The Edition

Palm Springs, Calif., – Desert X (Feb 9–April 21, 2019) announced today that international, Los Angeles-based, electric vehicle and mobility services company Project Evelozcity will sponsor the highly anticipated 2019 exhibition. As part of its sponsorship, the brand will underwrite a series of content-driven media activations based on themes and ideas to be explored in the Desert X 2019 artists’ works. The activations will be unveiled over the course of the 10-week site-specific exhibition, amplifying the engagement of local and international audiences interested in art, culture, urban living, sustainability and the environment.

Following the success and unprecedented attendance at its inaugural exhibition, the organization also announced that, to date, support for Desert X from local desert cities has increased by 150 per cent in 2019 compared to 2017, with contributions up from four to seven cities, marking the first time Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indian Wells, Indio, Palm Desert, Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage have come together in support of a single art and cultural event in the Coachella Valley.

Additionally, new partnerships with more than 25 local organizations, hotels and purveyors across the Coachella Valley will offer an array of special discounts to Desert X visitors. For further information and to plan your visit: https://www.desertx.org/plan-your-visit/

DESERT X CATALOG LAUNCH
New in 2019 and coinciding with the opening of the exhibition is the launch of “Desert X 2017”, a 256-page, full color volume, exploring the concept and ideas around Desert X through interviews with the 16 artists who participated in the inaugural exhibition. Published by PPP Editions, the book includes a foreword by Ed Ruscha, essays by Bill Fox, Holly Willis and Neville Wakefield, editorial coordination by Steven Biller and is edited by Andrew Roth and Neville Wakefield. Priced at $45.00 “Desert X 2017” can be purchased online at desertx.org and at Desert X “hubs” from February 9. Press copies available on request from [email protected].

EDUCATION AND PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Desert X’s award-winning education initiatives, which were initiated in 2017, are diverse and include programs for high schools, colleges, and adults in the Greater Palm Springs area. Among the upcoming education program highlights, is a three-day symposium in collaboration with the Palm Springs Art Museum, and a returning documentary videography program for high school students led by DIGICOM LEARNING. Other programs include docent-led tours, special lectures, information packages and teacher/student passes to the Symposium.

DESERT X SYMPOSIUM
Desert, Why?
Annenberg Theater at Palm Springs Art Museum and at Desert X artists’ sites
March 1-3, 2019.
Desert X and Palm Springs Art Museum will present a three-day celebration of art and the environment from March 1–3, 2019. A series of performances, panels, tours and receptions will highlight both the exhibition Unsettled, currently on view at Palm Springs Art Museum, and Desert X 2019. Sunnylands Center & Gardens, which will host one of the Desert X art installations, will host a reception. The Desert Sun and Gannett Foundation have funded part of the weekend, during which there will be a panel at the Salton Sea on the impending climate crisis.

DIGICOM LEARNING COLLABORATION
Following the 2017 collaboration, Desert X will partner a second time with DIGICOM LEARNING, which trains K-12 teachers across three school districts in the Coachella Valley to make videos about their schoolwork, their lives, and the world around them. DIGICOM LEARNING will work through the semester with several teams of students as they create short video documentaries and media pieces relating to the artists and installations featured in Desert X. Creating these videos will afford students the opportunity to meet and interview the participating artists, learn about the various projects, and connect with the cultural community.

A full schedule of public and education programming accompanying the exhibition will be posted on desertx.org and added to regularly.

DESERT X PROGRAM AND MAP
Curated by Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and co-curators Amanda Hunt and Matthew Schum, the second iteration of the recurring international contemporary art exhibition will again activate California’s desert landscape through site-specific installations by renowned international contemporary artists. Non-prescriptive in the sense that it is open to the audience to discover, the exhibition continues to explore ideas of site-specificity, the frame of post-institutional art and the interactive possibilities that attend it. Diversifying the range of media previously presented, Desert X 2019 will add film projects and evolving, process-driven works to its presentation and will expand geographically to explore the ecology of the Salton Sea to the south.

A special Desert X printed program and map of the 2019 installations will be produced by Palm Springs Life Magazine and will be available for the opening of the exhibition in February, and included in the March 2019 issue of the magazine. Visitors are also encouraged to visit desertx.org for current information, directions and hours.

DESERT X HUBS
Desert X “hubs” where visitors can pick up maps, information and purchase exhibition merchandise and the newly-released “Desert X 2017” catalog, will be located in three locations across the valley from east to west as follows:

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

Desert X 2017 garnered international critical and popular acclaim for an exhibition of site-specific artworks and installation projects by some of today’s most recognized international contemporary artists, including Doug Aitken, Lita Albuquerque, Jennifer Bolande, Will Boone, Claudia Comte, Jeffrey Gibson, Sherin Guirguis, Norma Jeane, Glenn Kaino, Gabriel Kuri, Armando Lerma, Richard Prince, Rob Pruitt, Julião Sarmento, Phillip K. Smith III and Tavares Strachan. It attracted an audience of more than 200,000 diverse and multi-generational, local and international visitors over nine-weeks.The exhibition engaged millions across social and digital media channels and was the recipient of multiple awards for its extensive education and community programs and partnerships, which enrolled hundreds of local and national volunteers, docents, educators, and students.

Desert X 2019 participating artists will be announced later this month.

Desert X is funded by its board of directors, an extraordinary group of donors and municipalities, and by Project Evelozcity, lead sponsor.

Media Partners: Art in America, artnet, ARTnews, frieze magazine, Greater Palm Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau, Palm Springs Life Magazine and The Desert Sun part of the USA Today Network.

A full list of donors, sponsors and partners can be found here.

ABOUT PROJECT EVELOZCITY
Project Evelozcity is a Los Angeles-based electric vehicle (EV) and mobility services company that is creating subscription-based mobility for urban needs. The boutique Californian EV brand plans to launch its first vehicle in 2021 in smart cities, first in the U.S., and in China to follow. For more information, please visit https://evelozcity.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook or Instagram.

ABOUT DESERT X
Desert X is produced by Desert Biennial, a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 2015. Its mission is to bring the finest international artists to the Coachella Valley to create art, engage viewers, and focus attention on the Valley’s environment — its natural wonders as well as socio-political-economic issues that make it vibrant, curious, and exciting, while also focusing attention on the creative energy of the participating artists and their work.

To get involved and support Desert X as a benefactor or sponsor, please contact [email protected].

For more information and upcoming events, visit desertx.org.