Kimsooja: To Breathe – Coachella Valley: Desert X 2025, Coachella Valley

Desert X, the recurring site-specific, international art exhibition, has unveiled large-scale installations by artists Kimsooja and Kapwani Kiwanga, as as part of the organization’s fifth edition now on view, free and open to all, at sites across the Coachella Valley, California through May 11, 2025.

Completing the exhibition of eleven artists from Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East, To Breathe – Coachella Valley by Kimsooja invites an interaction with the essential elements of the desert: the texture of sand underfoot, the air we breathe, and the light around us. Drawing inspiration from bottaris, the fabric-encased bundles of belongings prominent in her work and in Korean culture, she describes this installation as a “bottari of light.” By wrapping the glass surface in a unique optical film, the physical architecture is transformed into a dynamic spectrum of light and color. The work, sited in Desert Hot Springs, reflects its counterpart work in the desert of AlUla, Saudi Arabia while also acknowledging the historical origins of the Light and Space movement on the West Coast of the U.S.

Images:

Desert X 2025, Installation view of Kimsooja, To Breathe – Coachella Valley, Photo by Lance Gerber, Courtesy Desert X.