Get a sneak preview of Desert X
You may start noticing some changes to the desert landscape.
Desert X starts Saturday, February 9 with nineteen exhibits stretching from Whitewater Preserve to the Salton Sea. If you’re looking for an artistic treasure hunt, this is the exposition for you.
During it’s first run in 2017, it was estimated that more than 100,000 visitors attended the art sites. The event received attention across the globe.
Desert Hot Springs joins the list of first-time participants. Three installations have been added in the city, including a walk-through sculpture near Sagewater Spa and a translucent palm on the San Andreas fault line called Ghost Palm.
“It’s to scale. It’s thirty feet in height, and it mimics everything that a natural palm tree does but just uses manmade materials to do it,” said Amanda Hunt, co-curator with Desert X, at a media preview event Thursday at Ace Hotel.
Another art installation in Palm Springs is even harder to see with the naked eye. You have to visit the wind farm off Indian Canyon Dr. to find it. Before you leave home, download the “4th Wall” application to your smartphone using Wi-Fi. Once you’ve arrived, open the app and tap “Desert X” to see a much different view using augmented reality to show blossoming flowers above the wind farm. 
A second geolocated experience can be seen using the same application near the Salton Sea. There you will see spiraling debris and particulate matter above the water.
“It might evoke like a school of fish, but it’s basically like a chaotic tempest that rises up and moves,” said Nancy Baker Cahill, who made Revolutions (Palm Springs) and Margin of Error (Salton Sea).
To explore more of the sites of Desert X, you can head to one of the three “Desert X Hubs” throughout the valley.
Indio – 82713 Miles Avenue, Indio, CA 92201 Palm Desert – 73660 El Paseo, Palm Desert, CA 92260 Palm Springs – Ace Hotel & Swim Club, 701 E Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92264
Bus tours are also being organized for weekends during the event.
