Desert X 2023 is now closed.
Desert X 2023
Coachella Valley, CA
March 4 – May 7
Curated by Desert X Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and Co-curator Diana Campbell.
“Contrary to the archetype, a desert is not defined by the absence of water. The desert landscape is formed by the memory of water.”
Desert X 2023 does not forget water. It flows with the circulation and changes of water across states, bodies, and time, celebrating the interconnectedness of life on our planet and the tenacity and imagination needed to maintain life on it across extremes.
Our structures of survival in these extremes speak not just to the physical adaptations of climate but to the social formations that give form to a world increasingly shaped by climate crisis and the political and economic migrations that follow in its wake.
The artists in the exhibition create instruments of self-awareness that make visible the forces that we exert on the world: how we design our environments, how we live, the messages we send that reinforce systems that might or might not be beneficial for us.
Rana Begum, b. 1977, Bangladesh, based in London
Lauren Bon, b. 1962, USA, based in Los Angeles
Gerald Clarke, b. 1967, USA, based in Anza, California
Paloma Contreras Lomas, b. 1991, Mexico, based in Mexico City
Torkwase Dyson, b. 1973, USA, based in Beacon, New York
Mario García Torres, b.1975, Mexico, based in Mexico City
Hylozoic/Desires (Himali Singh Soin, b. 1987, India, based in London and Delhi and David Soin Tappeser, b.1985, Germany, based in London and Delhi)
Matt Johnson, b. 1978, USA, based in Los Angeles
Tschabalala Self, b. 1990, USA, based in New York
Marina Tabassum, b. 1968, Bangladesh, based in Dhaka
Héctor Zamora, b. 1974, Mexico, based in Mexico City
Read the full interview with Co-curator Diana Campbell here.
