X Marks The Spot: Five Can’t-Miss Desert X 2025 Installations

This luminescence-bending labyrinth was fashioned out of glass by South Korean conceptual artist Kimsooja, who deems it a “bottari of light.”With each panel wrapped in an “optical film,” rainbow reflections abound throughout the structure and its sandy surroundings. The immersive piece, a counterpart to Kimsooja’s AlUla Desert X installation, beckons guests inward to walk its dusty, curving path. 

This large-scale work, created by Jose Dávila, features massive marble blocks excavated from a quarry in Mexico. Inspired by Robert Smithson’s Nonsites, the rocks stand like a desert-esque Stonehenge, the formations beautifully framing the landscape and creating stunning vistas of the desolate terrain, with Palm Springs’ iconic windmills slowly spinning in the background. This one is just begging to be photographed!

Sarah Meyohas’ cinematic installation utilizes “analog and digital technologies” and large disc-shaped “caustic mirrors” to project a series of reflections onto an undulating white sculpture that threads its way across the sand. Massive in scale and soliciting exploration from every angle, the exhibit is hands-on, with visitors invited to reposition the mirrors and alter the projections in real-time.

There’s pretty much nothing I love more than an abandoned site, so this retro gas station situated amidst a desolate field speaks to my heart. The fact that it spreads positivity via a succession of tire-framed road signs and poetry recitations broadcast from its gas pump “telephones” only adds to the allure. Crafted by Alison Saar from discarded materials, the solar-powered piece is a spectacular example of adaptive reuse.

This zigzagging adobe sculpture, created by architect/ professor/ artist/author Ronald Rael entirely of mud using a 3D printer, fuses modern technology with ancient building methods. Set against a dramatic mountain backdrop on the outskirts of downtown Palm Springs, the structure, which is textured to resemble palm trees, promotes the use of sustainable building materials, uniquely serving “as both an artistic endeavor and a research initiative.”