julian hoeber investigates the mind with 'going nowhere pavilion' at desert X

los angeles-based artist julian hoeber crafts the ‘going nowhere pavilion #01’ for the 2019 edition of desert X in california’s vast coachella valley. hoeber, whose practice moves between painting, installation, drawing, and sculpture, describes the pavilion as a möbius strip, a geometric phenomenon defined as a surface with one continuous side, obscuring the boundary between its exterior and interior. hoeber translates this geometry into built form to investigate its relationship with human psychology. the artist has long studied the writings of psychoanalyst jacques lacan who had famously investigated the idea that human subjectivity has the structure of a topological space.

all images by lance gerber, courtesy of desert X

at desert X, julian hoeber designed ‘going nowhere pavilion #01’ as an expression of the relationship between built form and human psychology. built of concrete breeze blocks of fleshy pink and brown hues, the pavilion is characterized by a single rectangular strip with a single side formed by joined ends. the artist expresses the construction with a spatial ambiguity where, between the interior and exterior, the self can quickly become indiscernible. the work, including painting, sculpture, and drawings, aims to present an image of the mind through ‘a study of phenomenological consciousness.’