Desert X 2025 Coachella Valley
➤ Kimsooja, To Breathe – Coachella Valley, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
Eleven artists from Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East provide us with alternative ways of looking at a world increasingly encircled by the transformational effects of nature and humanity, adopting both material, architectural forms and the elusive and the immaterial to delve into ideas of temporality and nonlinear narratives of desert time. Curated by Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and Co-curator Kaitlin Garcia-Maestas, Desert X 2025 reflects on the desert's deep time evolutions, revealing a profound reverence for the enduring spirit of this harsh yet resilient region that challenges us to glean wisdom from its vast knowledge. “Curated by the place it temporarily inhabits, Desert X reveals the landscape of the Coachella Valley as a canvas of real and imagined histories, narrating tales of displacement, sovereignty, and adaptation superimposed over visible testaments of time,” said Garcia-Maestas.
➤ Kimsooja, To Breathe – Coachella Valley, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Kimsooja, To Breathe – Coachella Valley, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
《Unsui (Mirror)》——Sanford Biggers
Unsui (Mirror) by Sanford Biggers features two towering sequin sculptures set against the expansive desert sky. Clouds, a recurring motif in Biggers’s work, symbolize freedom, boundlessness, and interconnection. Drawing on the artist’s study of Buddhism, these clouds — or unsui (“clouds and water” in Japanese) — embody unencumbered movement. Shimmering in the desert light, they evoke a feeling of timelessness and transcendence. Their presence in the arid desert, where clear skies often prevail, serves as a powerful promise of much needed water and a message of hope.
➤ Sanford Biggers, Unsui (Mirror), Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Sanford Biggers, Unsui (Mirror), Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Sanford Biggers, Unsui (Mirror), Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
《The Living Pyramid》——Agnes Denes
The Living Pyramid by pioneering artist and philosopher Agnes Denes is a monumental sculpture and environmental intervention. This first desert iteration of Denes’s pyramid structure is planted with vegetation that is native to the region. Its structure and appearance transform from its installation in November 2024 through the run of the exhibition according to the slow growth cycles of the desert environment. But it is the life-cycle of the plants - their growth, transformation and eventual death – that animates the pyramid, one of the most iconic forms of human civilization, and in so doing reminds us that within care and nurture can be found the spirit of our endurance.
➤ Agnes Denes, The Living Pyramid, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Agnes Denes, The Living Pyramid, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Agnes Denes, The Living Pyramid, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
《To Breathe – Coachella Valley》——Kimsooja
To Breathe – Coachella Valley by Kimsooja invites an interaction with the essential elements of the desert: the texture of sand underfoot, the air we breathe, and the light around us. Drawing inspiration from bottaris, the fabric-encased bundles of belongings prominent in her work and in Korean culture, she describes this installation as a “bottari of light.” By wrapping the glass surface in a unique optical film, the physical architecture is transformed into a dynamic spectrum of light and color. The work reflects its counterpart work in the desert of AlUla, Saudi Arabia while also acknowledging the historical origins of the Light and Space movement on the West Coast of the U.S. In the desert, where concepts of shelter, freedom, expansiveness, and enclosure have shaped midcentury dreams.
➤ Kimsooja, To Breathe – Coachella Valley, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Kimsooja, To Breathe – Coachella Valley, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Kimsooja, To Breathe – Coachella Valley, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
《Five things you can’t wear on TV》——Raphael Hefti
Five things you can’t wear on TV by Raphael Hefti expresses the borrowed poetry of a climactic phenomenon. A black woven polymer fiber, originally designed for light, durable fire hoses, coated on one side with a reflective finish connects two distant points forming a single line or artificial horizon. The enormous force held in the taut material causes it to oscillate in the wind, vibrating like a gently strummed guitar string and creating a visual harmonic that resonates with the surrounding landscape. By splitting the air in front of us, Hefti’s work brings the effects of great distance to proximity and draws our attention to the ongoing performance of light and space.
➤ Raphael Hefti, Five things you can’t wear on TV, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Raphael Hefti, Five things you can’t wear on TV, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Raphael Hefti, Five things you can’t wear on TV, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
《Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams》——Sarah Meyohas
Sarah Meyohas’s poetic and immersive installation Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams showcases “caustics,” light patterns formed by the refraction or reflection of light through curved surfaces, recalling ancient timekeeping technology like sundials and paying homage to 20th-century land art. While this optical effect often occurs naturally, such as at the bottom of a swimming pool, Meyohas transforms it, using innovative light-shaping technology enabling visitors to project sunlight onto a ribbon-like structure cascading across the desert floor. As visitors manipulate the panels to shape their own cinematic journey, they encounter unexpected visual illusions — waves, moiré patterns, or perhaps a mirage — stirring a longing for the desert’s ever-present water.
➤ Sarah Meyohas, Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Sarah Meyohas, Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Sarah Meyohas, Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
《Plotting Rest》——Kapwani Kiwanga
Kapwani Kiwanga’s Plotting Rest, a pavilion-like structure reflects on the iconic midcentury design found in Palm Springs, signaling protection while offering none. Its roof, a lattice made of interlocking triangles, hovers overhead, allowing the elements to pass through and casting ever-changing shadows on the ground. Inspired by the quilting motif known as “flying geese,” this pattern resonates with the contested narratives of the Underground Railroad, serving as an encrypted guidance system for those fleeing slavery toward the perceived freedom of the North. Kiwanga’s sculpture fosters contemplation and hope while reminding us that history is marked by successive migrations.
➤ Kapwani Kiwanga, Plotting Rest, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber, © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Courtesy Desert X.
➤ Kapwani Kiwanga, Plotting Rest, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber, © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Courtesy Desert X.
➤ Kapwani Kiwanga, Plotting Rest, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber, © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Courtesy Desert X.
《The act of being together》——Jose Dávila
Drawing on Robert Smithson’s concept of site/nonsite dialectics, Dávila brings the stone blocks from a quarry a few hundred miles across the U.S.-Mexico border to the Coachella Valley, connecting the two locations by highlighting the void of their origin and the striking presence they create in a foreign landscape. Moved by the invisible forces of unknown histories, they evoke the archeological relics of ancient civilizations and the potential future of life beyond our own.
➤ Jose Dávila, The act of being together, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Jose Dávila, The act of being together, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Jose Dávila, The act of being together, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
《G.H.O.S.T. Ride》——Cannupa Hanska Luger
This project expands on Luger’s Future Ancestral Technologies (FAT) series and imagines Indigenous communities using innovative technologies to live in attunement with land and water, challenging colonial paradigms of extraction and exploitation. Incorporating industrial detritus, ceramics and other artist-made objects along with new video and sound work, this time-jumping caravan is equipped with water and light gathering technologies dreamed from Luger’s speculative fiction ethos.
➤ Cannupa Hanska Luger, G.H.O.S.T. Ride / (Generative Habitation Operating System Technology), Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Cannupa Hanska Luger, G.H.O.S.T. Ride / (Generative Habitation Operating System Technology), Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Cannupa Hanska Luger, G.H.O.S.T. Ride / (Generative Habitation Operating System Technology), Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
《Adobe Oasis》——Ronald Rael
The dynamic landscape of Adobe Oasis by Ronald Rael champions the revival and reimagining of traditional yet neglected earthen building techniques by integrating contemporary technologies and presenting them as sustainable and innovative housing solutions for the future amid the climate crisis. Brought to life through a unique 3D printing process, utilizing robotic programming to create structures entirely from mud. Passageways frame views of the land and sky, fostering solitude and connection — reflecting the cyclical flow of geologic time.
➤ Ronald Rael, Adobe Oasis, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Ronald Rael, Adobe Oasis, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Ronald Rael, Adobe Oasis, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
《Soul Service Station》——Alison Saar
In Soul Service Station, Alison Saar, continues her alchemical exploration of salvage. Drawing inspiration from gas stations, Saar’s station offers more than practical services; it provides fuel for the soul. Combining community-crafted elements with furnishings made from salvaged materials, the work serves as a sanctuary for travelers, a place to pause, heal, and carry forward the aspirations, histories, and voices.
➤ Alison Saar, Soul Service Station, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Alison Saar, Soul Service Station, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Alison Saar, Soul Service Station, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
《What Remains》——Muhannad Shono
Muhannad Shono’s What Remains reflects on the fluidity of identity and land, presenting a land without fixed identity, continuously shaped by nature’s forces –– pliable and transient, yet heavy with meaning. He infuses long strips of fabric with the native sand, allowing them to move freely. Suspended between the pull of gravity and the relentless force of the wind, the work evokes a home that cannot be contained, a narrative that cannot settle, and a place that refuses to stay still.
➤ Muhannad Shono, What Remains, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Muhannad Shono, What Remains, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
➤ Muhannad Shono, What Remains, Desert X 2025. Photo by Lance Gerber. Courtesy of the artist and Desert X.
The artists participating in the 2025 edition of Desert X provide us with alternative ways of looking at a world increasingly encircled by the effects of our human presence. For a number of the artists this has taken the form of an exploration of time in spaces where ancestral wisdom intertwines and at times collides with contemporary visions for our collective future. Architecture, the most visible evidence of our transformative presence, is the adopted form of many of the projects - both pavilion-like and prosaic - while immateriality and elusive forms of wind and light signal the transformative effects, not just of humans, but of nature upon the landscape.
