It is the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, so in addition to the music, the event also features some very unique art installations located throughout the festival grounds. The Desert Sun’s Shane Newell took a look at some of these art installations. Some highlights:
“Overview Effect”
Poetic Kinetics, creator of “Escape Velocity,” the popular large airborne astronaut that debuted at Coachella back in 2014 returns this year with “Overview Effect”. "Overview Effect" is a 36 foot tall, 57 foot long and 40 foot wide astronaut with numerous festival wristbands on its arm, a pockmarked visor and dusty boots. The goal of Poetic Kinetics founder, Patrick Shearn, was to help festival goers “realize that our planet is precious and take up the call to be responsible to the world and one another."
“Colossal Cacti”
"Colossal Cacti," a new installation for 2019, is a collection of seven large sculptural cactuses arranged in a spiraling ring formation from Los Angeles-based Office Kovacs. According to Office Kovacs, their goal was to “create a heightened sense of reality and awareness toward art and architecture.” The cacti in this installation are all brightly colored and contain an assortment of road reflectors designed to resemble the spiny cactuses. Festival-goers will be able to lounge, rest or dance near the base of each cactus.
“MISMO”
Palm Springs-based artist Sofia Enriquez debuts her installation, "MISMO," a series of three-dimensional paisley murals made from painted wood, with a performance element in the form of models dressed in her “MUCHO” clothing line to interact with the artwork and festival-goers. The artist claims that “the paisleys are a metaphor for equality”.
“Spectra”
"Spectra", a seven-story multi-colored spiral tower created by United Kingdom-based Newsubstance, allows festival-goers to climb up a spiral stairway to a viewing deck at the top of the structure. The structure, which debuted last year, is made from prefabricated steel sections. Each section wraps around itself to form a spiral that goes up a floor every loop.
“Sarbalé ke”
Francis Kéré will debut "Sarbalé ke," an installation inspired by Burkina Faso and baobab trees. This installation is designed for festival-goers to have a space to celebrate with their friends. It's meant to connect people the way the trees do in Berlin, where Kéré is from.
To read Shane Newell’s original article, featuring more installations, and to view the accompanying photos, courtesy of The Desert Sun, please visit: https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/2019/04/12/coachella-2019-first-look-california-desert-art-installations/3429825002/