A tiered, pyramidal installation by Hungarian-American artist Agnes Denes has been installed in the Coachella Valley for the fifth edition of the Desert X exhibition.
The Living Pyramid installation is the first piece to be debuted for art festival Desert X 2025, a biennial event that sees a host of large-scale installations set up throughout California’s Coachella Valley.
Located in a clearing at the historic estate Sunnylands Center & Gardens, the installation is a “desert iteration” of the Living Pyramid sculpture by Denes that first debuted in 2015 at the Socrates Sculpture Park in New York City.
This desert version features the same form as the original – a stepped pyramid – but is lined with cacti and other plants native to California, as opposed to the grasses of New York it was first shown with.
“This new work of The Living Pyramid is planted material, yet a new meaning,” said Denes. “Transformed into blossoms, the Pyramid renews itself as evolution does to our species.”
“It is not just planting, but planting the paradox, a structured edifice of soil and grain, not on a farm or field but in the heart of a busy mega-city or various parts of our world. It is planting the seed into soil and human minds.”
These desert plants will sprout, bloom, grow and perhaps die over six months as part of the installation, reflecting the growth cycle of the surrounding desert.
According to Desert X, this process is “evidence of the organic development of nature as it interacts with the pyramid”, a form Denes often uses throughout her work that she believes conveys social structures.
“The Pyramids appear in my work in a variety of forms from the Snail Pyramid, Egg and Fish Pyramid to pyramids of thought processes, mathematics, forests humanity, survival,” said Denes.
“These pyramids have little to do with their ancestor pyramids of Egypt, rather they represent social structures, in the form of visual philosophy conveying ecological, social and cultural issues with a purpose to answer humanity’s problems, issues of concern and seek benign solutions.”
The Living Pyramid will be on display as part of Desert X 2025. The fifth edition of the art festival will “delve deeper into nonlinear narratives of time” and feature large-scale installations from several artists.
Born in Budapest in 1931 and currently based in New York City at the age of 93, Agnes Denes is known for her environmental and ecological art. Her work Wheatfield — A Confrontation, featured a 2.2-acre wheat field planted next to the World Trade Center.
Previous installations for Desert X included a sculpture made of piled shipping containers and artificial puddles that doubled as trampolines when the fair was installed in Saudi Arabia in 2020.
The photography is by Lance Gerber courtesy Desert X
Desert X will take place in the Coachella Valley in California from 8 March until 11 May 2025. For more global events in architecture and design visit Dezeen Events Guide.
