Desert X is a contemporary art festival that exhibits site-specific works in Coachella Valley, south California. After the great success of the first edition, the event has become a regular event that offers innovative and interesting works.

Spcter is the work presented by Sterling Ruby and is inspired by the classic “U.F.O” objects. The monolith appears as a mirage in the middle of the desert, due to its acid orange fluorescent tint. The shade was given by the powder paint with which the aluminum base was painted, on which the sky is reflected.

Halter is instead the installation presented by Erik Mack, realized with 2300 meters of patchwork fabric signed Missoni wraps a disused service station on the border of Salton Sea.

Going Nowhere Pavilion # 01 (Breeze Block, Ben-Day Dot, Coleseum, Möbius Strip, Thought Problem) it’s a Moebius strip made up of reddish concrete blocks, created by the artist Julian Hoerber. The work is inspired by the theory of Jacques Lacan that sees topology as a means of describing the human mind.

Jackrabbit, Cottontail & Spirits of the Desert is the image series created by Cara Romero dedicated to the lands of the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Serrano and Mojave. The four photos exhibited show the ancient protagonists who populated these territories

Dive-In is the installation presented by the Danish collective Superflex that sums up the geological origins of the area: it seems that due to the large presence of marine fossils of the site, the Spaniards called the territory with the name of Conchilla, then mistakenly transformed into Coachella. The work was designed with the prospect of surviving the moment when the sea will be there again due to global warming.

Lover’s Rainbow by Pia Camil includes various rainbows installations made of reinforced concrete that represent symbols of peace, equality and encourage the public to change the perspective on the concepts of border and immigration.

Western Flag by John Gerrard is an installation about the delicate topic of the resources exhaustion and consists in the projection of a short movie about the first large oil field in the world, in Texas.

Revolutions di Nancy Baker Cahill, consists of a work in AR/VR that is very reminiscent of the Zabriskie Point explosion scene. With this artwork the concept of Land Art is revolutionized, which no longer has to “sacrifice” the environment to exist. As the artist states:

“Riffing on the idea of the wind farms as an AI garden she fills the air above with what might be the blossoms and blooms of benign technological procreation”.

Visit festival’s site here.