Coachella 2024: 3 art pieces join festival’s large-scale, immersive show

Dozens of people made their way toward the Coachella Stage shortly after the gates opened on the first day of weekend two of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

They weren’t all going to the stage to save their spots for Jaqck Glam’s opening set, though.

Instead many headed to a trio of spots where they could take selfies, maybe get some inspiration, and even find a little shade as they explored Coachella’s immersive large-scale art displays.

“Coachella never misses with their art pieces. They’re functional, they’re beautiful, there’s lots of shade and they look cool,” said New Mexico resident Aidan Martinez as he stood in front of the towering six-piece Monarchs: A House in Six Parts. It’s one of three large-scale art installations making their debut at Coachella this year.

The other new pieces include Babylon, a neolithic-looking structure created by designers Brando Posocco and Madhav Kidao of London-based design studio Nebbia, and Dancing in the Sky, a colorful plaza-like structure created by London-based artist Morag Myerscough.

The new pieces joined returning installations like the always popular Spectra, where people walk up a circular colorful tower; the balloon chain, where people hold a string of balloons that float high in the sky; as well as New Mexico-based sculptor Don Kennel’s monumental horse sculpture.

All are meant to be interactive and have become a staple of the Coachella experience.

“I love how all of this art is meant to be touched and experienced and not just looked at,” said Riverside resident Alex Reeves as he sat in the shade under an archway at the Monarchs installation.

Created by Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic, who are assistant professors of architecture at Cornell University, the piece consists of six towers, ranging in height from 32 to 72 feet, arranged in a circle along with 30 smaller pieces that resemble lounge chairs and other furniture that festival goers can sit on. At night, the towers are illuminated.

Nearby middle school art teacher Alexis Pacheco of San Diego was impressed by the texture, design and functionality of the 60-foot-tall Babylon, which looks like a cathedral of concrete blocks stacked on top of each other.

But it’s not concrete at all. Instead, it’s made of 64 steel-framed components clad in plywood and sprayed with a plant-based cellulose insulation. There are several openings throughout the piece so people can enter the interior and escape the sun while hanging out inside an art piece.

“I really like it. I like that there’s dimension, that it’s monotone but there’s texture to it,” Pacheco said. And getting to go inside the structure was a bonus for her.

“It tells you there’s more to it than meets the eye,” she said.

The most whimsical of the three new pieces, Dancing in the Sky, is set up on a wood platform to create a walkable 125-by-125-foot space. It consists of various structures, some as tall as 60 feet. Painted in bright yellow, pink and red, the geometric shapes resemble ornaments and include arches and tunnels that can be walked through.

“It almost feels like you’re in a cartoon or a make-believe world,” said Los Angeles resident Daniel Torrez as he talked under an archway.

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