“X” Marks the Spot
Desert X biennial is back in 2025! This immersive outdoor art exhibition features massive, site-specific art installations at various locations throughout Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. Visitors to Desert X often describe it as a treasure hunt, where finding and interacting with the art is part of the fun. All you need is a car, a map to the Desert X installation locations, and a sense of adventure. Feeling game?
How Desert X Started
The first Desert X art exhibition landed in the valley in 2017. Sixteen artists from around the world were invited to create temporary, large-scale outdoor and indoor art installations at various desert locations from Whitewater Preserve to Coachella. The event received international acclaim and has been repeated every two years. Every Desert X features all-new locations and new installations based around a theme, often amplifying global and local issues ranging from climate change to Tribal culture, tourism, and immigration. The curators ask visitors to to “be brave, engage their sense of adventure, and open their hearts as they seek the various art installations, paying attention not only to their physicality but also to the stories they tell: emotionally, historically, or socially.”
Desert X 2025 Dates, Locations and Tips
Desert X 2025 starts March 8 and runs through May 11. All of the nine new outdoor art installations are free to visit and open daily from sunrise to sunset. Maps and guides are available on the Desert X website or you can download the free iOS App. This year all of the works are located within the Greater Palm Springs area and can be visited in one day (with a little driving). Or explore the northern installations one day, and the southern installations the next. Although the experience is self-guided, you’ll find artists’ statements on the website and Desert X docents are available at most sites on Saturdays from 10am to noon.
Desert X encourages visitors to follow official Leave No Trace guidelines: Plan ahead and prepare, walk on designated paths, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, respect wildlife, don’t smoke, and be considerate of other visitors. There are no public restrooms.
Once the biennial closes, the Desert X Map page is kept up-to-date with current locations for any installations that remain on view around the valley. Several works have been relocated to the Palm Springs Art Museum, and others have remained in their original locales. So even when the biennial is on hiatus, you can still experience the desert through the lens of Desert X.