Photograph By: Lance Gerber5 Desert X Exhibitions That’ll Make You Look (and Think) Twice Rex Lee Searcey March 24, 2021 Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on PinterestShare on RedditShare on LinkedInShare on InstagramShare on YouTubeShare on EmailShare on WhatsAppExperience Inspirational Art on a Grand Scale at Desert X 2021 Desert X is a major annual art event that strives to present international contemporary art exhibitions that engage with desert environments through site-specific installations by acclaimed artists from around the world. Running from March 12 through May 16, Desert X 2021 marks one of the first major art events to open in the US since the beginning of the pandemic. It features newly commissioned works by 13 visionary international artists, located at sites throughout the Coachella Valley. Exhibits are free and open to all. Consider these five exhibits as the starting points on your amazing artistic journey! EBLAST Expire 4/8 ParaPivot, by Alicja Kwade Desert X 2021 Photography By: Lance Gerber Photographer: Ryan Kyle Smith @_ryankylesmith_ Dress Stylist: Wear the Future @wear_thefuture Dress Clothing Designer: Lizzy Gee @treslizzy Shoes Stylist: CodedPR @codedpr Shoes Designer: Naturalizer @naturalizer Content Creator/Model: Heidiisms Artist: Alicja Kwade @alicjakwade Art Piece: ParaPivot (sempiternal clouds) Consisting of interlocking frames supporting large blocks of white marble that appear as ice calved from a distant glacier, the array of steel and stone evoke a massive yet fragile universe where simple forms yield complex meanings. The experiential equivalent of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle—an effect whereby observer interaction changes the form of the thing being interacted with as you move around and through it—the sculpture and its components reform into new combinations. Time and space become distorted as rocks pulled from 200 million years ago levitate into the clear blue sky. Location: Desert Hot Springs 3.27 EBLAST AD What Lies Behind the Walls, by Zahrah Alghamdi Photographer: Ryan Kyle Smith @_ryankylesmith_ Stylist: Wear the Future @wear_thefuture Outfit Clothing Designer: Origami Crane @origamicrane.clothingco Shoe Designer: Marita Moreno @maritamoreno_pt Content Creator/Model: Heidiisms @heidiisms Artist: Zahrah Alghamdi @dr.zahrah_alghamdi Art Piece: What Lies Behind the Walls Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photographer: Ryan Kyle Smith @_ryankylesmith_ Stylist: Wear the Future @wear_thefuture Outfit Clothing Designer: Origami Crane @origamicrane.clothingco Shoe Designer: Marita Moreno @maritamoreno_pt Content Creator/Model: Heidiisms @heidiisms Artist: Zahrah Alghamdi @dr.zahrah_alghamdi Art Piece: What Lies Behind the Walls When she visited Palm Springs, Alghamdi was struck by the connection between the desert landscapes and architectures. For Desert X, she created a sculpture that depicts the traditionally built forms from her home country of Saudi Arabia with the architectural significance she found in the Coachella Valley. The result takes the form of a monolithic wall composed of stacked forms infused with cements, soils and dyes specific to each region. It expresses a unique language corresponding to feelings, emotions and memories associated with place and time. Location: Desert Hot Springs The Wishing Well, by Serge Attukwei Clottey Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photographer: Ryan Kyle Smith @_ryankylesmith_ Pants Stylist: MediaPlayPR @mediaplayPR Pants Clothing Designer: 4 Funky Flavours @4funkyflavours Jacket: Shein @sheinofficial Shoes Stylist: CodedPR @codedpr Shoe Designer: Naturalizer @naturalizer Content Creator/Model: Heidiisms @heidiisms Artist: Serge Attukwei Clottey @afrogallonism Art Piece: The Wishing Well This is a sculptural installation of two large cubes draped with sheets of woven pieces of yellow plastic Kufuor gallons, or jerrycans, used to transport water in Ghana. It references the wells to which many people around the world must trek daily to access water. Introduced by Europeans to the people of Ghana to transport cooking oil, Kufuor gallons serve as a constant reminder of the legacies of empire and of global movements for environmental justice because they are repurposed relics of the colonial project in that country. As the future of the Coachella Valley is deeply dependent on water, this creates a dialogue about our shared tomorrow. Location: North Palm Springs Jackrabbit Homestead, by Kim Stringfellow Desert X 2021 Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photographer: Ryan Kyle Smith @_ryankylesmith_ Outfit Stylist: MediaPlayPR @mediaplayPR Top & Skirt Designer: 4 Funky Flavours @4funkyflavours Shoes Stylist: Wear the Future @wear_thefuture Shoe Designer: Marita Moreno @maritamoreno_pt Content Creator/Model: Heidiisms @heidiisms Artist: Kim Stringfellow @kimstringfellowartist Art Piece: Jackrabbit Homestead This exhibit explores how the public land policy of the Small Tract Act of 1938 made the desert available to a new demographic of land owners and introduced an architectural vernacular whose imprint remains to this day. The 112-square-foot cabin Stringfellow created for Desert X trades the stark solitary romanticism of sand and sky for a small patch of sprawl nestled between the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce and a CVS Pharmacy. Decontextualized in this way, the diminutive and unglamorous 1950s proletariat kit home becomes a place for conversations about class, sustainability, capitalism, public land and the commons. Location: Palm Desert Never Forget, by Nicholas Galanin Desert X 2021 Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photographer: Ryan Kyle Smith @_ryankylesmith_ Outfit Stylist: MediaPlayPR @mediaplayPR Clothing Designer: KINDOM @kindomshop Shoes Stylist: CodedPR @codedpr Shoe Designer: Naturalizer @naturalizer Content Creator/Model: Heidiisms @heidiisms Artist: Nicholas Galanin @nicholasgalanin Art Piece: Never Forget Commanding your attention beside Hwy 111 as you enter Palm Springs, the 45-foot letters of “NEVER” reference the Hollywood sign, which initially spelled out “HOLLYWOODLAND” and was erected to promote a whites-only development. Its timing coincided with a development in Palm Springs that also connected to the film industry. Studio contracts limited actors’ travel, contributing to the city’s rise as a playground and refuge of the stars. Meanwhile, the white settler mythology of America as the land of the free and home of the brave was promoted in the West, and the landscape was cinematized through that same lens. “Never Forget” asks settler landowners to participate in the work by transferring land titles and management to local Indigenous communities. Location: North Palm Springs Desert X Hub at the Ace Hotel & Swim Club 701 E Palm Canyon Dr Palm Springs, CA 92264 760.325.9900 Pop-in Store – Super Number One x DX 21 463 N Palm Canyon Dr Palm Springs, CA 92262 Photography Provided By: Lance Gerber Photography Provided By: Ryan Kyle Smith Stylists: MediaPlayPR + Wear the Future Content Creator/Model: Heidiisms
