A ‘weird dream’ of an arts festival began 10 years ago in the California desert – can it survive its growing popularity?

The Bombay Beach Biennale started as an intimate event and has grown dramatically – but some question whether it can sustain its DIY atmosphere It is hard to imagine a stranger place for a large outdoor art festival than Bombay Beach – a tiny, visibly impoverished California desert town more than 150 miles (240km) east of Los Angeles and 235ft (71 meters) below sea level. The heat is scorching even in March, and the smell of decay wafts over from the nearby Salton Sea, a dying inland lake created by an irrigation engineering disaster more than 100 years ago. But the Bombay Beach Biennale is not your ordinary art festival. Continue reading...

Chris Iovenko in Bombay Beach · Sat, Apr 11, 2026, 4:00 AM
California | The Guardian

A ‘weird dream’ of an arts festival began 10 years ago in the California desert – can it survive its growing popularity?

The Bombay Beach Biennale started as an intimate event and has grown dramatically – but some question whether it can sustain its DIY atmosphere

It is hard to imagine a stranger place for a large outdoor art festival than Bombay Beach – a tiny, visibly impoverished California desert town more than 150 miles (240km) east of Los Angeles and 235ft (71 meters) below sea level. The heat is scorching even in March, and the smell of decay wafts over from the nearby Salton Sea, a dying inland lake created by an irrigation engineering disaster more than 100 years ago.

But the Bombay Beach Biennale is not your ordinary art festival.

This page shows an excerpt; reporting belongs to the original publisher. Some images or embeds may be omitted compared with the live article.