Desert X is basically a 2.5 month long art exhibit in the Southern California Desert near Palm Springs. Nineteen different artists were chosen to be a part of this exhibit. Each artist chose a location in the desert to make their piece. Each is unique and has special meaning to the artist. This year Desert X is taking place February 9 – April 21, 2019. I highly recommend a visit if you are anywhere in Southern California. Most of the pieces are hidden all around Palm Springs and the Salton Sea.

Where to start? If you’re coming from LA, start in Palm Springs. If you’re coming from San Diego, start at the Salton Sea. The first stop on our trip was Palm Springs – a beautiful city nestled at the bottom of the mountains surrounded by flat sandy desert full of palm trees. Downtown Palm Springs was bustling with people on this Saturday night. There were shops, restaurants, cafes and bars, lining the well-lit streets in the night. Immediately before we reached Palm Springs, we saw our first Desert X piece. We saw a huge screen displaying what looked like a pole with black smoke continuously pouring out of the top. It was called Western Flag made by John Gerrard. This piece depicts the site where the first major oil find was found in Sindletop Texas. This huge screen is located just off the highway right before entering Palm Springs. You really can’t miss it.

Next we drove to the ACE Hotel, which is one of the Desert X hubs, and picked up a Desert X guide book and map. Everything you need to know about Desert X is in this book or on the app! Make sure you download the app, it has easy directions to each of the attractions! It was already getting dark by the time we arrived, so we spent the evening walking around Palm Springs, ate dinner at this hole-in-the-wall Mexican place, and stayed at an Airbnb for the night. There are many hotels and spas around Palm Springs, but on a busy Saturday night Airbnb was definitely our cheapest option.

We spent most of the next morning exploring this Desert Art Festival in Downtown Palm Springs. There were some beautiful stone sculptures, hand painted art, stunning photographs, and handmade purses and jewelry. We talked with the artists and bought few things. It was early afternoon by the time we left Palm Springs and headed to the desert.

Our first stop was the Jackrabbit, Cottontail, and Spirits of the Desert. These photographs were displayed on 5 billboards you can see driving north on Gene Autry Trail very close to Palm Springs. These billboards remind us of the Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, Serrano, and Mojave people that used to live on these lands in the Coachella Valley. The artist, Cara Romero, is a Chemehuevi tribal citizen keeping the stories of her ancestors alive through her photographs.

Next was the Ghost Palm a little north of here. Ghost Palm is constructed with steel, plastic, and glass made to resemble the desert fan palm tree, the largest palm species in California. Created by Kathleen Ryan, this standalone 20-foot palm tree sits on the San Andreas Fault where the water deep underground makes it possible for the palm trees nearby to be able to grow so tall and strong in the middle of the sandy desert. The strong winds have damaged the Ghost Palm and left the plastic leaves scattered around the sand.

Very close to Ghost Palm was located Going Nowhere Pavilion. This was a Mobius loops created from concrete blocks. The 2 loops are connected by a rectangular piece in the center. You can walk through and climb on this structure admiring the details of each brick and circle carved into it. The artist, Julian Hoeber, and the controversial psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan, worked together to describe the human mind through the Mobius loop showing that what is inside and outside of the self can quickly become indistinguishable.

We made a quick pit stop at the Two Bunch Palms Hotel and hot springs. This adult’s only spa had many mineral pools surrounded by beautiful landscape with a restaurant overlooking the desert. We walked around the grounds, enjoyed the views, and heading south to the next site.

Wormhole, created by Cinthia Marcelle, was next. There are a few of these piece scattered around Palm Springs occupying empty storefronts. Inside these storefronts is a TV that is supposed to display another location ‘transferring’ the onlooker through a wormhole to another place. The TV we saw (location 8A on the Desert X map) was blank. There is also a Desert X hub close to here.

Lover’s Rainbow was next. This is one of 2 identical rainbows – one located here in the Coachella Valley, the other in Baja Mexico. This colorful rainbow made of different colors of rebar penetrating into the ground represents a way to re-insert hope into the country. The two rainbows help symbolize the two different perspectives that we should try to think about with the current immigration policies. Pia Camil, the artist, is from Mexico City herself where she currently lives and works. Across the street near the parking lot are 9 colorful 3D metal rabbit structures you can admire.

Dive-in was probably my favorite of the pieces. This massive coral-like structure is placed at the base of a mountain with the mountain towering behind it. Dive-in is meant to remind us that 6 million years ago the desert here was actually underwater. Every Saturday from 6-8pm the Dive-in turns into an outdoor movie theater. Superflex, the artist, believes with the changes in global warming and the rising sea levels, the desert will once again be submerged by the ocean waters. We did not get a chance to see the film, but I’m sure it’s phenomenal. We decided to hike up to the top of the mountain to see Dive-in and Palm Springs from above. The hike is definitely worth it! There is also a Desert X hub close to here, if you are starting your journey from the south end.

Next we drove out to Landfill Road to see Visit Us in the Shape of Clouds. This mural was created by Armando Lerma. His mural painted on a large circular thing has images of a monkey, bird, seashells, fish, and Mexican traditions all around it. It was surrounded by a fence so you couldn’t get too close to this one.

The sun was setting fast as we drove to the Salton Sea to see our last site of the day created by Ivan Argote. A Point of View is a series of staircases in a circle facing different directions overlooking the Salton Sea. You can climb to the top and read messages as you ascend the cement staircase, written in both English and Spanish.

We stayed the night at Bashford’s Hot Mineral Spa and soaked in a hot mineral bath to end the day.

The next day we drove to Salton Sea State Park Recreation Area to see the Terminal Lake Exploration Platform. The boat was already out at sea, and we needed another app to be able to interact with the other part of the exhibit. With limited internet in the middle of the desert and slow WiFi in the gift shop, we were unable to download the app. So we watched a short movie about the Salton Sea and walked along the beach. What we thought were sea shells along the beach were actually skeletons of dead fish and coral that have died from the high salinity of the Salton Sea. The only fish that can live in this sea now are Tilapia. This once fishing mecca and water-skiing haven is now almost barren.

We definitely did not see everything Desert X had to offer but we covered a good amount. Make sure you download the Desert X map as it has descriptions and directions to each piece of artwork! We continued our desert trip and visited Bombay Beach, Salvation Mountain, Slab City, Anza Borrego, and Borrego Springs before returning to LA. Definitely visit Desert X and the Southern California desert, if you get the chance. It really is beautiful!