Coachella 2026 Is an Art Oasis, Too
Headlined by Sabine Marcelis’ sunset-hued maze, this year’s installations make for the perfect break between stages.
Summary
- Public Art Company debuts new installations at Coachella by Sabine Marcelis, Kyriakos Chatziparaskevas and Los Angeles Design Group
- Running through the festival’s durations, the works directly respond to the desert energy and environment, offering pockets of rest and reflection for visitors
It’s that time of year — Coachella is in the air. Adding to the heat of Weekend 1’s spectacles and performances, Public Art Company (PAC) makes a return as this year’s art provider, planting a new crop of immersive installations around the Indio festival grounds.
Curated by PAC founder Raffi Lehrer and Paul Clemente, the art director of Goldenvoice, this year’s outdoor suite was created in response to the immediate environment, reflecting shifting light and energies of the desert while offering moments of stillness, play and wonder for audiences journeying between stages.
“What unites them is a shared generosity; each piece is designed to be entered, sat beneath, wandered through, and genuinely felt,” Lehrer expressed. “We’re curating for the body as much as the eye.”
Headlining this year’s program is an inflatable maze by Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis, alongside London-based architect Kyriakos Chatziparaskevas’ 40-foot pleated cacti and a brutalist, totemic tower by Los Angeles Design Group (LADG). Read on to learn more about the art playground at Coachella 2026.
“Maze”
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Inspired by the natural contours of Coachella Valley, Marcelis’ “Maze” taps into her love for light, the sensorial and, of course, bold hues. Soft, canyon-like PVC forms rise and fall, making for cool pockets for reflection within the warm, ombre landscape. By day, the piece “[meets] the eye like a desert mirage,” filtering light and sound. When the sun goes day, it evolves into an illuminated oasis that glows from within.
“Starry Eyes”
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Chatziparaskevas takes the barrel cactus, a prickly plant native to the region, to new heights. “Starry Eyes” takes shape as a towering clusters of pleated forms. Viewers can enter the installation at the base of the “cacti,” where swells of colors double as shady rest stops.
“Visage Brut”
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
Photo: Lance Gerber
The LADG, led by Andrew Holder and Claus Benjamin Freyinger, and computational construction group Stud-IO Construction link up for a lofty, tower of geometric boxes. The duo describes each box as “just short of losing its structural integrity,” with forms cut, warped, folded and rolled, each christened by a stack of anthropomorphic figures. The work builds on the group’s exploration into urban history and form, resulting in a sculpture mass that shift to filigree lattice as day becomes dusk.
Heading to Weekend 2? Public Art Company’s installations will be on view from April 17 through 19 around the festival.
