Desert X organizers confirm artists for 2025 exhibition
Organizers of Desert X today announced the full list of participating artists in the Coachella Valley art exhibition.
Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and co-curator Kaitlin Garcia- Maestas oversaw 2025's lineup of 11 artists, having previously confirmed Budapest-born American artist Agnes Denes' ``The Living Pyramid'' to participate in December -- Denes' work is now on view at Sunnylands Center & Gardens.
The list of names includes three artists based in New York -- Denes, Sanford Biggers (``Unsui'') and Sarah Meyohas (``Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams'') -- as well as two in-state artists, Alison Saar (``Soul Service
Station'') of Los Angeles and Ronald Rael (``Adobe Oasis'') of Berkeley. Cannupa Hanska Luger (``G.H.O.S.T. Ride'') of Glorieta, New Mexico is the only other American invited to take part.
Wakefield and Garcia-Maestas also invited a notable international contingent, including Guadalajara, Mexico-based Jose Dávila (``The Act of Being Together''); Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based Muhannad Shono (``What Remains''); Paris-based Kapwani Kiwanga (``Plotting Rest''); Zurich-based Raphael Hefti (``Five Things You Can't Wear on TV'') and Kimsooja (``To Breathe - Coachella Valley''), who is based in both Paris and Seoul, South Korea.
``Guided by the belief that art has the power to transform, heal and inform, a remarkable constellation of works by artists from around the world invites new understanding, hope and alternate perspectives on vital issues that affect our communities and the environment,'' said Jenny Gil, Desert X's executive director, in a statement.
Many of the projects this year come in architectural form, according to organizers, ``the most visible evidence of [human] transformative presence.''
Garcia-Maestas said the 2025 exhibition ``reveals the landscape of the Coachella Valley as a canvas of real and imagined histories, narrating tales of displacement, sovereignty and adaptation superimposed over visible testaments of time.''
Desert X will be free for attendees. Visitors can find pictures of certain structures and more information on the exhibition at desertx.org.