Despite the talked-about waning public interest and the unsuccessful sellout of tickets, Coachella 2024, the music festival that takes place annually on the grounds of the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, manages to make headlines. We’ve all seen the images from the first weekend, from Lana Del Rey with Billie Eilish to Will Smith, and now we’re awaiting the second and final weekend. But Coachella has never been just about music; it’s about fashion, marketing, and also a lot of art. It’s this last point that we want to focus on because, in addition to the stages, what transforms the landscape are the gigantic artistic installations signed by creatives and international studios. This year’s curation is by the Public Art Company, and the new protagonists are three: Morag Myerscough, Nebbia Works, and HANNAH.
Dancing in the Sky by Morag Myerscough
Originally from London, artist Morag Myerscough flew to Los Angeles to bring her immense multicolored installations there too. Her work covers an area of almost 40 square meters and is conceived as a real square where one can linger during the long festival days. It’s impossible not to see it, even from afar, thanks to elements that reach up to 18 meters in height and are perpetually in motion, dancing in the sky.
Babylon by Nebbia Works
Ancient and futuristic designs merge in Nebbia Works‘ work, founded in 2018 by Brando Posocco and Madhav Kidao. The installation consists of stacked blocks forming an empty pyramidal structure inside, where the magic happens especially at night. The interior has been fully mapped and used every evening as a canvas for light projections. Babylon can be experienced from the outside, using the levels as steps to sit and enjoy the show, or by immersing oneself in it, being carried away by the luminous patterns.
Monarchs: A House in Six Parts by HANNAH
The experimental studio HANNAH, led by Leslie Lok & Sasa Zivkovic, brought to Coachella an installation consisting of different pavilions ranging from 10 to 21 meters in height. Color remains the keyword, but here the main element is the use of different materials for the same structure: concrete, 3D printing, and wood become one, becoming a metaphor for how design is evolving, combining craftsmanship with the new possibilities offered by technology.
Photo credits Lance Gerber
