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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 ...

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.

Edoardo Tresoldi's 2018 Coachella installation arrives in Rome

2020-10-12T10:53:00-04:00

Etherea, the installation created by Edoardo Tresoldi for the 2018 Coachella festival, has arrived in Rome for Back to Nature, an exhibition project curated by Constantino d'Orazio.

The work is made from three translucent sculptures reminiscent of Neoclassical and Baroque architecture. Contemplative in nature, Etherea focuses on the phenomenological aspects of architecture. The use of transparent wire mesh radiates a sense of mirage and the celestial.

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...

More photos of Edoardo Tresoldi's wire mesh cathedrals at Coachella

2018-04-16T17:52:00-04:00

We've just received some more photos of Edoardo Tresoldi's surreal wire mesh installation that debuted at Coachella this weekend.

For more information about this project, check out our initial post.

Enjoy.

First photos of Edoardo Tresoldi's wire mesh cathedrals at Coachella

2018-04-13T14:00:00-04:00

Gates just opened at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and for the next two weekends, droves of festival goers will flock to the small town of Indio, California to see their favorite bands, performers (Beyoncé, anyone?)—and a host of large-scale art installations by emerging artists, designers, and architects.

One of the most anticipated pieces this year is the site-specific installation Etherea by Italian artist Edoardo Tresoldi, who gained enormous popularity worldwide with his stunning wire mesh sculptures inspired by classical architecture. Even though Tresoldi has collaborated with a number of music festivals before, such as Life Is Beautiful, Roskilde, The Secret Garden Party, Eaux Claires, and DERIVE, this new Etherea installation is Tresoldi's biggest artwork to date and is also the largest of the Coachella art pieces.

"Etherea" by Edoardo Tresoldi at Coachella 2018 © Roberto Conte

Here is how Tresoldi explains Etherea: "[...] research, focused on the experie...

Wire mesh artist Edoardo Tresoldi to present large-scale installation at Coachella Festival

2018-04-04T15:22:00-04:00

Just a few more days until the anticipated 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival swings its doors open, and huge crowds, that have made the pilgrimage to this Southern California desert valley, get to enjoy the season's hippest music as well as various large-scale art installations by emerging artists, architects, and designers.

Announced to present a three-piece installation at the festival is Italian artist Edoardo Tresoldi, who made quite a splash with some of his recent architectural wire mesh sculptures—resembling holograms of classical architectures past.

Tresoldi—named by Forbes as one of the 30 most influential European artists under 30—is currently in Coachella, working on the installation, but images will be under tight wraps until the first day of the festival, April 13.

Until then, check out these stunning photographs of some of his previous work.

Archet...

Coachella lineup created by a neural network generates new designers

2018-01-25T16:09:00-05:00

Move over Bureau Spectacular, Ball Nogues and LOC... robots are coming for your jobs.

Botnik Studios created a hilarious (and somewhat believable) Coachella lineup using their artificial intelligence RNN algorithm to generate a list of band names and installation designers. Located at the bottom of the poster, the new designer list reads:

With large-scale art installations by

Mr. Wall
Belly Legroom
Ed the Bjown
Benus Jackson
Melon Soxprane
Aunt Luke

Personal favorites: "Creepwell, Then Sleepwell", "Boy/Boys", and of course "Aunt Luke". Will a real Aunt Luke please come forward and grace the world with large-scale art installations? Thank you.

Doug Aitken among artists in Palm Springs-adjacent art show, "Desert X"

2017-02-23T19:53:00-05:00

Amid the dust and clamor is the steel skeleton of Aitken’s “Mirage,” which takes the form of a 1960s-style suburban California ranch house. The seven-room structure, to be fully mirrored on the outside and inside, is perched on a hillside with city and desert views, which are key to the piece. The structure has gaping holes where doors and windows might be, and its interior walls are built on angles to reflect the sky and contrasting surrounding terrain...

What does the desert in Riverside County have to offer aside from a massive annual music festival, the sleek modernism of Palm Springs, and the ethereal vista of untrammeled nature? Well, starting on February 25th, it has the Desert Exhibition of Art, or Desert X for short.

Exhibitors in the self-guided, wide-ranging exhibit (you should plan on driving) include Doug Aitken, Sherin Guirguis, and Claudia Comte, who has created a 110-foot long stucco/wood sculpture that is part wall, part meditative exercise. Maps are available at the Ace Hotel; the exhibition will be up until April.

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.

The Coachella Crane

2010-04-15T19:52:00-04:00

In recent years, architects have been playing a prominent role at the Coachella music festival, with Ball Nogues building impressive pavilions the past two years. This year, a 150-foot crane made from futuristic materials and designed by LA architects Behn Samareh and Ando Pndlian has landed on the polo fields. Check it out before it takes flight. The Architect's Newspaper