by Desert X 2023 in the Coachella Valley
From March 4th to May 7th, 2023, Desert X, a biannual outdoor art exhibition, was on view across California Coachella Valley, will adorn the desert landscape with a series of sculptural works and site-specific installations. Created by multiple artists from diverse backgrounds, the installations draw on a range of concepts including childhood dreams, sci-fi characters, conspiracy theorists and cowboy culture to present a sculptural spectacle that opens new perspectives on the arid environment. The collection of works includes a sculpture made from “sleeping” containers, an old car taken over by otherworldly creatures, a collection of silver balloons, and a giant board game base embedded in the desert field. Invited artists include Rana Begum, Lauren Bon from Metabolic Studio, Paloma Contreras Lomas and many others.
#1225 Chainlink by Rana Begum
Influenced by minimalism and childhood experiences, British-Bangladeshi artist Rana Begum presents a site-specific installation entitled No.1225 Chainlink. Blurring lines between sculpture, design and architecture, the work responds to the ubiquitous chain link fence that forms a pattern across the Coachella Valley by using a material intended to protect but also associated with violence. The result is a pale yellow, cloud-like pavilion that interacts with light, air, sand and water, offering “pathways of expansive escape rather than reductive confinement”. Constantly changing with the movement of the sun and the visitors within it, the installation emphasizes that nothing in life is static – everything from the outside world to our inner feelings is in constant flux.
Desert X 2023 Installation View, Rana Begum, No.1225 Chainlink | Photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy of the artist and Desert X
Desert X 2023 Installation View, Rana Begum, No.1225 Chainlink | Photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy of the artist and Desert X
The Smallest Sea with the Biggest Heart by Lauren Bon
Los Angeles-based environmental artist Lauren Bon and her practice Metabolic Studio unveil The Smallest Sea with the Largest Heart. The poetic installation features a lacy steel sculpture of a scale blue whale heart submerged in a small pool filled with water from the Salton Sea. Rather than serving as a harbinger of death, the sculpture metabolizes and generates energy and clean water, which it releases back into the atmosphere to fuel the potential for future life over the duration of the exhibition, while visually transforming in the process. The work, which combines swimming pools with water and skeletal “sand” made of fishbones in a landscape associated with severe water scarcity, not only reminds us of the need for artists to create on the same level as society’s ability to destroy, but also in our own connection to water and that the desert was once a sea.
Desert X 2023 Installation View, Lauren Bon, The Smallest Sea With The Biggest Heart | Photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy of the artist and Desert X
Desert X 2023 Installation View, Lauren Bon, The Smallest Sea With The Biggest Heart | Photo by Lance Gerber, courtesy of the artist and Desert X
Amar a Dios en Tierra de Indios, Es Oficio Maternal by Paloma Contreras Lomas
Mexico City-based artist Paloma Contreras Lomas, known for her exploration of themes such as patriarchy, violence, class segregation, colonial guilt and the constructed middle, presents Amar a Dios en Tierra de Indios, Es Oficio Maternal. The sculpture presents itself as an aging car that has come to a halt in Sunnylands, while a preposterous conglomeration of intertwined limbs of two mysterious long-hatted figures sprawls out of the car and onto the pristine, manicured grounds of the site. Plush, long hands armed with padded rifles hang out of the windows, barely camouflaged by the artificial undergrowth that overgrows the sculpture. These strange characters accompany the visitor on a caricature audiovisual tour of the landscape that western meets sci-fi, like a fictional tour of a seemingly familiar outside world, guided by aliens and spirits.
