With Modernism Week, Coachella?and now Desert X?Palm Springs has become an international destination This Sunday marks this end of the visual campaign from the Coachella Valley that has been waged upon your Instagram account for more than two months. No longer will your feed be filled with art-seekers in flowing sack dresses and white wicker hats, their reflections against the desert flora repeated to infinity in a mirrored shack.
The triple whammy of Palm Springs Modernism Week, Coachella, and now, Desert X will be over this weekend, ending the assault of social media FOMO for anyone who did not make the pilgrimage to the Southern California desert this spring. But the unbridled mainstream success of all three events has likely dramatically changed the region for good.
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Doug Aitken?s insanely popular installation Mirage for Desert X

Sending art and design fans out into the desert is not a new concept, of course. High Desert Test Sites has been curating similar installations in the region north of nearby Joshua Tree for years (see also: Marfa, Burning Man). What happened in Palm Springs this year was not only the addition of the brand-new Desert X to the popular music and design events, but a newfound synergy that saw attendees moving between all three festivals for what felt like the first time. (All of which, I?m almost positive, are timed to coincide with the East Coast?s dreariest weather, on purpose.)
The martin...