Explore Desert X 2017 in 4 Hours: Efficient Art Tour Itinerary

Looking for 2019 Desert X info? Click here for 2019 Desert X locations, artists, and map!

Short on time for Desert X 2017? This curated 4-hour driving loop visits most key installations across Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley, keeping you on schedule.

Start by grabbing a program and map at the Desert X Hub in the Ace Hotel & Swim Club, Palm Springs, or check desertx.org for site details, artists, and more.

This itinerary allocates about 15 minutes per site:

• Begin outside the Palm Springs Art Museum. Spot the unmissable 53-foot painted windmill blade rising from the south sculpture garden. Jeff Gibson's Alive draws on Native American geometric patterns and colors, with text promoting unity among Native American, Mexican, and LGBT communities.
• Head north on Indian Canyon Drive to I-10 West, exit at Whitewater, and follow the road to Whitewater Preserve for Sherin Guirguis' One I Call, inspired by Egyptian pigeon towers from her homeland.
• Take I-10 East to Golf Club Center Parkway at Avenue 42 in Indio for Glenn Kaino's Hollow Earth, an optical illusion evoking secret tunnels from Egypt to Gaza and Mexico to the U.S., plus childhood dreams of digging to China.
• Proceed to Coachella for Armando Lerma's Festival in the Desert mural on an ice cream shop wall, part of the Coachella Walls project celebrating Mexican farmworkers' lives.

• Return via freeway to Cook Street south, then Frank Sinatra Drive west to Portola Drive. On the right, discover Phillip K. Smith III's Circle of Land and Sky: 300 mirrored beams at a 10-degree angle reflect land from outside and sky from within, shifting with natural light—ideal at sunrise or sunset.

• Continue south on Portola to Highway 111 west, then Highway 74 south to Thrush Road and Homme Adams Park for Claudia Comte's Curves and Zigzags, echoing her op-art paintings on custom surfaces.
• Drive south on Highway 111, north on Bob Hope Drive, left on Ramon Road. Will Boone's Monument appears on the right—a bomb shelter housing a John F. Kennedy statue, prompting reflections on safety in turbulent times.

• Head west on Ramon Road to Gene Autry Trail north, left on Vista Chino, right on Farrell Drive (becoming Racquet Club Drive) to the mountain's end at Desert Palisades security gate. You're guided to Doug Aitken's Mirage, a mirrored house blending seamlessly into the landscape.

Additional highlights: Jennifer Bolande's billboards along Gene Autry Trail and Gabriel Kuri's Donation Box in Palm Springs. Tavares Strachan's massive I am (spanning two football fields) glows nightly from 7-10 p.m.

(Note: Desert X 2017 has concluded.)