Posted by Cartwheel Art on April 1, 2014 in Artist Interviews & Studio Visits, MAGAZINE

This year marks the 16th anniversary of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which runs April 11-13 and April 18-20 where thousands of fans from around the world will attend in celebration of today’s best in music and art. Ever since the inaugural festival in 1999 at the Empire Polo Club  in Indio, CA, Coachella has been home to thousands of musicians and visual artists. The electrifying scene at Coachella is a natural location for the installation designers of Poetic Kinetics.

Poetic Kinetics was formed by a group of artists who focus on large scaled art installations, experiential designs and performance productions. They are based in Los Angeles, CA, and they hold extreme value in the exploration of technology.

This year, Poetic Kinetics will be showcasing a new top-secret design to be unveiled on Coachella’s opening day. The installation will be available throughout both weekends of the three-day music and arts festival.

In the past they have been the masterminds behind Helix Poeticus, the giant snail at Coachella 2013, and Solitary Inflorescence, Coachella’s giant animatronic orchid.

Poetic Kinetics’ work has been featured at festivals, events, and in public spaces worldwide. They have an impressive list of past clients that includes Insomniac Events, Electric Daisy Carnival, Goldenvoice Events, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Toyota Camry Creative Solutions, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and Burning Man Arts Festival.

The creator and producer Patrick Shearn gave us a quick email interview about the creative process of Poetic Kinetics.

Continue reading this article…

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BY GABRIELLE CANON

Coachella-goers arrived to the festival Sunday to find a giant 100 foot tall lotus flower on the grounds near the Gobi tent. Trippy!

The crazy thing was that the flower swooped up and down; half construction crane, half psychedelic creature from another realm. Folks walking by seemed mesmerized, perplexed; the thing had popped up out of nowhere. “It’s terrifying” said someone named Jack. “It looks like something from Mario Brothers,” said a guy named Alex from L.A. “I keep worrying it is going to eat me.” So, what’s the deal?

Turns out an L.A.-based art collective called Poetic Kinetics put the thing together, and it wasn’t intended to scare the living shit out of folks on drugs. “We hope it will be a nice surprise for people and make people smile,” says collective member Cynthia Washburn.

The flower, which at times extended high into the sky and at other times bent low to stare its observers in the face, is actually a masked articulating boom lift, and was maneuvered by someone using the controls behind its petals. It was contained by a chain-link fence, which doubled as a backrest for patrons of the nearby food tents. As night fell over the festival the flower became illuminated in a white glow as it continued to slowly dance in the middle of the open field.

Poetic Kinetics was also behind large installations used in last year’s Beijing Olympics and a separate set of flowers that double as solar-powered, wi-fi enabled, charging stations, which were created for a Toyota advertising campaign.

One hundred foot tall flowers like the one at Coachella were initially designed for the Burning Man Festival to and, according to the group’s website, their purpose was to “create something beautiful and magical as an artistic gift to the community.”

Andrew from Santa Monica picked up the positive vibes as he passed the flower. “It’s a gorgeous reminder that there is art in everything we see,” he said. Neat!

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