Coachella’s Antarctic Dome Takes Viewers on Psychedelic Audio-Visual Journey

Maane Khatchatourian

Coachella-goers were able to escape the desert heat and take a trip to The Antarctic during the music and arts festival.

Described as “a mind-blowing metamorphic journey through time, space, and consciousness,” the 360-degree sensory experience was created exclusively for Coachella by Obscura Digital and powered by HP, the festival’s official technology sponsor. The audio-visual journey is housed inside what’s touted as the world’s largest projection dome, standing tall at 11,000 square feet.

Guests laid on bean bag-like chairs arranged in circles around the air-conditioned, 500-seat, planetarium-style theater; looked up; and watched a kaleidoscopic digital show that started in the desert (which looked to be Joshua Tree) then traveled through space, the human body (past red blood cells), and cubist landscapes. The mind-bending experience, developed by creative artist Android Jones, was by far the most innovative art installation at the fest — perhaps a sign of the digital art that may soon dominate Coachella, attended primarily by millennials.

HP also had a lounge on the festival grounds at the Empire Polo Club, where guests could design and print bandanas with Windows Ink software on the just-released Pavilion x360 convertible PC. Event goers could also “draw” with light and pose for photographer Eric Pare in a 360-degree blackout photo booth that captured 120-degree images.

Other installations included “Light Ink,” where attendees could design a kaleidoscope with the HP Inking Laser Show. They could also manipulate what was on display in The Antarctic dome with the OMEN X gaming desktop.

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