The gates to Coachella are finally open again for the first time since 2019, and so it’s time for the music festival’s attendees to get to their first order of business: Oh, well listening to music, we guess, but before that, posing in front of photogenic art installations.
For the 2022 edition, the 11 installations on display originate from artists based around the globe and explore a variety of themes, but all revolve around the idea of environmental sustainability in some way. Here’s a rundown of the pieces on display that’ll be sure to devour your social media feeds over the next two weekends.
Oana Stănescu’s Mutts has stationed some floral pups on the grounds. The New York-based Romanian architect has filled steel, dog-shaped frames with a mix of flowers.
Dutch designer Kiki Van Eijk’s Buoyed features a blue, green and off-white oversized buoy, each topped with a different sculptural element, including a butterfly, windmill and palm leaves.
Cocoon (BKF + H300) by Martín Huberman looks like, well, a cocoon—albeit one made out of 300 reproductions of the popular BKF, or butterfly chair. Like the architect, that chair originated in Buenos Aires.
Like something out of the background of a Dr. Seuss book, New York and Rome-based Architensions’ Playground plops a slice of a whimsical cityscape into the middle of the Empire Polo Club. The stacked, colorful forms from Alessandro Orsini and Nick Roseboro are actually a response to the single-story suburban sprawl of the surrounding desert.
Coachella Valley artist Cristopher Cichocki’s Circular Dimensions x Microscape responds to water use and the history of the desert. More than 25,000 feet of PVC tubes have been stacked to create a mirage-like mound with audiovisual performance spaces tucked underneath.
Husband-and-wife duo Ramon and Christian Cardenas of El Paso, Texas have crafted a guardian for the festival grounds with La Guardiana. The towering, child-carrying figure is dressed in an enredo (skirt), a rebozo (shawl) and a horned mask and stands as a symbol to watch over immigrants from Mexico, Central America and beyond.
The art program also features monumental animal sculptures BigHorn Sheep/Horse from Santa Fe’s Don Kennell, as well as Blooming Culture from local after-school artists Raices Cultura. There are a few returning favorites, too: Robert Bose’s quarter-mile long Balloon Chain continues to be a portrait go-to, and DoLab’s stage (this year dubbed Warrior One) always brings some design flair to the grounds. In addition, NEWSUBSTANCE’s kaleidoscopic tower Spectra returns for its third year (part of a multi-year agreement that had been put on hold by the festival’s two-season break).