A pop-up maze in a pop-up forest is coming for Art Week. Miami gets to keep the trees
The iconic fragrance Chanel No. 5 is celebrating its centenary with a gift to Miami: a full-size labyrinth opening Art Week that will be free for visitors.
Immersion artist Es Devlin will create “Five Echoes,” a circular installation ensconced in a temporary forest in the Miami Design District’s Jungle Plaza. The massive sculpture measures 100 feet in diameter, with walls ranging from 3 to 22 feet high, and will be activated with sound, light — and naturally, scent — components.
Once the labyrinth is dismantled, the 1,000 trees and plants used to create the temporary “forest” will be replanted in parks throughout Miami-Dade County.
Iconic fashion designer Coco Chanel grew up in the French countryside surrounded by woods — scents that helped inform her sensibilities and the creation of the No. 5 fragrance. Nature is also a key theme for Devlin, whose mirrored maze “Forest of Us” is on view at Superblue Miami.
“If works of art can help us to see ourselves as part of the biosphere and symbiotically fused with it, if we can start to see plants and animals as equal protagonists as ourselves in life, I believe we have a better chance of making the fundamental behavioral shifts that are necessary not only to avoid climate chaos, but also to live in a more just, equitable, and joyful way,” said Devlin in a statement.
Coco Chanel stood for timeless style, and her signature Chanel No. 5 fragrance has lived up to its reputation. After 10 decades, it remains one of the world’s best-selling scents, according to beauty publications.
▪ “Five Echoes,” by Es Devlin, Nov. 30 - Dec. 21 in the Miami Design District, 3801 NE 1st Ave., Miami. Free.
This story was originally published November 3, 2021 at 10:00 AM.
