THROWING SHADE
Addressing critical shade inequity in the Coachella Valley, Throwing Shade transforms from a festival thermal-imaging structure into four permanent sun-tracking screens for vulnerable communities where protection from extreme heat is essential for survival.
At the festival, the cube-shaped installation serves as both an artistic intervention and a functional shade structure, using thermal cameras to visualise temperature gradients that festivalgoers experience as abstract art. Yet for residents of communities like Oasis, these same patterns represent daily survival challenges. The structure's sun-tracking capability follows festival crowds throughout the day, making attendees unwitting participants in a narrative about privilege and environmental justice while introducing them to heat inequities affecting their festival's neighbours.
After the festival, the structure separates into four screens deployed to communities where research shows residents are three times more likely to suffer heat-related illness due to inadequate shade. In Oasis, where the median income (£28,500) is less than half of Palm Desert's (£62,000) and temperatures routinely exceed 43°C, a screen continues tracking the sun to provide shade at a community park where children previously played on scorching equipment. The other screens serve similar functions across the Valley, maintaining their thermal imaging capabilities to document temperature changes while serving as community hubs that transform Coachella's ephemeral excess into year-round protection where it's most urgently needed.
