“Escape Velocity,” a.k.a. the Coachella astronaut, travels into the path of the lasers at the Sahara Tent during Big Gigantic’s set on Sunday, April 20, 2014. (Vanessa Franko/Staff)
Even the giant roaming astronaut had a big smile on his face at the end of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s 15th year.
On Sunday, art installation “Escape Velocity,” Coachella’s very own moon man, had a yellow happy face smile painted on his visor during the day.
The interactive art installations have been getting bigger each year and have been bigger hits.
If you know someone who attended the festival, then there’s a 97.6 percent chance that they took a photo of the large art at Coachella.
But if you didn’t make it to Coachella, you likely won’t have a chance to see some of the work.
A few of previous years’ installations ended up at the Do Lab’s Lightning in a Bottle Festival at Lake Skinner Recreation Area in Winchester last year, but since that is moving up north for 2014, that’s not going to be an option for local art lovers.
If you can participate in the music part of Coachella by tuning in via YouTube and AXS and celebrating “Couchella” world, why not get more folks engaged in the art?
“Anybody who’s making art is making art for people to see,” said Scott Froschauer, who was the construction lead on James Peterson’s interactive piece, “Cryochrome.”
The installations for the festival almost always make their debut for Coachella before going anywhere else.
“A lot of what we’re doing is talking to people out here,” Froschauer said, in hopes of taking the piece to other places, but nothing was set just yet.
What about opening the art to visitors for viewing, not unlike the Rose Parade floats?
Global Inheritance, the environmental nonprofit that has been having activities at the festival for years, often displayed the colorfully and creatively decorated recycling bins that make up its TRASHed initiative before the festival in Los Angeles.
Since the Stagecoach Country Music Festival takes over the Empire Polo Club next weekend and requires a reconfiguration of the stages and field (in previous years the main stage is moved to a corner to allow maximum audience space for the popular country acts), any showing would have to be between the twin Coachellas. You wouldn’t want to open the field to people before Coachella’s first weekend in order to keep it a surprise.
Some groups of schoolchildren did come in to tour the art on Thursday morning between Coachellas.
Goldenvoice has donated money every year to local charities in the Coachella Valley.
But an art walk-through could have a minimal charge and the proceeds could benefit community groups, maybe to help the big health fair it has sponsored the past couple of years.
It would be a way to get the local art lovers involved and continue to support the Coachella Valley.
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