Coachella: What the Hell Is That Giant Flower?

By Gabrielle Canon Mon., Apr. 16 2012 at 9:31 AM

Categories: Coachella

Gabrielle Canon

Giant Flower at Coachella

See also:
*The Best Of Coachella: Sunday, April 15
*Top Ten Awkward Coachella Dance Move GIFs

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?

Timothy Norris

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.