Tag: coachella | ArchDaily

Coachella 2026 Immersive Installations Explore Monumentality and Light Transparency in the California Desert

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 05:30:00 +0000

The 25th edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival returns to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, from April 10 to 12 and April 17 to 19, 2026, bringing together more than 130 acts alongside an ambitious program of large-scale art installations. Presented by Public Art Company (PAC) and curated by founder Raffi Lehrer in collaboration with Goldenvoice Art Director Paul Clemente, this year's selection explores monumentality through luminance, transparency, and lightness of form. Set within Coachella's desert oasis, the installations invite visitors to engage physically and sensorially, responding to shifting daylight and the evolving atmosphere from sunrise to nightfall.

Large-Scale Installations Transform the Desert Landscape at Coachella Music Festival 2025

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 05:30:00 +0000

The 2025 edition of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival continues its tradition of merging large-scale contemporary art with music, transforming the Empire Polo Field into a dynamic landscape of immersive installations. Curated by Raffi Lehrer of Public Art Company (PAC) in collaboration with Goldenvoice Art Director Paul Clemente, this year's program explores themes of movement, illusion, and impermanence through newly commissioned works and returning artists. Since 2016, Coachella's art program has evolved into a multidisciplinary platform, with most of its production managed in-house and on-site. The 2025 festival runs across two weekends, April 11-13 and April 18-20. This year's edition includes three newly commissioned art installations in addition to the permanent and returning exhibits.

Desert X 2025 Exhibition Opens with 11 Art Installations in California’s Coachella Valley

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 06:30:00 +0000

Desert X is a site-specific international art exhibition taking place this year across the Coachella Valley, California. Its fifth edition, curated by Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and co-curator Kaitlin Garcia Maestas, opened on March 10, 2025, featuring eleven installations by international artists integrated into the desert landscape. Artists were invited to propose alternative ways of perceiving a world "increasingly encircled by the transformational effects of nature and humanity," through physical installations in specific locations within the California desert. In this context, architecture is understood as the most visible evidence of human transformation, while immaterial elements, such as wind and light, highlight the transformative effects not only of human activity but also of nature itself. The exhibition is free and open to all, running through May 11, 2025. Below are images and descriptions of the eleven art installations featured in this year's Desert X exhibition.

Coachella 2024 Installations Explore the Intersection of Art, Music, and Community

Maria-Cristina Florian — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 06:30:00 +0000

The annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has opened in Los Angeles with a selection of large-scale art installations curated by the Public Art Company in collaboration with Paul Clemente. The festival grounds at the Empire Polo Field have been reimagined with three newly commissioned works by a diverse group of artists, architects, and designers. Challenging conventional norms and experimenting with new technologies and artistic expressions, these temporary interventions are an invitation for playful exploration, connection, and contemplation, enhancing the festivalgoer’s experience.

The Paradox of Sustainable Architecture: Durability and Transience

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 01 Jan 2024 08:30:00 +0000

To convey the might and prestige of their empire, the Romans constructed enduring architecture as symbols of their long-lasting reign. Emperors employed grand public works as assertions of their status and reputation. Conversely, Japanese architecture has long embraced ideas of change and renewal, evident in the ritualistic rebuilding of Shinto shrines. A practice, known as shikinen sengu, is observed at Ise Jingu, where the shrine is purposefully dismantled and reconstructed every twenty years. Across the world, philosophies around permanence and impermanence pervaded architectural traditions. Amidst the climate crisis, how do these tenets apply to modern architectural design?

2023 Music Festival Installations: At the Intersection of Art, Technology and Architecture

Carla Bonilla Huaroc — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 07:30:00 +0000

Music Festivals can provide artists, designers, and architects a platform to present their work to large crowds. The sheer scale of these installations, the space for artistic exploration, and the vast audience they reach can give designers the opportunity of a lifetime to showcase their ideas. Through scale, color, imagery, and lighting, these installations create lasting impressions on the people who attend these events and those who see them through news coverage or social media. Some themes explored this year included reframing familiar things in unfamiliar ways, large-scale abstract geometries at the intersection of technology and art, and the use of innovative new materials.

Coachella 2023 Installations Capture Architecture, Color and Scale

Nour Fakharany — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 05:30:00 +0000

The Coachella Valley Music Festival, an annual music and arts festival held in the Colorado desert, opened on April 14th, 2023. Over the two weekends, April 14–16 and April 21–23, 2023, four emerging designers and artists worldwide will leave their stamp on the famous landscape. The festival will feature art installations made by a total of nine international designers, artists, and collectives. The newly-commissioned sculptural works by Kumkum Fernando, Vincent Leroy, Güvenç Özel, and Maggie West lend color, light, and alternate perspectives to the charged atmosphere and act as fresh, colorful, and architectural beacons that transform the iconic Coachella landscape at various times of day and night.

Long Term Impacts of Music Festivals: Bringing More than Sounds and Crowds to a City

Kaley Overstreet — Sun, 09 Oct 2022 05:30:00 +0000

Multi-day stretches of camping in tents and sweltering under the hot summer sun to be 100 rows back at your favorite musical artist’s set? It must be music festival season. As the year comes to a close, with music festivals returning in full swing after a COVID-19 hiatus, it’s important to understand the socio-economic impact that they have on the cities that host them, long after the final set performs. Do the short-term entertainment and monetary benefits outweigh the long-term urban inequities that they might exacerbate?

Coachella 2022 Installations Explore Architecture, Pop Culture, and Communities of the World

Dima Stouhi — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 06:30:00 +0000

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2022, an annual festival held in the Colorado Desert in Indio, California, has opened to the public on Friday April 15th with immersive installations by 11 international architects, artists, and designers. Through explorations of scale, light, sound, and colors, the contextual installations explore global themes such as connectedness, environmental sustainability, immigration, social behavior and architecture, pop culture, and the community, and will be on display on April 15-17 and April 22-24, 2022.

Disney Proposes "Magic in the Californian Desert" with New Mixed-Use Communities Project

Dima Stouhi — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 06:30:00 +0000

Disney, the multinational entertainment and media conglomerate announced its new addition to its Signature Experiences Program. Titled "Cotino", part of its new Storyliving by Disney venture, the master plan is Disney's first master-planned community project, and will feature distinctly-designed housing units and neighborhoods, along with commercial and civic amenities and man-made beaches in the heart of Rancho Mirage, California's Coachella Valley.

Etherea, Edoardo Tresoldi’s Wire Mesh Installation for Coachella 2018, Arrives in Rome

Christele Harrouk — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 05:30:00 +0000

Etherea, the installation conceived by Edoardo Tresoldi for the Coachella festival in 2018, has landed in Rome for "Back to Nature”, an exhibition project curated by Costantino d’Orazio. The large transparent mesh sculpture will dialogue with the trees of the Parco dei Daini, in Villa Borghese, until December 13, 2020.

Francis Kéré and Office Kovacs Among 2019 Coachella Installations

Eric Baldwin — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 13:00:00 +0000

The 2019 Coachella Arts and Music Festival has begun with installations by Francis Kéré, Office Kovacs, and NEWSUBSTANCE in Indio, California. The festival opened to the public for its 20th year with a lineup featuring Childish Gambino, Tame Impala, and Ariana Grande as the headliners for the two-weekend experience. Over half a dozen large-scale installations have been built at Coachella featuring the work of up-and-coming artists, designers and architects.

Francis Kéré and Office Kovacs to Design 2019 Coachella Installations

Eric Baldwin — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 11:00:00 +0000

Francis Kéré, Office Kovacs, and NEWSUBSTANCE are among a set of designers selected to create art installations for the Coachella Arts and Music Festival in California. The 2019 lineup has been announced with Childish Gambino, Tame Impala, and Ariana Grande headlining the two-weekend experience. Over half a dozen large-scale installations will be built at Coachella, where over 100,000 people will experience the work of up-and-coming artists, designers and architects.

NEWSUBSTANCE's Coachella Pavilion Takes Visitors on a Journey of Light and Color

Niall Patrick Walsh — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 16:00:00 +0000

UK-based design studio NEWSUBSTANCE has debuted at the Coachella Valley Music & Art Festival with a seven-floor pavilion taking visitors on an “ever-changing journey of light, color and perspective.” The 75-foot-high (23-meter-high) pavilion named “Spectra” consists of a spiral form featuring an observation deck at its peak, projecting a rainbow band of color.

Edoardo Tresoldi Unveils Neoclassical Wire Mesh Sculpture at Coachella Festival

Niall Patrick Walsh — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Italian artist Edoardo Tresoldi, known for his majestic wire mesh sculptures, has unveiled his biggest artwork to date for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. Titled “Etherea,” the site-specific installation represents the culmination of Tresoldi's research in the music field, realized as three transparent structures taking inspiration from Neoclassical and Baroque architecture.

The Best Art & Architecture Installations of Coachella 2017

Patrick Lynch — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 16:00:00 +0000

Spring is finally here, which means over 100,000 people are making the trip to the California desert for the 2017 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. In addition to the top-billed musicians, the event has become known as a showcase for some of the best up-and-coming artists, designers and architects to work on a large-scale, instagram-friendly scene.

The Best Architectural Installations of Coachella 2016

Vladimir Gintoff — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 16:15:00 +0000

Coachella, the annual music festival that takes place in California's Colorado Desert, is a spectacle on numerous levels, but it is the associated visual artists, architects, sculptors, and designers that are an often overlooked element of event's success. Below are the best architectural installations of Coachella 2016.

Ball-Nogues Compostable "Pulp Pavilion" Brings Shade to Coachella

Karissa Rosenfield — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 15:00:10 +0000

To demonstrate the structural potential of "pulp," Ball-Nogues Studio built an experimental reclaimed paper pavilion this year at Coachella. The lightweight, self-supported structure, known as the "Pulp Pavilion," was made from a low-cost blend of recycled paper, water and pigment sprayed onto lattices of organic rope. After its use as a place of refuge for festival goers, it will be either composted or recycled. See the pavilion illuminated at night, after the break.