“Desert X is a unique art biennial in that … it’s really built on providing artists with somewhere to experiment outside of the ‘white cube’, outside of the institutional space, outside of gallery and commercial spaces and outside the architectural scale of museums,” says Jenny Gil, Executive Director of the biennial Californian sculpture festival, Desert X.
“We give them the chance to work at an outdoor scale – which means there is no scale really, when you’re working in the desert, right?”
Gil, an experienced Spanish-American arts professional, has been with Desert X since 2017, when the first edition of the biennial was held on the lands of the Cahuilla People in California’s Coachella Valley.
It is here, in an arid valley that’s part of Southern California’s Colorado Desert, that the carefully curated biennial invites artists “from all around the world to come and explore this area, to get to know this desert and get to know the communities and the landscape, the important issues that shape this place,” she tells ArtsHub.
Reimagining regional
The 2025 edition of Desert X opened on 8 March and runs through until 11 May, though in late April, Gil will be bidding a temporary farewell to the festival and flying to Australia. She has been invited to present at REMIX Academy: Reimagining Regional, a special edition of REMIX Academy at The Wharf Mooloolaba as part of Horizon 2025, on Kabi Kabi and Jinibara Country on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Blair Parkin, Chief Experience Development Officer of Cornish eco-attraction the Eden Project (UK) is also speaking at the event, alongside a line-up of national and other international speakers, including leading artists, creative entrepreneurs, cultural leaders and technologists.
“I’m very excited about REMIX. I’ve never been to Australia and, also, I can’t wait to get away from my festival,” Gil laughs.
The unique location of Desert X has “allowed us to create an audience for contemporary art that is totally new, that is not necessarily an audience that will walk into a museum or a gallery,” Gil continues.
She is excited to talk about that audience – and about building arts audiences in regional areas – at REMIX Academy.
“We counted an audience of over 500,000 people in 10 weeks at our last exhibition that closed in 2023 – and this current exhibition has already welcomed over 100,000 people in the first few weeks already… Some of my colleagues say they would kill to have the audiences that Desert X has going into their museums.”
During her visit to REMIX Academy, Gil will also discuss Desert X’s international expansion into Saudi Arabia, where Desert X AlUla has now celebrated three successful editions, most recently in 2024.
“In a way, Desert X was always an international organisation… Part of our mission is to create conversation, to connect deserts around the world and artists working in desert environments who, obviously, have a lot to say – and a lot to say to each other.
“And we’re a biennial. So, in the in-between years, we organise the show in Saudi Arabia, which is modelled after what we’ve developed here in the Coachella Valley. It’s temporary work, it’s site-specific, new commissions and international artists from different countries in the Middle East – but also from Europe and the US and Asia – and it’s facilitating dialogue between them… It’s supporting artists to work together in what is, really, a traditional cultural exchange.”
The lasting impact of resonant artworks
The cultural impact of the original Desert X is perhaps best encapsulated by the work of Nicholas Galanin, a Tlingit and Unangax̂ artist and musician from Alaska. Galanin’s installation Never Forget at the biennial’s 2021 edition, “basically ripped off the iconic ‘Hollywood’ sign in letters 40 feet tall that spelled out ‘Indian Land’, and was placed on the hills as you entered Palm Springs,” Gil explains.
“Never Forget resonated with communities here, because it truly showed there were other stories to be told about this place.”
As well as an artwork, Galanin’s sculpture was a call to action: Never Forget was linked to a GoFundMe account for the Coachella Valley-based organisation, Native American Land Conservancy.
“Over $50,000 was raised [through the installation] for this organisation – which is focused on purchasing lands that were culturally very valuable, important and sensitive to the local tribe here, the Cahuilla People – to purchase land to give back to the community,” Gil tells ArtsHub.
REMIX Academy: Reimagining Regional takes place in Mooloolaba, on the Sunshine Coast on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 May 2025, as part of Horizon 2025. ArtsHub readers get 20% off tickets with promo code ARTSHUB (case sensitive). Visit the REMIX website to book tickets and learn more.
