Desert X
I know you might have seen the infamous reflective house in the desert on your instagram feed. So, I wanted to surprise you with the some more images of the same house (haha). But, really. I was able to visit some of the Desert X installations including the "Mirage" house, the "Monument" trench, "Visible Distance/Second Sight" billboard, and lastly, the "Circle of Land and Sky" reflective poles all before the exhibition ended on the 30th of April. Here are some cool pictures, fun facts, and random thoughts about the 4/16 Desert X installments, hosted by ACE Hotel in Palm Springs.
"MIRAGE"
by Doug Aitken
Unfortunately, I did visit this house on a weekend and a day before it was going to be removed from the public, so trying to get a clean picture of this house without a piece of a blogger's photo shoot or people trying to take the perfect Instagram/Facebook picture was quite a challenge. But, a challenge I was willing to accept! This house was created by the architect Doug Aitken and was actually a replica of the aesthetic of houses that are going to be built on that very hill. No, they will not be made of glass, nor was this house (it was made of a reflective plastic material), but they will be of this retro frame and probably cost millions. I was a tad bummed to see that they were going to build homes on that very hill, but the house was a great idea to make into a reality. The inside and outside were all reflective, minus the floors (that might get a little weird for those in skirts, you know what I mean?). Ironically, Doug is not the first to develop these reflective homes, check out the work of XXX who has made this her main medium to display her art.
"MONUMENT"
by Will Boone
A few miles down, past the "Visible Distance/Second Sight" billboards which I drove right past so I was not able to take any schmancy pictures (but feel free to drool over the provided one from DesertX.org), a black trench titled by Will Boone set in the sand on the side of the road. I almost couldn't find it, but like most events, find the line and you'll find the entrance (usually). This was an interesting art piece and not meant for the claustrophobic. Crawling down stares to the bottom go the trench, turn to your right, and there will lie...JFK. But, really. There was a huge smile baring, JFK sitting under a single spotlight at the end of the tunnel. Weird right? Well, Boone wrote that he has always had some sort of connection with the globally admired JFK and built this based XXXXX. I think I have a huge connection with Pharrell, but I question if I would build a monument of him in his tall hat and Chanel within my future home's attic.
"CIRCLE OF LAND AND SKY"
by Phillip K. Smith III
I do, however, believe that I have a strong connection with the land and sea. I can sit on the beach for hours in silence, as well as in hike a mountain and enjoy every moment. I think I got real serious for a second, but that is to draw you into the mindset of Phillip K. Smith's installment of circularly formatted, linear, reflective poles. No matter what time you visit while the sun is out, the light seemed to bounce off of the poles just right. Patterns were uniquely created on the desert floor, and images from different angles of the circle would be projected on different sides of the poles. I was able to end with this installation and was happy that I did. There are a many metaphors you can infer from Smith's art piece, but I will leave that up to you to leave in the comments below.
As Always,
Stay Rad.
