High Desert Test Sites, the annual festival of art and music, returns after a pandemic-related hiatus with several events today and tomorrow as part of their opening weekend, and some of the event’s large-scale pieces are already turning heads. Here’s Gary Daigneault with a full rundown of what you can expect.
The opening weekend of the 2022 High Desert Test Sites Exhibition features a number of events across the Morongo Basin. This year the art, installations, and performances, examine the spaces that fall between places, with a focus on the desert landscape. Beginning today, you can view work by Abby Lee Sarver and Vanessa Santos at the Sky View Swap Meet, pieces by Dana Sherwood, Rachel Whiteread, Erkan Ozgen, and Gerald Clarke in Pioneertown and Joshua Tree, and installations by Paloma Varga Weisz, Jack Pierson, and Katie Lee Short in Wonder Valley. A reception for the event will be held tonight at The Palms in Wonder Valley beginning at 6 p.m. and will run all night long with dinner, drinks, music, and art performances. Maps for the self-guided tour will be available today at the Sky View Swap Meet, and this suggested itinerary, also available on their website, highdeserttestsites.com, will ensure you catch all the live happenings. If you miss it this weekend, the exhibition will be open for self-guided tours on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. until May 22.
