Desert X Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Sterling Ruby's fluorescent orange monolith Mar 16, 2019

Show notes

"I love getting out of a gallery," says Sterling Ruby. His piece for Desert X, "Specter," is a ghostly rectangular shape that looks like an optical illusion. The bright orange color contrasts with the dusty chaparral and the white peaks of the San Jacinto Mountains, and as Ruby tells us, it's a color he associates with hunting season from his rural Pennsylvania upbringing. It also suggests prison uniforms and construction road hazards, a warning color that visitors have flocked to since it was installed.

Iván Argote's point of view Mar 15, 2019

Show notes

Five wood and concrete staircases make up Iván Argote's "A Point of View." It's no surprise that the security guard of the construction site asked if he could return with friends to have drinks. His installation for Desert X 2019, he says, is "about making a common place where we can have a dialogue," while offering new vantage points on the ecological and social issues surrounding the Salton Sea. Curator Matthew Schum says Argote is "able to create communities around the work that he makes."

Gary Simmons recaptures memories Mar 14, 2019

Show notes

"Recapturing Memories of the Black Ark" is a stack of speakers constructed out of salvaged wood from post-Katrina New Orleans. Performers rearrange the speakers and play music. Videos of the performances play on a loop, and the cigarette butts and beer bottles from the audience are left in place. LA-based artist Gary Simmons, known for his "erasure drawings," explains how the installation ties together dub pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry, the Coachella festival, and the "Shangri-la" quality of the area.

Kathleen Ryan constructs a Ghost Palm on a fault line Mar 02, 2019

Show notes

Kathleen Ryan is a sculptor who has created an artwork for Desert X 2019 called "Ghost Palm." The transparent plastic and steel evocation of a full-size palm tree, with a skirt of acrylic rods, sits on the San Andreas at a spa in Desert Hot Springs. In this episode Ryan and Desert X curator Amanda Hunt reflect on moving out of the white box gallery; the "invisible mythological power" that drew Ryan to the site; and the inspiration from the iconic palm tree. "In my piece," Ryan says, "it's the palm trees that are natural. It's us and what we're making that's unnatural."

Cristóbal Martínez of Postcommodity on listening to desert architecture Feb 21, 2019

Show notes

Postcommodity challenges enthusiasts of midcentury modern homes in the Coachella Valley to look at these houses through new eyes. The indigenous art collective, made up of Cristóbal Martínez and Kade Twist, has created a sound installation for Desert X 2019 called "It Exists in Many Forms." It's installed at the Wave House, a midcentury modern home in Palm Desert that is being restored. Their work uses the natural acoustics of the undulating wooden roof to play a seven-channel sound piece that consists of field recordings and interviews with midcentury modern enthusiasts. Listen to Martínez explain the thinking behind the sound work, in which you'll "experience the comfort and the vision of the home, but in relationship to the sonic iconography of anxieties."

This series is presented by PROJECT EVELOZCITY, which is creating electric vehicles that will be available by subscription.

Nancy Baker Cahill's ephemeral sculptures Feb 20, 2019

Show notes

Nancy Baker Cahill reinvents land art with two augmented reality artworks -- "Margin of Error" at the Salton Sea, and "Revolutions" over a wind farm northwest of Palm Springs. Hear how she went about creating this "zero environmental impact artwork" that "marries the most natural environment to the most futuristic." She also discusses her preoccupation with pain and how it informs her dazzling artwork. This series is presented by Lead Sponsor PROJECT EVELOZCITY, which is creating electric vehicles that will be available by subscription.

John Gerrard on "Western Flag" and our shared petro-history Feb 15, 2019

Show notes

On this Desert X 2019 podcast episode, the Irish artist John Gerrard discusses the ideas behind Western Flag (Spindletop, Texas) 2017, 2017-2019, located at the Palm Springs Visitors Center. This digital simulation depicts the site of the Lucas Gusher, the world's first major oil find (in 1901). The site is recreated and marked by a flagpole spewing an endless stream of black smoke. The artwork makes visible the invisible gas responsible for climate change.

Desert X runs from Feb 9 - April 21, 2019. Visit desertx.org for program information.

The series is presented by Lead Sponsor PROJECT EVELOZCITY, which is creating electric vehicles that will be available by subscription.

Rasmus Nielsen of Superflex on "fish-friendly architecture" Feb 15, 2019

Show notes

On this Desert X 2019 podcast episode, Rasmus Nielsen of the Danish artist collective Superflex talks about Dive-In, 2019, their pink coral-like art installation at Cap Homme and Ralph Adams Park in Palm Desert. It's an attempt to create "fish-friendly architecture" for a future in which rising sea levels bring marine life back to the Coachella Valley. He also reflects upon "extreme participation" and weaving stories and memories into public space. And he looks back at Superflex's "greatest hits" and finds there is a common thread connecting their work in biogas 20 years ago to their imaginings about a post-climate change future today.

Desert X runs from Feb 9 - April 21, 2019. Visit desertx.org for program information.

The series is presented by Lead Sponsor PROJECT EVELOZCITY, which is creating electric vehicles that will be available by subscription.

Introducing the Desert X Podcast Feb 05, 2019

Show notes

Desert X is a contemporary art exhibition framed by the mountains and desert of the Coachella Valley. On this podcast, we'll introduce you to some of the artists of Desert X 2019. Their site-specific artworks range from murals and projections to large-scale sculptures and virtual installations. And they take on big themes like fossil fuel use, rising sea levels, and class divides. Desert X runs from Feb 9 - April 21, 2019.

The series is presented by Lead Sponsor PROJECT EVELOZCITY, which is creating electric vehicles that will be available by subscription.