The Ultimate Guide to Desert X 2023
The desert has long provided space for artists to break out of galleries and create provocative work in conversation with its environment. This year's Desert X is no different. The biennial outdoor art exhibition returns to the Coachella Valley for its fourth year, presenting immersive works on view through May 7. Building on social and environmental themes explored in earlier editions, this year's installations span sculpture, painting, writing, architecture, design, film, and music.
With 11 immersive installations at sites across the Coachella Valley (and one you can experience from the comfort of your own home), viewing this year's exhibition can be an intimidating task. But we've got you covered. We've created a map of all the installations at this year's Desert X along with tips and information you'll need to plan your trip.
In no particular order, here is everything you need to know about this year's installations.
Click on each map point below to view descriptions, photographs and coordinates for each installation.
Rana Begum, "No. 1225 Chainlink"
British-Bangladeshi artist Rana Begum employs the ubiquitous chain-link fence for her maze-like, geometric sculpture "No. 1225 Chainlink," transforming the material typically used as a divider and object of confinement in the Coachella Valley and beyond. Visitors are allowed to walk into the sculpture and experience the way the material takes new life at different angles and times of day.
"No. 1225 Chainlink" is on view daily from sunrise to sunset at:
74184 Portola Road, Palm Desert
33.775917,-116.368694
Lauren Bon and Metabolic Studio's, "The Smallest Sea With the Largest Heart"
Known for embracing environmental activism in her artistic practice, Lauren Bon creates a "device of wonder" for Desert X 2023. In "The Smallest Sea With the Largest Heart," Bon submerges a steel frame sculpture of a whale heart into a pool of water from the Salton Sea and employs the transformative process of accretion to gradually metabolize a sculpture and purify the pool's water over the course of the exhibition.
"The Smallest Sea With the Largest Heart" is on view Thursday through Sunday, from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm at:
2249 N. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs
33.849977,-116.549802
Note: This installation requires timed tickets and can only be viewed in 15-minute viewing sessions. Tickets can be reserved for free here. On-site parking is limited. Street parking can be found along Via Olivera and Junipero Road, west of Palm Canyon Drive. Be sure to check city parking signs posted.
Gerald Clarke, "Immersion"
Perhaps one of the best views of Gerald Clarke's "Immersion" is from a plane flying in and out of Palm Springs International Airport. But to truly experience the piece, viewers must be on the ground. Taking visual inspiration from traditional Cahuilla basket weaving, the sculpture is a giant board game that invites visitors to walk on the maze-like structure and immerse themselves into the natural and cultural history of Native Americans in Coachella Valley and beyond. To play, visitors must answer questions about Native American culture and history, advancing towards the center only when answering correctly.
"Immersion" is on view daily from sunrise to sunset at:
James O. Jessie Desert Highland Unity Center
480 W. Tramview Road, Palm Springs
33.868051,-116.553720
Note: To play "Immersion," open this link on your mobile device upon arriving at the site and follow the instructions on the cards.
Paloma Contreras Lomas, "Amar a Dios en Tierra de Indios, Es Oficio Maternal"
Despite the whimsical and playful exterior of Paloma Contreras Lomas's "Amar a Dios en Tierra de Indios, Es Oficio Maternal," the multimedia installation addresses dark topics like patriarchy, violence, class segregation and colonialism. With fuzzy, tangled limbs splayed out of the trunk and colorful, sequined plush elements adorning the hood, Contreras Lomas uses playful textures and colors to draw the viewer into the vehicle and ponder heavier issues highlighted in a video element mounted onto the backseat of the car.
"Amar a Dios En Tierra de Indios, Es Oficio Maternal" is on view Wednesday through Sunday, from 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. at:
Sunnylands Center & Gardens
37977 Bob Hope Drive, Rancho Mirage
33.780500,-116.406167
Note: "Amar a Dios en Tierra de Indios, Es Oficio Maternal" is located at Sunnylands Center & Gardens. Admission is free and does not require advance reservation.
Torkwase Dyson, "Liquid A Place"
Torkwase Dyson's "Liquid A Place," evolved from her ongoing series of geometric drawings she calls "hyper shapes." With "Liquid A Place," the New York-based artist moves viewers to consider the water in their bodies, the memories it holds and its relationship to the history of water in the desert. Juxtaposed against the cold, rigid architectural design of the sculpture and the dry desert, visitors become the water in the environment upon interacting with the piece.
"Liquid A Place" is on view daily from sunrise to sunset at:
Homme Adams Park
72500 Thrush Road, Palm Desert
33.708547,-116.399372
Mario García Torres, "Searching for the Sky (While Maintaining Equilibrium)"
Mario García Torres's "Searching for the Sky (While Maintaining Equilibrium)" is a reflection of "cowboy culture" that exists across Mexican and American borders. The large-scale installation utilizes mechanical bull bases, replacing the bull with a flat, reflective square. Arranged in the formation of a herd in the middle of the desert, the installation complicates viewers' perception of the "wild West" and the relationships and roles we play with it.
"Searching for the Sky (While Maintaining Equilibrium)" is on view daily from 10:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m. at:
Pierson Boulevard between Foxdale Drive and Miracle Hill Road, Desert Hot Springs
33.963394,-116.485582
Note: This site involves a short walk to view the work.
Discover Past Desert X Installation
Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tappeser), "Namak Nazar"
Multimedia poet-musician duo Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser, also known as Hylozoic/Desires, invite visitors to think through ecological loss in their sound sculpture, "Namak Nazar." Taking inspiration from the rise of conspiracy theories, the wooden pillar is covered with trumpet speakers broadcasting music and conspiracies about salt which is encrusted at the base of the pole. Just as utility poles are used to communicate messages over long distances, "Namak Nazar" connects environmental crises facing the Salton Sea with similar problems across the globe in the Rann of Kutch, a desert on the border of India and Pakistan and the location where "Namak Nazar's" songs were recorded.
"Namak Nazar" is on view daily from sunrise to sunset at:
Worsley Road between Pierson and Mission Lakes Boulevards
Desert Hot Springs
33.965665,-116.583173
Matt Johnson, "Sleeping Figure"
Sandwiched between the Interstate 10 freeway and a railway, two main distribution arteries from the Port of Los Angeles to the American Southwest, Matt Johnson's "Sleeping Figure" peacefully rests against the picturesque San Jacinto mountain. Conceptualized at a time when megaship Ever Given clogged the Suez Canal and effectively disrupted supply chains, Johnson's "Sleeping Figure" personifies a global supply chain in distress.
"Sleeping Figure" is on view daily from sunrise to sunset at:
I-10 Exit 110 to Railroad Ave
33.922876,-116.689379
Note: This site requires a half mile walk on an unpaved trail to view the work up close.
Tyre D. Nichols, "Originals"
Exhibiting art on billboards along the Gene Autry Trail is nothing new for Desert X. This year, the roadside billboards display six photographs taken by Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old Black man who died this January after a brutal beating by Memphis police officers. His striking images of Memphis tower over the road, drawing attention to the fact that so many needless deaths and violence at the hands of police take place at the side of the road.
Nichols, whose lifelong passions included photography and skateboarding, never had the chance to exhibit his photographs of Memphis until now. The posthumous exhibition celebrates his work while also grieving an artistic vision brutally denied the opportunity to further develop due to state sanctioned violence.
"Originals" is on view daily from sunrise to sunset at:
N. Gene Autry Trail, Between Via Escuela and the I-10
33.852444,-116.506083
Tschabalala Self, "Pioneer"
New York-born and -based artist Tschabalala Self's "Pioneer" is a monument to what she calls America's "foremothers" — Black and Indigenous women who are often excluded from historical narratives, despite their integral role in American expansion and growth. But while the sculpture honors those in the past, Self embeds a level of optimism in the work, speaking to the descendants of these foremothers and serving as a visual marker of their place within the American "frontier" landscape.
"Pioneer" is on view daily from sunrise to sunset:
San Gorgonio Street and Bubbling Wells Road, Desert Hot Springs
33.940884,-116.483980
Note: This site involves a short hike up a hill to view the work up close.
Marina Tabassum, "Khudi Bari"
Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum's "Khudi Bari" (Bangladeshi for "tiny home") is a modular mobile home designed to provide resilient shelters for communities vulnerable to climatic challenges. Inexpensive, durable and relatively easy to assemble and disassemble, "Khudi Bari" is a direct response to the wake of flash floods that displace communities on tiny islands, or "chars," on the Bengal delta.
While there is no physical iteration of Tabassum's "Khudi Bari" in Southern California, you don't have to travel to Bangladesh to see one of Tabasum's "tiny homes." Desert X commissioned a film directed by Piplu R. Khan that follows the process of building a khudi bari from start to finish. Tabassum's "Khudi Bari" and the film ask viewers, "How can we build and live with climate extremes?"
The 10-minute film can be viewed online on the Desert X website.
Héctor Zamora, "Chimera"
Héctor Zamora's "Chimera" is a performative action that reflects on migration and the American dream, drawing attention to ubiquitous (but often neglected) street vendors. Zamora's performance took place on March 3 and 4 at various sites across Desert Hot Springs and the Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs. For the performative piece, Zamora positioned street vendors along main streets and heavily trafficked intersections across the Coachella Valley, each one holding a bouquet of flashy mylar balloon letters that spelled out 30 words like "REFUGEE," "SEEK," "ICE," "DIE" and "WONDER." Throughout the day, the cloud of balloons dissipate as viewers and passersby interact with the street vendors and take home the balloons.
Although "Chimera" is not a recurring performance, remaining deflated balloons and documentation of the performance is on view at the Palm Springs Art Museum main museum through May 7.
Documentation of "Chimera" is on view Thursday through Sunday during operating hours at:
Palm Springs Art Museum
101 N Museum Dr, Palm Springs
Note: Operating hours can be found on the Palm Springs Art Museum website.
Check out the Desert X collection to discover more of KCET's coverage of past editions.
