration with Francis Mallmann at the same 70 foot communal table, where each slow rotation became part of a curated multisensory feast: each course was a sensory translation of a quote from four books on the shelves, inviting guests to literally “eat” from the archive of human thought as they revolved through new conversations.
'Reading Room' is a 46 foot bench that combines a bookshelf with an LED text strip, built as a participatory companion to ‘Library of Us’ from contributions by the hotel staff and longtime Faena Art collaborators.
As Devlin’s subtitled readings beam phrases through the LED screen across the day, Polyphonia’s choral refrains rise with each quote adding an emotional pulse that draws visitors deeper into the shared act of reading.
