CULTURE

The Other Coachella: Inside the New Biennial Desert X

by W Staff
0217-WM-JOSH-01 copy.jpg
Courtesy of high desert test sites 2

Desert X, a new art biennial featuring 15 site-specific works installed across the entire Coachella Valley, kicks off in February, just in time for that other major festival featuring the world’s biggest music stars. Since the early 20th century, the California desert, with its endless vistas, primordial geology, and extreme weather conditions, has been a canvas upon which artists working in all media have projected and played out their fantasies.

1

Courtesy of high desert test sites 2

Wade Guyton’s sculpture X, 2003, was part of High Desert Test Sites 2, a precursor of the Desert X biennial.

2

Courtesy of the artist and Royale Projects, Los Angeles

Phillip K. Smith III’s Lucid Stead, 2013.

3

Courtesy of Andrea Zittel

An interior shot of Andrea Zittel’s Wonder Valley Cabin.

4

Laura Dart

The painter and textile designer Lily Stockman, in Joshua Tree, 2016.

5

Courtesy of Alma Allen, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo

A sculpture by Alma Allen outside 
his studio.

6

Courtesy Cheim & Read, New York

A Jack 
Pierson self-portrait, Pink Badlands, 1992.