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Coachella debuts 2024 art installations, its ‘largest immersive and architectural works yet’

2024-04-16T11:43:00-04:00

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has completed work on the 2024 edition of its on-site art program. The acclaimed event is taking place across two weekends: April 12–14 and 19–21.

The three artistic works are described by the festival as "redefining the boundaries of large-scale art, inviting festival-goers to engage with visionary works that ask viewers to question their definition of self, explore the boundaries between reality and imagination & take part in creating a new future together."

"Monarchs: A House in Six Parts" by HANNAH. Image credit: Lance Gerber

"Monarchs: A House in Six Parts" by HANNAH explores the fusion of 3D printing with traditional craftsmanship, comprising a series of pavilions that “invite interaction and contemplation.” A collaboration between Cornell University professors Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic, the piece reimagines architectural design through the lens of digital fabri...

Coachella announces lineup for 2024 installation designers

2024-01-17T11:44:00-05:00

The art and design lineup has been announced for the 2024 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The acclaimed event is set to take place across two weekends: April 12–14 and 19–21.

Besides major musical acts, this year’s festival will include installations by HANNAH, Morag Myerscough, Nebbia, Do LaB, NEWSUBSTANCE, Robert Bose, and Raices Cultura.

While HANNAH describes its work as “inherently derived from materiality, digital construction protocols, robotic routines, new technologies, odd construction techniques, and bottom-up design logics,” Morag Myerscough summarizes her mantra as “make happy those who are near and those who are far will come.” Nebbia Works is “fundamentally driven by a curiosity of all the idiosyncrasies, contradictions and undefined boundaries of our world,” while NEWSUBSTANCE, Do LaB, Robert Bose, and Raices Cultura are returning to the festival where they constructed installations in 2023.

Previously featured Coachella installations

Photo by Lance Gerber,...

Coachella debuts 2023 art installations as festival opens to the public

2023-04-19T11:31:00-04:00

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has debuted four anchoring art installations as part of its 2023 program. According to the organizers, the newly-commissioned sculptures by Kumkum Fernando, Vincent Leroy, Güvenç Özel, and Maggie West seek to bring “color, light, and alternate perspectives to the charged atmosphere” and act as “fresh, colorful, and architecture beacons that transform the iconic Coachella landscape and various times of day and night.”

The Messengers by Kumkum Fernando. Image credit: Lance Gerber, courtesy of Coachella

Kumkum Fernando’s The Messengers comprises three monolithic figures that appear as giant robots or action figures when viewed from afar. The Sri Lankan artist drew inspiration from the vivid colors of South Asian art and architecture, particularly Tibetan and Hindu temples, as well as folk tales of gods and demons. The resulting figures, standing between 65 and...

Coachella announces 2023 art installations from Do LaB and Güvenç Özel

2023-01-12T11:24:00-05:00

The art and design lineup for this year’s Coachella festival has been announced ahead of the two-week event, which takes place in the modernism-rich Southern California hotspot from April 13th to the 23rd.

This year’s festival will include installations from Maggie West, Kumkum Fernando, Robert Bose, Don Kennell, Raices Cultura, UCLA IDEAS Studio instructor Güvenç Özel (whom our own Katherine Guimapang sat down with for a 2021 interview), conceptual environmentalist designer and artist Vincent LeRoy, and Do LaB. Another large-scale spiraling viewing platform structure named Spectra from the studio NEWSUBSTANCE will also grace the Empire Polo Field. Each will complement a packed musical lineup that includes The Chemical Brothers, Pusha T, and Bad Bunny, among many talented others.

2023 Coachella Lineup

Their installations will join past works from an illustrious group of international designers and architects who have contributed to past festivals, including Architensions, Office Kov...

Architensions takes over Coachella with a playful new subversion of vertical design

2022-04-18T18:02:00-04:00

After two years of cancellations and wait, the exciting re-opening of Coachella took place over the weekend with a new installation by Architensions titled The Playground.

The studio’s installation joins others by Estudio Normal, Kiki Van Eijk, Oana Stanescu, Christopher Cichocki, and LosDos and is meant to evoke a “vibrant urban landscape” based on the ideas of play expressed by the prolific Dutch intellectual Constant Nieuwenhuys in his visionary idea for a speculative anti-capitalist mecca called New Babylon.

Photo by Michael Vahrenwald/ESTO

Composed of four separate steel towers totaling 42 and 56 feet in height respectively, the installation hinges on a visual grid meant to “an open space that opposes the isolation and homogeneity of technologically mediated experiences” in ways similar to that of Cedric Price’s seminal early-60s Fun Palace design.

“The Playground is a fragment of a city,” Architensions co-founder Nick Roseboro explained, “a node for engaging festival-goers in ...

Desert X 2021 showcases site-responsive installations that 'refuse the notion of the desert as homogenous entity'

2021-03-15T16:06:00-04:00

In January 2021, we previously reported Desert X's plans to postpone the third edition of the Coachella Valley's highly anticipated international art exhibition due to increasing Covid-19 cases. However, last Friday, the Coachella Valley "opened" their desert exhibitions to the public.

From March 12th to May 16th, visitors can experience site-specific installations that touch on the desert "as a place and idea." By honoring landscapes and its people, this year's programming will "build on themes explored in previous iterations, looking deeper at ideas essential to the sustenance of our future and identity and the histories, realities, and possibilities of the Coachella Valley and its many communities," shares Desert X.

Never Forget by Nicholas Galanin (2021). Image © Lance Gerber/Courtesy of the artist and Desert X

Desert X expresses their goals of unpacking issues pertinent to what society is currently facing today. Topics include "the history of land rights, ownership, and stewar...

2021 Desert X postponed due to rising COVID-19 numbers in California

2021-01-12T15:16:00-05:00

As California hits a bleak coronavirus milestone this month, with nearly 10% of the population infected, organizers of Desert X in the Coachella Valley have announced that the forthcoming edition of the outdoor sculpture exhibition will be postponed until lockdown restrictions have been lifted in the state.

Desert X would have opened for its third edition on February 6th, offering both digital and in-person experiences. "In light of the urgent health crisis and surge in cases of Covid-19, the only responsible way forward to protect our community, health care system, artists, visitors and all those who volunteer and contribute to the exhibition is to wait until we are out of the lockdown period,” said Susan Davis, the founder of the biennial, in a statement.

Coachella 2020 to include installations by Oana Stănescu and Architensions

2020-01-03T14:45:00-05:00

Mark your calendars, Coachella 2020 has announced their line up of performers and artists participating in April! Besides the music, crowds, and overall desert festival ambiance, Coachella has been a breeding ground for emerging artists and designers showcasing their works.

This year the works of Romanian architect Oana Stănescu (who made her first appearance here on Archinect as a student blogger), New York/Rome-based architectural studio Architensions, and several others will be showcased at the festival.

2020 Coachella Lineup

Last year's lineup included the works of Andrew Kovacs of Architecture Affiliates and Francis Kéré of Kéré Architecture. Although many Coachella fans love basking in the musical sounds of famous artists like Flume, Peggy Gou, and Frank Ocean, many have grown to enjoy the large-scale installations scattered across the Coachella Valley. With the announcement of this year's lineup, we're positive many are getting their Coachella outfits ready and selfie poses ...

A closer look at Francis Kéré's colorful Coachella installation

2019-04-17T20:56:00-04:00

With the second weekend of Coachella underway, many festival-goers have already flooded social media with their experiences and favorite Instagrammable installations. Laid across the Coachella Valley are mesmerizing installations by architects and designers whose work blends art, architecture, and design exploration. One project in particular who has kept people buzzing is Francis Kéré's towered installation, Sarbalé Ke. Founder of Kéré Architecture Kéré was inspired by the Burkinabè baobab tree, a significant tree in African culture. Kéré reflected on the tree's cultural significance and used that as inspiration to further explore themes surrounding the topic of a village. The project's name Sarbalé Ke translates to "the House of Celebration" in Moore, a language spoke in various parts of Burkina Faso. Twelve baobab towers are placed around each other each varying in height and color.

Installation drawings of Sarbalé Ke. Image © Francis Kéré

Sarbalé Ke by Francis Kéré at the Coach...

Francis Kéré, Office Kovacs and others unveil installations at Coachella

2019-04-15T18:18:00-04:00

Weekend one of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has concluded. Amongst the food trucks run by celebrated chefs, and sets by Grammy artists such as Kacey Musgraves, architects like Francis Kéré were busy activating the polo field with large-scale art installations.

The Berlin-based Burinabé architect, who has designed the highly-coveted Serpentine pavilion, revealed a new project this week. Inspired by the baobab tree, native to his home country, Kéré and the Coachella team built 12 conical structures, some as tall as 60 feet, that provided shade to festival-goers.

Thanks to Paul Clemente, the festival's art director, the art at Coachella has continued to grow in scale as the festival has become an increasingly popular place for architects and artists to showcase their work.

“You don’t have to bring people to architecture, you can bring architecture to people,” Andrew Kovacs told the New York Times of his interest in Coachella. Mr. Kovacs, who designed a collection of...

Coachella 2019 lineup announced with installations from Francis Kéré, Office Kovacs, and more

2019-01-03T13:40:00-05:00

The highly anticipated lineup for the 2019 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has been announced, with Childish Gambino, Tame Impala, and Ariana Grande headlining the two-weekend experience. A solid mix of rock, indie, hip hop, and electronic artists will be joining to round out the rest of the stages.

While music acts like Solange and Weezer woo the crowds, concertgoers will also be treated to large-scale installations by architects and artists responsible for the latter half of Coachella's proper name. Years past have brought dynamic works by designers like Edoardo Tresoldi and Bureau Spectacular, among others.

This year, over half a dozen large-scale installations will be the center of attention at Coachella. New presenters for 2019 include familiar names such as the Berlin-based Burinabé architect Francis Kéré, local studio Office Kovacs, and painter Sophia Enriquez. Returning participants such as the absurdist art duo Dedo Vabo, the experiential designers Poetic Kineti...

Take a look at these installations from this year's Coachella Festival

2016-04-21T18:38:00-04:00

Every April, music fans venture in droves to the High Desert outside of Los Angeles for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival – a veritable rite of spring for the selfie era.

And, like with any good spring bacchanal, the musical experience is often enhanced through the consumption of substances, licit or otherwise. But while imbibing may help you maintain stamina for the dance floor, it can also ramp up your internal body temperature (likely already elevated by the grueling desert sun).

Enter the architects and artists responsible for the latter half of Coachella's proper name. Tasked with designing structures that both shade and visually-entertain, the selected designers are given one of the more unusual – and fun – prompts around.

Here's a look at some of the structures that adorned the Empire Polo Club this year:

The Tower of Twelve Stories
Jimenez Lai (Bureau Spectacular)

Described in accompanying texts as a "a cartoonish metropolis of tiny bubble-like spaces populated by ecce...

Jimenez Lai to create "a very large structure" at Coachella 2016

2016-01-06T12:47:00-05:00

Proclaiming that he "want[s] to kiss the earth Kevin Costner style" via Instagram, Jimenez Lai of Bureau Spectacular expressed his joy about being on the same bill as LCD Soundsystem and Ice Cube for this year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, where he will be building what he describes as "a very large structure."

The festival, which reportedly has attracted 90,000 attendees to each of its dual three-day weekends, has featured art installations by notable architectural studios before, including Ball-Nogues Studio's "Pulp Pavilion" in 2015.

Listen to our conversation with Jimenez in a previous episode of Archinect Sessions...

If the above embed doesn't work, you can listen here.