Desert X is back. Its inaugural year in 2017 saw 200,000 visitors from around the world flocking to see exciting, site-specific temporary art installations in the California desert. It was a beautiful thing – no walls, no cost, no barriers keeping anyone from experiencing the wonder of Doug Aitken’s Mirage, Phillip K Smith’s The Circle of Land and Sky, or Lita Albuquerque’s hEARTH.
This year, the same sense of accessible adventure permeates the DX19 experience, with installations by a new roster of 19 artists covering almost 55 miles of land all the way to the Salton Sea. With the help of a beautifully produced guidebook available for free at any Desert X “hubs” in the area, or the Desert X app, you can choose your own route to visit the works you are most intrigued to see. This is the true magic of Desert X; the opportunity to shape your own experience fused with the delight of approaching a work of art in a most unexpected place. A white cube, the desert is not – these artworks are as unpredictable as their environment.
These are the installations still vibrating in my mind that I highly suggest you see during your trip to the desert. Fair warning – an attempt to cram in every artwork during one day is possible, but not recommended. If you have the time and money to spend two full days in the desert, you can see it all without inviting fatigue.
theartminion 