Permanent
Installations
Planar Pavilions by Andrea Zittel
The Planar Pavilions were created in 2018 — these are the large black sculptures that you see as you turn off the highway and approach A-Z West. They are scattered across an area of about eleven acres and are the one part of A-Z West that is open to visitors without an appointment. Each pavilion consists of a series of vertical planes that function as walls, boundaries, and divisions. These planar structures provide physical and psychological forms of division or shelter — and their grid-like placement on the land itself speaks to the steady growth of suburban sprawl. As the desert becomes increasingly developed, the pavilions evoke a settlement that is either melting back into the landscape, or still in a state of construction — an interstitial zone that is neither fully domesticated nor completely wild.
62923 SULLIVAN RD, JOSHUA TREE, CA 92252 Map
Andy’s Gamma Gulch
High Desert Test Sites co-founder Andy Stillpass has generously allowed countless projects to take place on this 100-acre parcel in the beautiful boulder and Joshua Tree-strewn wilderness north of Pioneertown off of Pipes Canyon Rd. Several works are permanently sited here, including Gradually/We Become Aware/Of a Hum in the Room by Halsey Rodman, Trail Registry by Scout Regalia and Tapwater Pavilion by Tao Urban. Andy’s is also available to visit from sunup to sundown but make sure you park in our designated parking or if you do need to park off the side of the road, be careful not to end up in soft sand.
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Behind the Bail Bonds
Sited in the rocks on the 10 acre boulder strewn parcel of A-Z West are several historical HDTS works that may take an afternoon of exploring to divulge: Nathan Lieb, Morongo; Julia Scher, “Surveillant Architectures;” and Sarah Vanderlip, “CA Truck Heads.”
62923 SULLIVAN RD, JOSHUA TREE, CA 92252 Map
Lerato le le golo (…la go hloka bo kantle)
by Dineo Seshee Bopape
Dineo Seshee Bopape is a multi-media artist who created ritualistic structures for HDTS 2022 that excavate suppressed histories and evoke an ancient structure with bricks baked from desert mud and symbolic plants and objects found amongst its rocks and dunes.
*CAUTION: DO NOT DRIVE BETWEEN OUR IRONAGE RD SITES AND HWY 62. Ironage Rd is unmaintained, and full of washboards and soft sand. There is one very sandy patch of road between our Ironage Road parcel and Hwy 62, which will be marked with warning signs. If you are experienced with sand and drive an AWD, sure, go for it at your own risk. If you get stuck, call Bailey’s Towing, Hill’s Towing or AAA.
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Untitled by Kiersten Puusemp
Kiersten Puusemp’s artist project was a part of HDTS 2011. Of this “Untitled” work she states, “While the percentage of oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere is the same at all altitudes, the density of the air and thus the amount of oxygen available to human lungs decreases at higher altitudes. At these locations decreased atmospheric pressure causes there to be fewer molecules per breath. In the 17th century, this pressure function came to be understood when it was discovered that air was not a void or a weightless ether but had mass on which the earth’s gravity was exerting a pull. With this information it was possible to understand that the earth’s “surface” was not the top of something but the bottom - the floor of a massive ocean of air.”
48Q7+5W BUSH, CA 92277 Map
Respite by Kate Lee Short
Kate Lee Short’s “Respite” is an artist project a part of HDTS 2022. Of the work, Short says, “’Respite’ was built as a sanctuary within the desert floor, calling attention to the beauty and majesty of this precious environment. It is the second piece in a series of works within the landscape of Wonder Valley, honoring the desert as sacred space.”
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The End of the World by Jack Pierson
A project of HDTS 2022, Jack Pierson rescues the signs – neon, wooden, tin – that beckon to visitors from abandoned motels or derelict saloon bars. For this he sites a linguistic monument of a different kind, a giant wooden gesture for Wonder Valley, a place known for those who drop off the edge of civilization.
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