Coachella emerged from the visions of Paul Tollett and Rick Van Santen. These co-founders of Goldenvoice, a well-known concert promotion company based in Southern California, sought to recreate an experience similar to those offered by European festivals.
What sets Coachella apart is its wide range of musical genres, including rock, indie, hip-hop, and EDM. While it extends beyond music, fashion, and trends, live entertainment is one of its many reaches. It’s a festival celebrating visual art, featuring massive art installations and interactive exhibits that bring together artists from diverse disciplines to create a blended experience of music and art. It’s one that inspires an individual to fine-tune their take on the world of music and art.
What Defines Coachella 2026
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival returned with more than 130 acts and large-scale art installations curated by Raffi Lehrer of Public Art Company (PAC), in collaboration with Goldenvoice Art Director Paul Clemente. Experience is the focal point at Coachella 2026, weaving together arrival, navigation, and inhabitation. These installations use heat, light, and crowds to transform the vast desert plains into an immersive journey. They also offer spaces for quiet contemplation. This contrasts with the event’s energetic atmosphere and provides visitors with a chance to focus on the evolving environment from sunrise to nightfall. (Richardson, 2024)
Coachella isn’t just about a passing glance at objects around; rather, it draws one to wander through the curated spaces, rest their weary bones, or lose track of time while walking about.
Diving into each of the unique installations:
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Maze – Sabine Marcelis
At first glance, Maze, by Rotterdam-based designer Sabine Marcelis, is a pathway bound by sinuous curves, made of stacked inflated PVC, that coil inwards in cream and tangerine. Venture within as dusk falls, and all else fades into the background; for the arcs are luminous and translucent, similar to the glow of one’s palm held against a light source. Guided by the shift in colour from warm amber to a red hue at the centre, it seems to be a molten mass against the indigo desert sky. (Martinez-Pazzi, 2026)
The Maze integrates seating into the structure with sculptural benches in the same geometry. By providing openings within the structure, the Maze offers short glimpses of the main stages, so as not to lose touch with the surrounding performances. (Rabb, 2026)
As quoted: “With Maze, I wanted to create an environment that evolves with the day. Light is always a strong catalyst for that evolution. During the day, the artwork is a refuge from the harsh sunlight, offering warm, coloured walls of shade. At night, the artwork takes over from the sun by breathing internal light and pulling people into its glow.”
2. Starry Eyes – Kyriakos Chatziparaskevas
Drawing inspiration from the local star-shaped golden barrel cactus, Starry Eyes is a cluster of pleated-orb volumes nestled together. Alternating in size, some volumes reach 40 feet. One steps into the cacti at the bottom of the structure, where the bright fabrics embrace individuals in a flutter of colour. They mimic the feeling of being within a fort, allowing visitors to seek shelter from the sun during the day. (Martinez-Pazzi, 2026) (Tyagi, 2026)
Chatziparaskevas’s work grows towards the sky, framed by a star-shaped oculus. Believing in the installation’s need to “belong to the place and the joy of the people beneath it, Starry Eyes stands out pulsing against the twilight towards dusk.
3. Visage Brut – Los Angeles Design Group (LADG)
Visage Brut is a “reimagination of logic and mythology of a totemic tower.” To the plain eye, it seems to be a series of modular boxes that are folded, cut and warped or as quoted, “just short of losing its structural integrity”. All of these warped volumes are stacked in a formation that suggests anthropometric characters – a cantilevered panel juts out like a jaw, portholes become eyes, etc. Visage Brut’s structure was developed using Stud-IO Construction’s software-assisted steel fabrication software. The tower features mesh and metal surfaces that shift from voluminous to an intricate lattice, highlighting these characteristics. (Martinez-Pazzi, 2026)
4) Desert Drifters Kite Club
The sky is complete with eight oversized kites that fly and flicker against the mountains. Formed as the result of a collaboration between London and Los Angeles-based collective Are You Mad (founded by James Suckling and Nadeem Daniel), and French Kite artist Jeanne Harignordoquy of SPF50; Each kite is roughly six feet tall and ten feet wide, decorated with bold graphic faces that can be read from 60 meters away. A distinct use of deadstock textiles forms the patchworked skins, such as ripstop, Gore-Tex offcuts, and repurposed rain jackets. Ultimately, it’s about rediscovering the act of looking up at the sky with childlike wonder. (Martinez-Pazzi, 2026)
Coachella 2026 Art installations stand bold and resilient, in one with the music and enhancing visitors’ overall festival experience. They serve as responses to climate, scale, and senses, to name a few. When an individual moves through the spaces, they are not only allowed to visually take in the sculptures but also be introduced to moments of reflection, sensory richness and pause.
- Online sources
Citations for websites:
Chaudhary, I. (2026). Sabine Marcelis Builds a Maze That Slows Down Coachella 2026. [online] PA | Architecture & Technology. Available at: https://parametric-architecture.com/sabine-marcelis-maze-at-coachella-2026/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].
Eberhardt, E. (2026). Sabine Marcelis installs Maze with ‘coloured walls of shade’ at Coachella 2026. [online] Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2026/04/11/sabine-marcelis-installs-maze-with-coloured-walls-of-shade-at-coachella-2026/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].
Martinez-Pazzi, M. (2026). Coachella 2026 art installations. [online] The Architect’s Newspaper. Available at: https://www.archpaper.com/2026/04/coachella-2026-art-installations-sabine-marcelis-ladg-starry-eyes-maze/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].
Piñeiro, A. (2026). Coachella 2026 Immersive Installations Explore Monumentality and Light Transparency in the California Desert. [online] ArchDaily. Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/1040623/coachella-2026-immersive-installations-explore-monumentality-and-light-transparency-in-the-california-desert [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].
Rabb, M. (2026). Coachella 2026 features art installations by Sabine Marcelis, among others. [online] Artsy. Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-coachella-2026-features-massive-maze-art-installation-sabine-marcelis.
Richardson, M. (2024). The Vibrant Origins of Coachella: A Celebration of Music, Art, and Culture. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@michellerichardson_11188/the-vibrant-origins-of-coachella-a-celebration-of-music-art-and-culture-da51152ca446 [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].
Tyagi, P.K. (2026). Coachella Art Installations 2026 a Glowing Playground. [online] PA | Architecture & Technology. Available at: https://parametric-architecture.com/coachella-art-installations-2026-color/?srsltid=AfmBOooXxKTTw0kaZD436JiOhI3X6T5pywcYN29XqPeaR8P2-TksRjCu [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].
- Images/visual mediums
Citations for images/photographs – Print or Online:
Eberhardt, E. (2026). Sabine Marcelis installs Maze with ‘coloured walls of shade’ at Coachella 2026. [online] Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2026/04/11/sabine-marcelis-installs-maze-with-coloured-walls-of-shade-at-coachella-2026/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].
Martinez-Pazzi, M. (2026). Coachella 2026 art installations. [online] The Architect’s Newspaper. Available at: https://www.archpaper.com/2026/04/coachella-2026-art-installations-sabine-marcelis-ladg-starry-eyes-maze/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2026].
Rabb, M. (2026). Coachella 2026 features art installations by Sabine Marcelis, among others. [online] Artsy. Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-coachella-2026-features-massive-maze-art-installation-sabine-marcelis.
