Art That Pulses with Life in the Heart of the Desert
As Coachella 2025 kicks off, the experience extends far beyond music. It immerses visitors in a realm of vibrant visuals that pulse with life amid the Colorado Desert in Southern California. While crowds gather around musical stages, they are also drawn to a series of dynamic art installations. These pieces never stay still, both literally and conceptually.
Spaces Shaped by Light and Motion
The artworks throughout the festival grounds interact with light and movement. From swaying sculptures and inflatable forms to temporary architectural structures, each piece reflects constant transformation. These artworks are not simply displayed; they are lived and experienced. Their colors shift and dissolve under the ever-changing desert sun.
A Multi-Dimensional Artistic Journey
This year’s art program, curated by the Public Arts Company (PAC) and led by seasoned artistic director Paul Clemente of Goldenvoice, is titled “Pas de Deux.” The title, referencing a duet that requires perfect harmony, invites visitors to transcend the role of spectator. They are encouraged to become part of the artwork itself.
Art as a Habitat and a Dialogue
Raffi Lehrer, founder of PAC, explains that the program’s goal is not only to present visually compelling scenes but also to inspire the audience to “inhabit, activate, and embrace the beautiful opera of the festival experience.” In this vision, art is no longer a backdrop. Instead, it becomes a core component of the emotional and sensory journey at Coachella.
Sky-Touching Art: Coachella 2025 Installations Pulse with Light and Motion
At Coachella 2025, the harsh desert environment transforms into a dreamlike canvas, pulsing with color and movement. A series of mesmerizing art installations redefine the relationship between humanity, place, and shifting nature.
Halwa: A Fusion of Sculpture and Mirage
One standout piece this year is Halwa by artist Stephanie Lin. It features seven cylindrical towers draped in soft mesh that dances with every breeze. The structure creates visual effects known as “moiré patterns,” which appear and disappear as the wind shifts.
Inspired by mid-century modernist desert architecture, the towers evoke a sense of perpetual motion. As daylight changes, the surfaces shimmer and transform in a spectacle that flirts with abstraction. Curved seating at the base invites visitors to sit, reflect, and lose themselves in a moment of visual illusion, much like a desert mirage.
Take Flight: Between Soaring and Dreaming
Elsewhere on the festival grounds, Take Flight by Isabel + Helen studio invites us on a journey inspired by 19th-century dreams of aviation. Massive turbines slowly rotate, suspended between motion and stillness. They capture desert winds and redirect them in a tranquil, hypnotic scene.
Accompanying the piece are two skeletal bicycles roaming the festival space, embodying the spirit of those who dared to dream of human-powered flight. By day, the installation hints at an anticipated airborne journey. By night, the turbines glow with translucent light, reminding us that beauty doesn’t always lie in success but in the courage to try.
The Grand Bouquet: Flowers of Light and Air
The Grand Bouquet by artist Yumi presents a poetic visual experience. It is a garden of inflatable flowers glowing from within, stretching skyward like translucent ghosts. Their broad petals offer not only shade but awe. They create a space for reflection beneath the ever-changing desert light.
As the lighting shifts, these floral sculptures transform from radiant beacons into floating mirages. This deepens the fusion between reality and dream. Beneath their towering blooms, festivalgoers discover fleeting moments of calm—”pockets of gentle nostalgia” within a shared spectacle that pulses with wonder and life.
Art That Touches and Dwells: A Living Experience Beyond Observation
At Coachella 2025, art goes beyond visual display—it becomes part of a sensory, interactive experience that engages visitors physically and emotionally.
Installations Born on the Ground: Built On-Site
Since 2016, under the guidance of artistic director Paul Clemente, Coachella’s large-scale art installations have been constructed directly on festival grounds. These works are not pre-made or imported; they come to life from scratch, built by an in-house team of skilled carpenters, painters, and rigging technicians. From concept to execution, each piece is shaped by expert hands. Thus, balancing architectural grandeur with visual delight.
Artistic Selection Driven by Spatial Instinct and Imagination
According to Raffi Lehrer, founder of PAC—the organization behind the art program—the selection of artists is based not only on aesthetics but on their intuitive grasp of scale and spatial height. Many participants come from backgrounds in architecture or design. They blend technical expertise with vibrant spatial imagination. Their work integrates into the environment, becoming part of the space, not just objects within it.
Art Meant to Be Felt, Inhabited, and Moved
What sets these installations apart is their invitation to be touched, entered, and interacted with. Some sway with the wind while others glow from within. Many transform from day to day. These are living artworks, shifting with light and shadow. They respond to the rhythm of crowds and solitude while balancing vastness with intimacy.
Design Tailored for the Coachella Experience
Each installation is crafted specifically for its setting, carefully considering the festival’s unique character and demands. Some pieces take years to develop. They emerge from close collaboration between artists and curators. This ensures they resonate with the essence of the Coachella experience.
Between Sustainability and Experimentation: Art That Challenges the Desert
Art installations at Coachella face the same environmental challenges as any structure rooted in the heart of the desert: scorching sun, shifting winds, and drifting sands. Yet for PAC, these elements aren’t obstacles—they spark creative, sustainable thinking.
Installations Designed to Live Beyond the Festival
Raffi Lehrer notes that the team prioritises modular construction strategies, allowing installations to be dismantled and relocated, giving them new lives beyond the festival. One such example is Sarbalé Ke by artist Francis Kéré. It later became a permanent public art piece.
When relocation isn’t feasible, the installations aren’t discarded. Instead, their components are reimagined, with materials and structural elements reused. Sustainability begins not at disassembly but from the very first design sketch.
Between Art and Sound: A Balance of Scale and Sensation
Though these structures stand beside Coachella’s powerful sound systems, they command presence through sheer scale and visual resonance. As Lehrer explains, the spirit of the art aligns with Coachella’s essence: fluid, plural, and interdisciplinary.
A Vibrant, Multi-Faceted Art Program
What distinguishes Coachella’s art program is its embrace of cross-disciplinary collaboration: sculptors working alongside architects, digital artists merging ideas with experimental designers. This multiplicity creates an ever-shifting landscape. Each installation serves as a punctuation mark in an open visual sentence.
These are not museum pieces—they invite reflection, wandering, and perhaps… drifting away with the wind.
