A spectacular desert MIRAGE, designed by Doug Aitken, sits just above Racquet Club Drive in Palm Springs. Nestled in the foothills of the San Jacinto Mountains, this site specific public art installation is part of a larger project titled Desert X.
I discovered this installation oddly enough on Instagram while searching the hash tag Palm Springs, or #palmsprings. It was one of those… wait, what is this, moments. By the following weekend I’d found it’s location online and made a beeline for it first thing Sunday morning, before the day heated up. It’s remarkable how something so recognizable as a suburban home, can nearly disappear when clad with mirrors. To quote Aitken, I wanted to take that form and drain it… drain it of narrative, drain it of history…. take all of the texture, surface, history. His inspiration for this sculpture is the architecture you don’t remember. I was interested in what you had driven by thousands of times and you don’t even register its presence because it’s just so much a part of the pattern.
For me, it made me think of the sci-fi film Predator, where the invisible villain reflects it’s surroundings, only being visible when it moves. So much of this home simply disappears as you move around it, because it’s reflecting the landscape. And once you’re inside, it becomes a human scale kaleidoscope. It’s quite odd to traverse the interior, not quite sure of what you’re looking at. You have to move slowly and carefully to get your bearings. That said, there was an air of giddiness and complete joy, as people of all ages experienced this space plopped in the middle of a desert oasis. I hope to return again and again, so that I can experience the home in different types of light. That said, the hours are from sun up till sun down, there’s no access after dark. It’s rocky terrain and there are rattlesnakes, so be aware of your surroundings if you choose to visit.
This art installation will be open to the public until October 31, 2017, and is free to the public.
Learn more at HERE
