Robolights won't return to Palm Springs this holiday season. So will we ever see it again?
This holiday season will be the fifth straight year without the eccentric display of robots, futuristic woodland creatures and pastel-colored sculptures that make up the Palm Springs art installation Robolights.
According to the artist behind the display, Kenny Irwin, there have been no recent developments in bringing back the popular outdoor exhibit this year or in the near future since he shut it down to the public in 2018.
Since its final night in 2018, many curious onlookers have taken to strolling by Irwin's Granvia Valmonte home to catch a glimpse of the sculptures that are tall enough to be visible from the street, and that remains the only opportunity to see any of the display this year.
So what's next for Robolights? First, let's take a step back in time.
What is Robolights?
Robolights is more than an art installation. The surreal display feels like entering an imaginary world combined with a Christmas-themed psychedelic experience written by Hunter S. Thompson. The art exhibit debuted in 1986, when Irwin was just 12.
Most of the sculptures throughout the 4-acre property are made of found or repurposed objects such as old or broken computers, arcade cabinets with flickering screens, some of your favorite toys from the '80s and '90s, old cars and other items combined with wooden Christmas castles, a Ferris wheel and other structures.
Near the former entrance gate, a massive pink vehicle — half-truck, half-tank — sits with Spiderman behind the steering wheel, towing a modified grocery-store carousel that’s topped with a 1950s-style flying saucer. Along the exhibit’s trail, plastic flowers bloom from a 15-foot-tall bouquet of PVC pipes.
Over the years, Irwin added pieces such as "Have Yourself a Happy Little Robatmas," "Peppermint Skull Store," "Pathan Gingerbread Man" (a Pakistani version of the traditional gingerbread figure) and more to the display.
Who is Kenny Irwin?
In the 2020 book "Kenny Irwin: The Robolights Project, Palm Springs 1986-2017," which coincided with his 2019 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, there was an included article "A Major Roadside Attraction" by writer Kristine McKenna that mentioned talking to Irwin's father, the late Ken Irwin Sr., who said he allowed his son to transform the family home into Robolights after he "skinned" a refrigerator to make a sculpture.
"It would be criminal if I stifled his creative abilities," Irwin Sr. said.
While attending California College of the Arts in Oakland, the younger Irwin lived in a one-bedroom apartment that he described as a "1950s style place." He transformed it into a spaceship installation complete with two secret rooms underneath the bed, one that had a full-sized piano and another where he kept piranhas in fish bowls.
Robolights was the art student's bid to commemorate the holiday season via the enthusiastic decoration of his family home, which attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors. It became a menagerie of artistic creations that, according to past interviews, Irwin said he first saw in his dreams.
But not everyone enjoyed Robolights.
Did the City of Palm Springs end Robolights?
The cars that clogged the street around Irwin's home soon began to annoy his neighbors, who filed complaints with the city about traffic, noise, trash and other byproducts from the glut of visitors to Robolights.
In 2009, hundreds of thousands of Christmas lights were stolen and a vandal destroyed a number of Irwin's sculptures. In 2012, the expenses connected with running the outdoor attraction prompted Irwin to solicit for monetary donations online.
In January, at the end of the 2018 holiday season, Irwin shut down Robolights for good. His decision coincided with an agreement he'd made with the City of Palm Springs, which had previously cited the display after alleging that it did not comply with city safety regulations.
Irwin then announced he would move the display to Desert Hot Springs. It was to be erected on 10 acres of land he'd purchased for $350,000. When asked for any updates on developing the property or a 2020 plan to begin fundraising, he declined to provide any details.
When will we see Robolights again?
It's undetermined when the public will see the next chapter of Robolights, but Irwin said "I'm still pursuing my dreams" and has been working on new art. In 2022, he created smaller scale sculptures for the exhibition "Recycled Media" at the REN Gallery in Los Angeles.
But Irwin isn't giving up on building what he described as his "ultimate dream" of building the world's first art amusement park.
This article includes previous reporting by Desert Sun staff.
Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Will Robolights ever return to the greater Palm Springs area?
