The timeless and thrilling act of approaching a desert landscape from a distance?
Most days, you might spy a clutch of prickly pear cactuses, a few creosote bushes, some distant blue mountains, and a bright dome punctuated by perfectly puffy clouds.
But on some rare occasions?
There's art before you, colossal creative wonders that have originated in the human mind and heart, and spying such large-scale wonders can give an adventurer an unusual thrill as they enter the ethereal and arid world of the desert.
For the "art" part of Coachella's heart is often encountered first, before the musicians take to the various stages at the Empire Polo Field.
The festival just revealed its 2022 installations, the high-to-the-sky installations created by 11 artists and designers hailing from points around the globe.
The pieces' forward-looking themes? Look for layers of "connectedness and our environment" in the whimsical and urgent works, which will soon be appearing on a feed, or rather many feeds, near you.
12 photos
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Lance Gerber/Julian Bajsel/Lance Gerber
The 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival will take place at the Empire Polo Field in Indio from April 15 through 17 and April 22 through 24. (photo: Julian Bajsel/Lancer Gerber/Lance Gerber)
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"Circular Dimensions x Microscape" by Cristopher Cichocki was "...constructed with more than 25,000 feet of PVC tubes, presents a visual spectacle peering into the artist’s ongoing exploration of water and the history of the desert." The massive pavilion, with its bandshell shape, stands at five stories tall. (photo: Lance Gerber)
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A closer look at just a few of the PVC pipes making up the five-story "Circular Dimensions x Microscape" by Cristopher Cichocki. (photo: Lance Gerber)
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"La Guardiana" by LosDos serves as "an appeal for an understanding of the reasons that people make the dangerous journey to strange lands." (photo: Julian Bajsel)
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Another view of "La Guardiana" by LosDos (photo: Julian Bajsel)
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"Buoyed" by Kiki Van Eijk boasts a trio of behemoth buoys. The piece "... includes cultural references emphasizing the goodness of diversity and inclusiveness." (photo: Julian Bajsel)
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"Cocoon (BKF + H300)" by Martín Huberman. The striking nine-story sculpture is "... constructed with 300 reproductions of the iconic BKF, or as otherwise known worldwide 'butterfly,' chair," an enduring icon that originated in Buenos Aires, the artist's home. After countless copies of the BKF were made over the decades, "the prominent work of Argentinian design was invisibilized within popular culture," but the artist has "reclaimed the narrative" via this work. (photo: Lance Gerber)
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Gazing up through "Cocoon (BKF + H300)" by Martín Huberman. (photo: Lance Gerber)
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"Mutts" by Oana Stănescu. "We can learn a lot from dogs: joy, lust for life, loyalty, unconditional affection and an endless capacity for interspecies love. The New York–based Romanian architect makes the point with a pack of massive canine sculptures, each in a typical position, creating a dialog and inviting interaction. You can touch the nose of the stretching (downward) dog, walk under the pointer, and rest on the paws of the sitting dog." (photo: Lance Gerber)
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"Playground" by Architensions is "a colorful gesture to bring urbanity to the desert. " The "... architectural design and research studio of Alessandro Orsini and Nick Roseboro, presents a fragment of a city — a vertical response to the single-story suburban sprawl in the Coachella Valley." (photo: Julian Bajsel)
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"Building on our art program with designers, architects and visual artists from around the world and from the Coachella Valley allows festival-goers to explore shared global interests and perspectives through the experience of ambitious and one-of-a-kind, large-scale installations," commented Paul Clemente, who manages the art program for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. (photo: Julian Bajsel)
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"In the same way music is a universal language, the experience of these new spaces invites connectedness and adds an iconic sense of place in the spirit of the Festival. After two years of planning, finally seeing the works come to fruition and make their way onto the field is very exciting. My hope is that they will surprise, inspire and inform, creating personal memories and serving as lasting beacons for the Festival." See these artworks at the Coachella Valley Music and Art Festival which opened on April 15, 2022, for a two-weekend run. (photo: Lance Gerber)
