For most people, Coachella is about the music. Or the outfits. Or seeing someone faint from excitement when they think they just spotted Zendaya (they didn’t). It’s sunshine, synths and sand in your shoes. And somewhere in between dodging misters and overpriced smoothies, you might accidentally stumble upon something… beautiful. Something weird. Something tall and shiny.
Yes, I’m talking about the art.
Despite being half the festival’s name, art is often treated like the intro act you kind of ignore while waiting for the real show. But out in the desert, where everything already feels a little surreal, these giant installations aren’t just backdrop. They’re the soul of the whole sweaty, sparkly circus.
So in honour of all the people who came for the headliners but left thinking about inflatable flowers and kinetic sculptures, here’s your semi-serious, totally biased art guide to Coachella 2025, held at Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
Taffy by Stephanie Lin
Seven towering cylinders, draped in scalloped mesh that ripples like taffy in the sun — this installation is a love letter to movement, shadow and perfectly curated colour palettes. Stephanie Lin’s Taffy takes its cues from desert modernism, which means if Palm Springs design had a fever dream in the middle of April, this is what it would look like.
The moiré patterns shift as you move (or sway — it’s Coachella, no one’s walking in a straight line), and beneath the towers, there are circular benches where you can collapse, hydrate, and feel vaguely intellectual about it.
Le Grand Bouquet by Uchronia
If the 1970s and a rave had a botanical baby, it would be Le Grand Bouquet. At the center: a 32-foot tower of 19 inflatable flowers. Surrounding it: six smaller “bouquets,” each glowing like disco flora from another planet. It’s groovy, it’s weirdly emotional, and it’s possibly the most joyful thing in a three-mile radius.
The petals double as seating. So yes, you too can lounge like a glamorous pollinator under a glowing daisy and question every career decision that didn’t lead you to flower design.
Take Flight by Isabel + Helen
This might be the most ambitious installation of the year. Take Flight is three 60-foot towers filled with whirling turbines, spinning hypnotically like a giant fidget toy engineered by an art school prodigy. Isabel + Helen took inspiration from old-school flying machines, but the result feels more like a futuristic weather shrine.
And in a peak 2025 twist: they didn’t stop at sculpture. They created wearable turbines — actual wind-powered pieces that festivalgoers strapped to their bodies — and energy-generating carts. It’s art. It’s fashion. It’s functional. It’s what your science fair volcano wishes it could’ve been.
Balloon Chain by Robert Bose
You can’t plan for this one — Balloon Chain just kind of floats into your life. A shimmering string of balloons, hundreds of feet long, swaying across the sky like. It’s always handheld (yes, you can help fly it), which makes it one of the few pieces that’s as interactive as it is Instagrammable.
At night, the balloons light up. During the day, they glide like they know something you don’t. Either way, you’ll find yourself staring up like a kid seeing a parade balloon for the first time. And honestly? That’s kind of the point.
Spectra by NEWSUBSTANCE
Rising seven stories high, this rainbow-hued tower is a spiraling observatory that leads you from soft pastels to deep, rich hues — and then bathes you in over 6,000 LEDs after dark.
Inside, everything slows down. The chaos melts away. People whisper. You hear phrases like “light journey” and “emotional resonance.” You believe them. It’s the kind of installation that makes you want to call your mom and tell her you’re doing okay.
Sarah Meyohas
Technically located at Desert X, Meyohas’ mirrored sculpture is a reflection on — wait for it — reflection. Mirrors curve across desert terrain, bouncing sunlight. It’s far from the main grounds, but if you’re the kind of person who likes their art contemplative, shiny, and slightly mysterious, it’s worth the desert detour.
Red Bull Mirage
Look, is this technically an art installation? Debatable. Is it a three-level, house-shaped oasis where VIPs and artists eat Nobu sushi while watching DJs at the Quasar stage from plush chairs? Yes. Do you kind of hate them for it? Also yes.
The first floor hosts a full-on sushi tasting menu (good luck getting a res), the second is for Red Bull insiders, and the third is artist-only. It’s part exclusive hangout, part corporate flex, part modern sculpture — all of it painfully out of reach for the rest of us.
The Verdict: Art Is the Stage You Didn’t Know You Came For
Sure, the music is why you buy the ticket. But the art? The art is what gives Coachella its heartbeat — a strange, inflatable heartbeat. It’s what you remember when the headliner’s setlist starts to blur. It’s what you tell your friends about when you’re back home and someone says, “So what was it like?”
It was big. It was weird. It was beautiful. It was art — in the desert, in the sun, in the middle of nowhere where nothing made sense and everything did.
Also Read: The Year of Surreality: Maison et Objet 2025
