Even if one couldn’t acquire a coveted ticket for the 2025 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, each weekend is notoriously well-documented online. The artists naturally take the digital center stage, manifesting across every headline, ten-second clip and Instagram story one encounters. But in the background of every curated video and photo dump stand striking installations of light and color — eye-catching art pieces that, alongside the musical performances, have defined the playful environment of this year’s festival.

The Public Art Company’s (PAC) designed their 2025 program with the motions and rhythms of the festival experience in mind. Curated by PAC’s Raffi Lehrer and Goldenvoice Art Director Paul Clemente, each installation comes to life with the winds and sunlight of the Californian climate, embodying the energy every festivalgoer encounters the minute they step onto the grounds. The program explores the bounds of movement and illusion, with each piece evolving as the festival’s elated daytime rush melts into transcendent nighttime performances. Lehrer and Clemente have closely followed each installation’s development over the past couple years, presenting a line of diligently-selected pieces that will be cemented as Coachella landmarks far into the future. 

At 60 feet tall, “Take Flight” boasts three towers consisting of a complex network of spinning turbines. Made by design duo Isabel Gibson and Helen Chesner — who together run the London-based Isabel + Helen Studio — the structure embodies a bemusing inventorship, whose colorful turbines hypnotize passersby to explore every angle of the towering installation. The pastel turbines — which illuminate vibrant colors at night — are reminiscent of a children’s playground, but contain complex construction that underscores the piece’s industrial beauty. In this thought-provoking sculpture, Gibson and Chesner’s explorations of creativity and architecture are on full display. 

“Taffy” also reaches towards the sky, a series of seven cylinders ranging from 25 to 50 feet tall. Designed by Canadian designer and educator Stephanie Lin, these towers each feature scalloped mesh and vibrant hues that evoke the beauty of desert plants and flowers. Lin integrated open-circle plywood benches throughout the installation, inviting attendees to lie down and decompress under a colorful canopy. As leader of Present Forms design studio, and Dean of The School of Architecture, Lin’s unique blend of artistic and architectural elements is evident across her majestic installation.

Perhaps the greatest reminder that Coachella is a hallmark of Californian springtime is “Le Grand Bouquet,” a 32-foot bouquet of oversized inflatable flowers created by Paris-based design practice Uchronia. Their largest outdoor installation to date, the floral sculptures are crafted from vibrant, stretchy vinyl, each featuring six petals. As the sun sets, the flowers emit a soft glow, emulating a dreamlike quality that encourages festivalgoers to pause and admire. Beneath the main bouquet, they can relax on petal-shaped bean bags, transforming the area into an opportunity for connection and relaxation amidst the all-day exhilaration. Founded by Julien Sebban, Uchronia’s commitment to immersive art and bold joyfulness is hard to miss in “Le Grand Bouquet.”