Coachella was a blast. As creative partners on the festival this year, we brought some cutting-edge installations and artworks to enhance the music, creating such memorable audiovisual experiences as Arcade Fire’s stunning LED ball drop on Saturday night and United Visual Artists’ incredible transforming stage. Above is a slideshow of some of our favorite moments, and you can read more about the artworks we featured below.In order of appearance:Summer Into Dust: Arcade Fire + Chris Milk
Arcade Fire collaborated with legendary director Chris Milk (who they previously partnered with on "The Wilderness Downtown") to release some 2,000 LED-enhanced blow-up beach balls into the crowd as the grand finale to the band’s set. Controlled using IR transmitters embedded in the balls, the LEDs were activated to change colors as they bounced their way through the crowd, creating a stunning visual spectacle.The interactive visual performance, entitled Summer Into Dust continues online. Those lucky few who managed to catch a ball can log on to the accompanying website and continue the experience. Each ball comes with a URL where fans can locate a user manual online and connect their ball to a greater community.Jumbletron: Video by Black Dice for Animal Collective
To celebrate Animal Collective's return to the stage and commemorate one of their largest shows to date, Black Dice created a 70-minute video experience to accompany their live set. The resulting visuals, displayed on two large screens and three hanging cubes suspended above the band, were appropriately experimental and obscure, spanning melting kaleidoscopes of color, frenetic, glitchy effects, and op-art style abstract patterns, the animations had more in common with early video art experiments than they did with traditional concert visuals.Untitled (A physical manifestation of "Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space")
by Jonathan Glazer and J. Spaceman, with design by Undisclosable
Acclaimed film director Jonathan Glazer collaborated with the beloved UK band Spiritualized to create a cutting-edge installation of light and sound. The installation, based on Spiritualized's most famous track, "Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space," was housed in a cathedral-like structure designed by Undisclosable.Sahara Tent Installation
by Muti Randolph
Returning Creator Muti Randolph's prolific career has seen the artist designing everything from theater sets to the famed São Paulo nightclub D-Edge. Since Randolph is no stranger to creating environments that seamlessly integrate light and sound, and more important, knows how to strike a party vibe, we knew he'd be the perfect person to re-imagine the Sahara Tent at Coachella. Randolph used the audio input for the DJs and bands performing on the Sahara stage to generate reactive visuals to coincide with the performances.Coachella Stage Design
by United Visual Artists
Returning Creators United Visual Artists are a multi-disciplinary collective out of the UK who specialize in manipulating the medium of light. For their redesign of Coachella's main stage, UVA created a unique structure that functions as both a platform for performance and a standalone light and sound sculpture with experimental music furnished by fellow Creator Mira Calix. Once each night, the stage would transform into a 3D cube for a five minute light and sound performance that was truly awe-inspiring.Under Surveillance: Interpol
Interpol, in collaboration with legendary director David Lynch, Andi Watson, HPX, Weiden + Kennedy and The Creators Project present a visual juxtaposition of the seen and the unseen. As the observers became the observed and saw their faces projected on the large screens flaking the stage, the performance explored the deepening layers of covert surveillance, morphing data acquisition into visual beauty and questioning the fine line between the viewer and the voyeur.Check out our coverage from Days 1, 2 and 3 of Coachella for more behind-the-scenes action and photos from the fest.All photos courtesy of Peter Sutherland.
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Arcade Fire collaborated with legendary director Chris Milk (who they previously partnered with on "The Wilderness Downtown") to release some 2,000 LED-enhanced blow-up beach balls into the crowd as the grand finale to the band’s set. Controlled using IR transmitters embedded in the balls, the LEDs were activated to change colors as they bounced their way through the crowd, creating a stunning visual spectacle.The interactive visual performance, entitled Summer Into Dust continues online. Those lucky few who managed to catch a ball can log on to the accompanying website and continue the experience. Each ball comes with a URL where fans can locate a user manual online and connect their ball to a greater community.Jumbletron: Video by Black Dice for Animal Collective
To celebrate Animal Collective's return to the stage and commemorate one of their largest shows to date, Black Dice created a 70-minute video experience to accompany their live set. The resulting visuals, displayed on two large screens and three hanging cubes suspended above the band, were appropriately experimental and obscure, spanning melting kaleidoscopes of color, frenetic, glitchy effects, and op-art style abstract patterns, the animations had more in common with early video art experiments than they did with traditional concert visuals.Untitled (A physical manifestation of "Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space")
by Jonathan Glazer and J. Spaceman, with design by Undisclosable
Acclaimed film director Jonathan Glazer collaborated with the beloved UK band Spiritualized to create a cutting-edge installation of light and sound. The installation, based on Spiritualized's most famous track, "Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space," was housed in a cathedral-like structure designed by Undisclosable.
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by Muti Randolph
Returning Creator Muti Randolph's prolific career has seen the artist designing everything from theater sets to the famed São Paulo nightclub D-Edge. Since Randolph is no stranger to creating environments that seamlessly integrate light and sound, and more important, knows how to strike a party vibe, we knew he'd be the perfect person to re-imagine the Sahara Tent at Coachella. Randolph used the audio input for the DJs and bands performing on the Sahara stage to generate reactive visuals to coincide with the performances.Coachella Stage Design
by United Visual Artists
Returning Creators United Visual Artists are a multi-disciplinary collective out of the UK who specialize in manipulating the medium of light. For their redesign of Coachella's main stage, UVA created a unique structure that functions as both a platform for performance and a standalone light and sound sculpture with experimental music furnished by fellow Creator Mira Calix. Once each night, the stage would transform into a 3D cube for a five minute light and sound performance that was truly awe-inspiring.Under Surveillance: Interpol
Interpol, in collaboration with legendary director David Lynch, Andi Watson, HPX, Weiden + Kennedy and The Creators Project present a visual juxtaposition of the seen and the unseen. As the observers became the observed and saw their faces projected on the large screens flaking the stage, the performance explored the deepening layers of covert surveillance, morphing data acquisition into visual beauty and questioning the fine line between the viewer and the voyeur.Check out our coverage from Days 1, 2 and 3 of Coachella for more behind-the-scenes action and photos from the fest.All photos courtesy of Peter Sutherland.