The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is happening once again at the Empire Polo Field in Indio. In addition to the music, food, camping, and parties, there are also some gigantic art installations at the fest.
Here is what is on display this year.
MISMO
Artist and fashion designer Sofia Enriquez, out of Cathedral City, has put together a “garden” of six massive paisleys.
“Everybody wears paisleys: guys, girls, young people and old people, and people of different cultures,” Enriquez says. “It can be found on a cotton bandana worn by someone doing manual labor to someone wearing a business suit with a silk tie. It’s a symbol that makes the equality in people stand out.”
The paisleys are constructed with wood and range in height from fourteen to eighteen feet.
Sarbalé ke, 2019
Twelve colorful towers created by the Berlin-based architect Francis Kéré were made to reference the baobab trees seen in his native West African village of Gando, Burkina Faso.
In my culture, the baobab is the most important tree,” Kéré says. “It’s giant, and it has multiple uses as food and medicine. It’s the place where you get together, celebrate, and discuss. It also attracts animals. It is spiritual. Naturally you will walk toward it.”
Sarbalé ke means “the house of celebration” in Kéré’s native tongue. Some of the towers soar higher than sixty feet tall.
Overview Effect
The larger-than-life astronaut first seen at the Coachella festival in 2014 returns. The Poetic Kinetics installation has the traveler looking a little beaten up after his travels this time around.
“All over its body there is evidence, or clues, of the fantastical story of where it went,” says Patrick Shearn, founder of Poetic Kinetics.
Expect the astronaut to hover over concertgoers again this year and once again project their faces and names on its helmet visor and space suit name tag.
Colossal Cacti
For some reason, Cactus Hugs is a little partial to this one ??.
Office Kovacs, out of Los Angeles is behind Colossal Cacti – which consists of seven brightly colored cactuses, the four largest of which range between thirty-six and fifty-two feet high.
Instead of spines, or spikes, the “plants” in Colossal Cacti have road reflectors that illuminate the sculptures at nighttime and signal Kovacs’ preference for using found and ready-made materials to build architectural forms.
Spectra
The seven-story structure from NEWSUBSTANCE is back for a second year – and will remain for at least the next three as well. We took a tour last year and it was dope.
Foiled Plan
Peggy Noland has returned to Coachella to adorn the Sonora stage in her signature multimedia artwork. Noland and her team have integrated large-scale painting, custom furniture, and enormous cactus sculptures into a unique visual experience that illustrates the artist’s on-going interest in themes of reflection.
H.i.P.O. – Hazardus Interstellar Perfessional Operations
The Dedo Vabo hippos return to the Coachella festival, this time looking to launch a rocket, and conquer the galaxy.
The installation stands seventy-five feet tall and also includes a command center complete with a team of dedicated hippos working the controls.
In addition to these installations, the Beyonce stage from 2018 is set up in the camping area and Robert Bose is back yet again with his cool balloon chain.
